Two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion in freestyle wrestling Abdulrashid Sadulayev said that the ban on participation in the tournament in Baku from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) came as a surprise to him. The athlete stated this in an interview TASS on Friday, April 5th.
“Yes, this is unfair and in many ways unexpected. The screening of Russian athletes who do not meet IOC requirements began last year, and then I was not blacklisted and was able to compete at the World Championships,” he shared.
According to Sadulayev, then he decided that the committee had no complaints against him. However, he was subsequently banned from participating in the European Championships in Romania, and then was not allowed to participate in the tournament in Baku.
“They often tell me that I could have rewritten many records in freestyle wrestling if it weren’t for the pandemic, the removal of our team from international competitions and, finally, this story with my inaccessibility to Olympic qualification. But I don’t think about it too much, I just want to fight, win and please the fans,” said the athlete.
In his opinion, it is important to be able to accept the state of affairs that has developed at the moment, and not complain about injustice. Sadulaev emphasized that he intends to continue to fight for his right to take part in the Olympics.
The tournament in Baku began on April 5 and will end on April 7.
Earlier, on April 4, the President of the Russian Wrestling Federation (FSBR), Mikhail Mamiashvili, said that the organization intends to challenge the possibility of not allowing Abdulrashid Sadulayev to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
On the same day, the FSBI reported that the IOC did not allow the athlete to participate in the licensed tournament in Baku. Instead of Sadulayev, Alikhan Zhabrailov will go to licensed competitions in Azerbaijan. Speaking about the reasons, FSBR press attache Tigran Avanyan said that Sadulayev will not compete in the pre-Olympic competitions due to non-compliance with the criteria. According to him, the IOC did not specify what criteria they were talking about.
Commenting on this decision, 2006 Olympic champion in speed skating and State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova pointed out the double standards of the IOC. According to her, the organization is coming up with anything to prevent the strongest Russian athletes from participating in the competition.
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