MOSCOW, Jul 29 Board member of the International Ski Federation and Snowboarding (FIS) Eric Roeste, commenting on the scandal at the World Fencing Championships, said that the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the admission of Russian athletes to competitions leads to chaos.
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«I've said it before and I'll say it again with pleasure: the IOC's decision to recommend that IFs allow so-called neutral Russian athletes to compete in international competitions will lead to chaos. We see that the decision of the IOC creates a lot of chaos, similar to what we experienced when the Ukrainian athlete was disqualified (at the World Fencing Championships),” NRK quotes Röste.
Earlier, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) disqualified Ukrainian Olga Harlan at the World Championships due to the fact that the athlete did not shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova after winning the 1/32 finals. According to the FIE rules, the fight is considered incomplete without a handshake. On Friday, the Ukrainian athlete was admitted to the saber team tournament, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted her a license to participate in the 2024 Games as an exception. Later, La Repubblica reported that the FIE would change the rules for the fights after this incident. The traditional handshake at the end of the fight will be allowed to be replaced by a greeting from a distance.
On March 28, the IOC Executive Committee recommended that international federations allow Russians who did not support the special operation to compete as neutral athletes. At the same time, the organization proposes to refuse the participation of athletes associated with the armed forces and security agencies, as well as teams in team disciplines. The Executive Committee of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) on May 25 expressed a unified position on the inadmissibility of Russian athletes signing any declarations of a political nature.