The famous wrestler Sadulaev received a black mark: support from SVO and Dynamo

Freestyle wrestler Abdulrashid Sadulaev is the Olympic champion of Rio de Janeiro 2016 in the weight category up to 86 kg, and he is also the champion of the Games in Tokyo 2020 in the category up to 97 kg. World wrestling star. I just received a ban from participating in the qualifying tournament in Baku for the Olympic Games.

At the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Games he was our standard bearer. The wrestlers call him Russian Tank. And what happened is not a shock. Two-time Olympic champion Sadulaev received a black mark before Paris 2024. And – nothing new, it’s just that today there are shades of, let’s call it that, the removal of our leaders in various sports from the fight.

The first, when the IOC criteria for admitting our athletes to international competitions had not yet been invented, was the two-time Olympic champion swimmer Evgeniy Rylov. The International Aquatics Federation (FINA) has already disqualified Evgeniy for nine months “for participating in an event at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on March 18.” That is, in a concert in honor of the Day of Reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia.

The swimmer was loudly and demonstrably accused of his actions spoiling the image of the sport, swimming and the organization. (Later, FINA put forward absolutely draconian criteria for the participation of our athletes in the Games, which led to their refusal; today there is not a single Russian athlete who has expressed a desire to receive neutral status and qualify.)

And then the story of Rylov’s disqualification began with the initiative of the Ukrainian swimmer Andrei Govorov, who was supported by the Romanian athlete, and FINA accepted their complaint. The sponsors, the equipment manufacturer Speedo, demanded an explanation from Rylov. The laconic answer “no comments” led to the termination of the contract, moreover, the British sent the penalty to the UN to support Ukraine.

What did Thomas Bach just tell our prankers? Traditionally, I have already talked about the fact that the IOC has a special supervisory commission that monitors the Internet, the media and public statements of athletes in order to cut off “violators.” And not quite traditionally he voiced this: “We offered the Ukrainian side, and not only offered, but also asked, to provide us with their information about the behavior of such athletes or officials.”

We asked and we received. In particular, just for the wrestlers. After all, the IOC has created commissions to review all dossiers of neutral athletes who have received status from international federations. And so – straight to Thomas Bach, even before the recent European Championship (which Sadulayev did not attend due to the fact that he could not enter Romania on a single-entry Spanish visa), a letter was sent from the NOC of Ukraine demanding a more careful approach to the consideration of issuing neutral status to Russian wrestlers: some of them allegedly do not meet IOC requirements. “The NOC of Ukraine wants the IOC to pay special attention to these issues and take into account the provided “evidence and facts when making a final decision on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in competitions.”

According to the NOC of Ukraine, 19 athletes did not meet the IOC requirements at that time: Abdulrashid Sadulayev, Zaur Uguev, Zaurbek Sidakov, Aues Gonibov, Milad Alirzaev, Rakhman Tavmurzaev, Vitaly Kabaloev, Sergey Semenov, Artur Sargsyan, Akhmed Usmanov, Abasgadzhi Magomedov, Artur Nayfonov , Anastasia Sidelnikova, Alina Kasabieva, Nadezhda Sokolova and Belarusians Vanessa Kolodinskaya, Alexander Levonchuk, Kirill Maskevich and Alexander Gushtyn.

Now Abdulrashid Sadulaev is deprived of access to the start. He won his first European Championship exactly 10 years ago, on April 4, 2014. Then – two Olympics in two weight categories, five world championships, four more Europeans. And after all, the United World of Wrestling (UWW) initially did not behave like FINA in relation to Rylov (Sadulaev was also at the concert in Luzhniki, as were Zaur Uguev and Zaurbek Sidakov). But all the named wrestlers received neutral status. And everyone managed to compete at the World Championships (Sidakov became a three-time world champion). Due to a neck injury, Sadulayev lost in the semi-finals for the first time in six years and was no longer able to fight for bronze. But he recovered, despite the complexity of the situation, in order to continue to fight for the license.

Why has UWW now changed its own decision? The IOC claims that Sadulaev was found to be ineligible for neutral status by the United World Wrestling panel. That is, they corrected themselves. UWW stated that the athlete was not admitted by the organization’s commission because of information about supporting the SVO and belonging to Dynamo.

But the IOC recently corrected this issue, claiming that the participation of representatives of the CSKA and Dynamo sports societies in Paris as neutral athletes will be considered individually. And he clarified that no one would apply sanctions to the federations, regardless of their decisions: “We gave them a set of recommendations, which they implement in their structures.”

FSBR President Mikhail Mamiashvili believes that the UWW did everything possible for Sadulaev to participate in the competition. The head says that there have already been precedents when it was possible to convince the inspection structures of a different point of view if the question arose about the participation of athletes in events or belonging to law enforcement agencies. And he emphasizes that Olympic licenses for wrestlers are not personal.

For Abdulrashid Sadulayev, according to Mamiashvili, the fight now lies ahead not on the mat. As well as for Musa Evloev (Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in Tokyo 2020 in the up to 97 kg category), who was not allowed into the February European Championships in Romania because of a photograph in front of a poster with the words “No to Nazism.”

And all wrestlers are faced with the task of obtaining tickets to the Olympic Games on a sporting basis. “And then we will weigh the pros and cons and decide whether to go to Paris.”