As a Russian, he was already banned from international competitions due to invasion of Ukraine. However, for Evgeny Rylov, born in Novotroick, class of ’96 and two Olympic golds won at the Tokyo Olympics, the World Swimming Federation has created a disqualification to the person: as if he had been found positive for doping, the champion of the swimming pool was sanctioned with a nine-month stop for being clearly pro Putin.
The disciplinary commission of FINA has in fact decided to punish Rylov for his participation in a demonstration at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow last March designed to celebrate the eight years of the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, and which was attended by 95,000 people inside. and 100 thousand out. At the ultra-patriotic rally, in which the demonstrators showed off nationalist banners that recalled the spirit of war and where there was no shortage of the “Z” that have now become a symbol, there was also the swimming champion.
On that occasion, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, praised the forces engaged in Ukraine, citing in particular the Bible and saluting the “heroism” of the soldiers. Hence the direct stop of the athlete decided precisely “following his participation and behavior in an event at the Luzhniki stadium on 18 March”. The suspension began last Wednesday. But Rylov had already spoken out against the decision to exclude the Russians from competitions.
The reaction of the Kremlin
And Moscow certainly did not like the direct disqualification of one of its top athletes. “Unfortunately, the bad policy aimed at politicizing sport continues,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitiri Peskov. The minister of sport, Oleg Matytsine, added that it is an “entirely politicized” decision. “Evgeny is not only the pride of Russia but of all international swimming,” he stressed.
The Russian Olympic Committee
“Suspending an athlete for nine months because of his participation in a public event is not even shameful, it is simply ridiculous”, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdniakov reacted, denouncing “discrimination based on nationality alone”. After the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army on February 24, FINA initially gave the go-ahead to Russian and Belarusian swimmers to participate in the world championships in Budapest next summer but under a neutral flag, but then decide on March 23 for total exclusion.