Two-time Tokyo Olympic medalist Klyment Kolesnikov said that he will not participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, the swimmer considered the conditions that the IOC (not the International Olympic Committee) puts forward for athletes from Russia to be “unacceptable”.

Swimmer Kliment Kolesnikov will not participate in the 2024 Olympics in Paris

Kolesnikov, 23, silver medalist in the 100m backstroke and bronze medalist in the 100m freestyle in Tokyo, said in an interview with AFP that he will announce his withdrawal from the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“Now, in the current conditions, this is unacceptable for me. The dream of an Olympic gold medal remains, but I’m not sad because I can’t go.

But if ever the conditions (currently not set by the IOC) change, on behalf of Russia we have to go and win medals for our country, then of course I will go,” the swimmer told the cited source.

Who is Kliment Kolesnikov?

The Russian held the 50m backstroke world record for a while (24” in 2018, 23”80 in 2021) before American Hunter Armstrong broke it (23”71 in 2022).

The Russian swimmer became the European champion at the distance of 100 meters in 2021 in Budapest at the age of 20.

He also holds the two aforementioned medals from the Tokyo Olympics: a silver in the 100m backstroke and a bronze in the 100m freestyle.

Know

• In early December, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26 – August 11), on the condition that they perform under a neutral flag and do not compete in team events. , not to actively support the Russian offensive in Ukraine and pass the qualification scale, reports News.ro.

• So far, only 11 of them have done so, eight Russians and three Belarusians, compared with about sixty Ukrainians, according to the IOC.