ROC will require to deprive the World Cup in Rotterdam of the status of qualification for JI
The Netherlands refused to issue visas for the World Cup in gymnastics Melnikova, Listunova and Kalmykova. Degtyarev said that this refusal "shows once again that in Europe big sport has nothing to do."
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) will immediately appeal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Gymnastics Federation (World Gymnastics) with a request to deprive the World Gymnastics Championship in Rotterdam of the status of qualification for the Olympic Games, the Minister of Sports Mikhail Degtyarev said in his Telegram channel.
“The Russian Olympic Committee will today appeal to the International Olympic Committee and World Gymnastics with a demand to deprive the World Gymnastics Championship in Rotterdam of qualification status due to the non-participation of the world’s leading athletes from Russia, as well as take measures to ensure equal participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic selection,” Degtyarev wrote.
The decision was made in connection with the refusal of the Dutch authorities to issue visas to the leaders of the Russian women’s team in gymnastics Olympic champions Angelina Melnikova and Victoria Listunova, as well as Anna Kalmykova.
The World Cup will be held in Rotterdam from 17 to 25 October. The tournament will be played tickets to the Olympic Games 2028 in Los Angeles. The three best men's and three best women's teams will receive Olympic quotas.
The politically motivated denial of visas to Russian gymnasts by the Netherlands once again shows that there is nothing for big sport in Europe. Today, the Europeans spit on the decisions of international organizations (IOC and World Gymnastics) and denied the Russians visas, and tomorrow will not let someone else.
In August, nine of the 65 members of the Russian delegation, including Melnikova, were denied visas to Croatia. But later the decision was revised: Melnikova, Kalmykova, Leyla Vasilyeva and Alexei Usachev visas still issued, and they were able to perform at the tournament.
As a result, in Zagreb, Melnikova took gold in personal all-around and in the reference jump, bronze on a log and in freestyle exercises.
Melnikova and Listunova became Olympic champions of Tokyo in the team tournament. Kalmykova at the European Championships in Zagreb took silver in the all-around.
