MOSCOW, August 12 The champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the lightweight division, Russian fighter Islam Makhachev, said that the double standards of some countries deprived Russian wrestlers of their lifelong goal — the Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games in Paris were held from July 26 to August 11. Following the selection, Russian wrestlers won 16 out of 18 possible Olympic licenses in freestyle, Greco-Roman and women's wrestling. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed only 10 athletes to compete in the Paris Games as neutrals, including Tokyo champions Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Zaur Uguev, Zaurbek Sidakov and Musa Yevloyev. As a result, the Russian wrestlers decided not to compete in the Games.
«These days I enjoyed watching wrestling (at the Olympics). It's a shame that dirty politics has crept into such a courageous sport. People who have dedicated their entire lives to this sport and were given a chance to compete at the Olympic Games are forced to stay home and watch the Olympics on TV. The double standards of dirty countries deprive our athletes of what they have been striving for their entire lives,» Makhachev wrote in his Instagram stories*.
15 Russians were admitted to the Games: seven tennis players, three canoeists, three cyclists, one trampoline jumper and one swimmer. By decision of the IOC, the athletes competed in neutral status, without the Russian flag and anthem, and their awards were not displayed in the medal table.
* The activities of Meta (social networks Facebook and Instagram) are banned in Russia as extremist.