FINA Determines Rylov Not in Violation of Ban for Competing at Russian Champs

FINA has provided further clarification to the parameters on the 9-month ban which they levied on Russian superstar Evgeny Rylov on April 20th. The ban was placed on Rylov after his participation in a Moscow rally in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in mid-March. Rylov was celebrated on stage alongside other premier Russian athletes before Russian president Vladimir Putin took the stage to speak on the war.

The ban on Rylov, who won Gold in the men’s 100 and 200 backstroke at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, also came after FINA banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in FINA sanctioned events through the end of the year, including the World Championships.

In FINA’s initial announcement of the ban on Rylov, FINA said the 25-year-old would be barred from “all competitions and activities organized or sanctioned by FINA,” which begged the question what qualifies as a FINA sanctioned event? That question was then pushed to the forefront as the Russian Swimming Federation announced days after the ban that Rylov would be competing in the Russian Swimming Championships, which began on April 24 and just ended today. After people were questioning whether Rylov would be in violation of the ban for competing in the meet, FINA announced that they were investigating the matter and whether he was violating the terms of the ban.

SwimSwam reached out to a FINA spokesperson about the result of the investigation, to which FINA has now announced they’ve determined Rylov was not in violation of the ban, since this meet was not determined to be a “FINA sanctioned” event. FINA explained that the ban only applies to events organized by FINA, or events which serve as qualifiers for FINA events. Since the international governing body has banned all Russian athletes from FINA competitions for the remainder of 2022, the Russian Swimming Championships could not serve as a FINA qualifier, and therefore it’s simply a domestic Russian meet.

While this may seem complicated, it’s our understanding that Rylov is free to compete in any domestic meet, so long as that meet isn’t approved by FINA as an event which can serve as a qualifier for FINA events like the World Championships, World Cup, or World Series.

Here is the full statement from FINA in that regard:

“The athlete’s competition ban applies to all FINA events and events that may be used to qualify for FINA events.  Domestic events in Russia would be permitted.”

FINA also clarified that Rylov is still eligible to break World or Continental records during his ban. “FINA recognises World Records achieved at non-FINA events so long as the event meets the requirements set out in the FINA Swimming Rules (i.e. length of pool, approved swimwear, doping control performed, etc.) (see SW Rule 12).  All potential record-setting performances go through a FINA approval process. If all FINA Swimming Rules are verified, FINA then approves the performance for record purposes.”

It feels necessary to point out that this ban seemingly accomplishes very little. Since FINA has already banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from FINA events through the end of the year, and Rylov is a Russian athlete, he was already subjected to a ban through the end of 2022. His 9-month ban that was individually placed on him is set to end on January 20, 2023, so in effect Rylov’s ban is simply an additional 20 days beyond every other Russian athlete.