The World Gymnastics Federation is advising on the re-admission of Russians and Belarusians. The German Gymnastics Federation is strictly against it and makes two arguments for it.
The German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) is facing the expected decision of the world association Fig for a further exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus from international competitions.
“Our view of things is twofold”, said DTB President Alfons Hölzl in an interview with the German Press Agency. A neutral athlete is a prerequisite for re-admission despite the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. He and his presidency are missing “Any imagination of how that should look in practice. How is an athlete coming from Russia supposed to be classified as neutral?”, said Holzl.
Doping problem in Russia
As a second argument, the DTB boss cited the doping problem, the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada) was suspended. “I can’t see that we are dealing with a system that guarantees the fight against doping. Then it leads to an athlete being privileged and everyone else being disadvantaged,” said Holzl.
On July 19th and 20th in Lausanne, the executive committee of the world association will again consider whether the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus as neutral athletes again under certain conditions should be followed. At the previous meeting in May, the committee postponed a decision and thus confirmed the exclusion for the time being.
Hölzl now hopes that this will remain the case. “As long as these two issues are not satisfactorily resolved, there can be no participation of Belarusian or Russian athletes in international competitions and consequently also not in the Olympic Games”, he said.