Paris Olympics: gold medallist Rublev among 12 Russians, Belarusians to skip Games
- Dozen players opt not to compete as neutral athletes, but Daniil Medvedev among those to accept invitation
Tokyo doubles gold medallist Andrey Rublev and fellow tennis players Darya Kasatkina and Anna Kalinskaya are among 12 Russians and Belarusians who have turned down invitations to compete as neutral athletes at the Paris Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) published an updated list of neutral athletes on Monday, with 2021 US Open tennis champion Daniil Medvedev and women’s world No 22 Ekaterina Aleksandrova among the 31 who had accepted.
Athletes from Russia and Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, are barred from the Paris Games except for the few who will compete as neutral athletes without flags or anthems.
The athletes have been carefully vetted by an IOC panel to ensure they have no connection to the military.
Russia has denounced the restrictions as discriminatory. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said the IOC was slipping “into racism and neo-Nazism”.
World No 6 Rublev, women’s world No 12 Kasatkina and No 18 Kalinskaya declined along with Tokyo singles silver medallist Karen Khachanov and Liudmila Samsonova, who had already turned down the opportunity to play.
