Mihail Mamiashvili rejects a new proposal regarding Russian athletes.
Mihail Mamiashvili (left) did not like the new proposal. PDO
Russian athletes have returned to international competitions in increasing numbers this spring.
In March, the International Olympic Committee IOC recommended sports federations to take back individual Russian athletes if they do not support the war or are otherwise connected to the Russian army. The conditions also included the fact that the athletes would compete with neutral country symbols.
Regarding the Paris Summer Olympics, the return of the Russians is still open. It’s on the table now According to Inside The Games website a new proposal that Russian athletes could compete as part of a so-called refugee team.
The team competes in the games under the Olympic flag, and the Olympic anthem is played at the medal ceremony instead of the countries’ national anthems.
Head of the Russian Wrestling Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili shocked at the suggestion.
– If they want to see us as a refugee team at the 2024 Olympics, then we have to go to Paris with tanks. There is no other option, Mamiašvili thundered according to Inside The Games.
– Those who propose such a thing should be sent to the one place that everyone knows, he continued.
Former head of the Russian Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov finds the proposal incomprehensible.
Zhukov served as the head of the Russian Olympic Committee from 2010 to 2018.
– This is simply not acceptable. They will not be able to destroy Russian sports, it’s just impossible.
Zhukov is also a former first deputy chairman of the Russian Duma.
– Such demands and attempts can only be dictated by political pressure, he continued.
According to the website Inside The Games, more than 40 percent of Russia’s Olympic medals in Tokyo came from athletes contracted to various organizations of the Russian military.
Mihail Mamiashvili (left) and the rest of the Russian wrestling team as a guest of Vladimir Putin after the Rio Olympics in 2016. EPA / AOP