Russian Swimmers Allowed To Compete Under National Flag In Bosnia and Herzegovina

Russian swimmers will be eligible to represent their national flag at an upcoming meet in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

World Aquatics confirmed to Russian state-sponsored news agency TASS that the athletes will be able to wear the Russian flag at the 2024 Ana Cuckovic International meet, scheduled for April 13-14 in the Bosnian and Herzegovinian city of Banja Luka.

Russian swimmers can represent their country due to the meet welcoming international swimmers but the competition not being organized by World Aquatics, the global governing body said in a statement sent to TASS.

“This competition is not organized by World Aquatics,” the statement reads. “The only Russian athletes who will be able to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games are those who are registered as Individual Neutral Athletes.”

It was only earlier this month that it was confirmed that Russian athletes would only be eligible to compete at the Paris Olympics as individual neutral athletes, as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to ban them from competing under the Russian flag.

The CAS specifically zeroed in on Russia’s annexation of regional sporting organizations in Ukraine as the primary reason behind the decision, as it violated the Olympic Charter.

In the aftermath of the CAS upholding the IOC decision, it was confirmed that medals won by Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be displayed in the official medal table—in 2021, medals won by Russians were displayed in the table when they represented the Russian Olympic Committee.

It was also announced that Russians and Belarusians would be banned from participating in the Opening Ceremonies at the Paris Games, a decision that has led to backlash in Russia.

“It undoubtedly contradicts the basic ideology of the Olympic Movement and is absolutely detrimental to the IOC reputation,” said, Dmitry Peskov, a Russian Presidential spokesperson.

A decision on the Closing Ceremonies is expected to come at a later date.

OTHER RUSSIAN NOTES

• IOC President Thomas Bach said that the ROC will remain suspended by the IOC until it follows the rules of the Olympic Charter. The ROC was suspended in October 2023 after the Russian national committee included the Olympic councils of annexed Ukrainian regions DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson.
• ROC President Stanislav Podzdnyakov accused the IOC’s decision-making of being “politically slanted.”
• Russia is slated to host the World Friendship Games later this year. The IOC issued a press release last week imploring athletes not to compete at the politicized event.
• “It is a cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicize sport,” the IOC said. “The IOC Athletes’ Commission, representing all the Olympic athletes of the world, clearly opposes using athletes for political propaganda. The Commission even sees the risk of athletes being forced by their governments into participating in such a fully politicized sports event, thereby being exploited as part of a political propaganda campaign.”
• The IOC also said it would be up to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to decide on sanctions for Russian athletes at the Friendship Games. WADA said it has “ongoing concerns about Russia’s plans to stage the Friendship Games, an unsanctioned event” earlier this month.
• The Friendship Games organizing committee said it has no concerns that some athletes won’t attend the event. “Those who initially had no plans to come, will not come, but those who care about sports will come anyway,” committee director Alexey Sorokin said.
• The World Friendship Games are scheduled for September 15-29 in Moscow and Yekaterinburg.