Trio of Russian athletes competing in Paris 2024 despite supporting war in Ukraine

A trio of athletes who publicly supported the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine are set to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics despite rules requiring neutrality.

The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) rules allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete only if they do not actively support the war or do not work for either country’s military or national security apparatuses.

Most of the cases around participating athletes involve liking or sharing posts on social media in support of the war.

Among those who have liked or shared content promoting the full-scale invasion Russia launched in 2022 are tennis players Elena Vesnina and Diana Shnaider as well as cyclist Alena Ivanchenko, all of whom accepted invitations to compete in Paris.

Ukrainians are also going after trampolinist Anzhela Bladtceva because of videos on social media obtained by Ukrainian media showing her competing front of pro-Russian war symbols in. Bladtceva is competing in the Summer Olympics as well.

Additionally, Russian tennis chief Shamil Tarpischev, who has actively supported mobilizing the country’s athletes to fight against Ukraine, is set to attend the Games, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.

Their participation has infuriated Ukrainian officials and athletes, many of whom spent their formative years preparing for the global sports stage under the ever-present dangers of war, training under the blaring of air raid sirens and threat of missile strikes.

“We have many athletes who are currently on the front lines or in the National Guard. Some have even died,” Vitalii Dubrova, Ukraine’s chief judo coach, said in an interview with POLITICO.

Sharply curtailed Russian participation

Fifteen Russian athletes are heading to Paris to compete as “neutral athletes,” as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) barred Russians and Belarusians from representing their countries in the Olympics in 2023 after Moscow announced plans to annex parts of Ukraine, contravening international law (Belarus is allied with Russia). The IOC said that the land grab “constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity [of Ukraine].”

While the IOC put in place a review panel tasked with approving athletes for participation, some appear to have slipped through. An investigation by the Netherlands-based Global Rights Compliance into Russian and Belarusian athletes found that 33 of the 57 Russian and Belarusian athletes declared eligible had, in fact, backed the war in Ukraine. 

POLITICO has reached out to the IOC, the athletes in question and Tarpischev for comment. Russian authorities did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

However, not all athletes who were declared eligible are attending the Games. Several Russian wrestlers and judokas who supported the war on social media were given permission to participate in the games, but subsequently declined. One rower told Russia’s Match TV that the Kremlin was compensating competitors who dropped out.

Irina Viner, president of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, told Russian state-run news outlet RIA Novosti that the neutral Russian athletes were “traitors.” | Vyacheslav Prokofyev via AFP/Getty Images

Russia’s propaganda machine has targeted those who did decide to participate. Irina Viner, president of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, told Russian state-run news outlet RIA Novosti that the neutral Russian athletes were “traitors.” She said that only “homeless” athletes compete without their flag and anthem.

Multiple Russian and Belarusian tennis players, including former top-ranked women’s singles player Victoria Azarenka, dropped out of Paris 2024, citing injuries and busy schedules.

They are, however, set to compete in the Mubadala Citi DC Open in the United States capital, which coincides with the Olympics. 

Ukraine lobbied to exclude Russia

At least 487 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed over the course of the war, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Youth and Sports, while many have been seriously wounded. Runner Yana Stepanenko lost her legs during a strike on Kramatorsk. She later ran the Boston Marathon on prosthetic legs.

And, like most Ukrainians, athletes have also loved ones. The mother of high jumper Kateryna Tabashnyk, for example, was killed in a missile attack.

The barrage of strikes has left Ukrainian athletes with fewer places to practice, as more than 500 sports facilities have been destroyed, according to the sports ministry.

War also poses logistical challenges. “It takes over a day for us to travel somewhere, because no airports are operational,” Ukrainian judo coach Dubrova said.

Matviy Bidnyi, Ukraine’s acting minister of youth and sports, said Kyiv lobbied the IOC to make sure that Russian war supporters were left “outside of the Olympic movement.”

In a phone interview with POLITICO, Bidnyi said Ukrainian authorities had identified evidence of more than 800 Russian athletes who had supported the war. 

“We sent dozens of joint letters to the IOC and managed to achieve the exclusion of blatant war propagandists,” Bidnyi said.