The head of the gymnastics federation accused European countries of politicizing sports

MOSCOW, Oct 18, Sergey Fuks. President of the Artistic Gymnastics Federation of Russia (FGSR ) Vasily Titov, in a conversation with, expressed regret that a number of European federations are politicizing their participation in the Congress of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). On Tuesday, the Inside the Games portal reported that the Netherlands Gymnastics Association was boycotting the FIG Congress due to participation in it Russians and Belarusians. Earlier, the decision to boycott the FIG Congress, which is to be held on November 11-12 in Istanbul (Turkey), was made by the gymnastics federations of Norway, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Italy. «FIG includes 143 countries. Even if eight countries do not participate, then there is still a quorum for making a decision, this is the first thing. Secondly, each federation has the right to participate or not to participate. I am sad that my colleagues politicize their participation in the congress. We continue to remain members of the international federation, therefore we must take part in all events organized by FIG. There is no mass boycott,” Titov said. Initially, the congress was supposed to be held in October in Sandefjord (Norway), but FIG reported that the Norwegian Gymnastics Federation was unable to organize it due to requirements from the Olympic Committee and Ministry of Culture of Norway not to invite representatives of Russia and Belarus to the forum. In March, Russian athletes were suspended by FIG from international competitions because of the situation in Ukraine.