Vyalbe forbade Russian skiers to compete under a neutral flag

The Ski Racing Federation opposed the participation of athletes in competitions under a neutral flag

The President of the Russian Ski Racing Federation (FLGR), Elena Vyalbe, confirmed her position on the issue of athletes participating in sports tournaments under a neutral flag. About this on Thursday, April 27, informed Portal “Match TV”.

“Yes, we already traveled under a neutral flag,” she reminded reporters. – And absolutely under neutral, not like it was at the last Olympic Games. But the situation was really different there.” The famous coach stressed that in the current situation she would forbid her wards to play under a neutral flag. She added that the people will respect them for such a decision.

Earlier, Vyalbe said that sport is a huge policy. According to the head of the FLGR, everyone understands perfectly how Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a fan of sports” and helps this industry.

Recall that on March 28, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus who do not support the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine to compete in a neutral status. At the same time, these athletes should not be associated with the Armed Forces or security agencies of their countries (it is understood that they cannot be members of the teams of CSKA, Dynamo and other similar sports clubs related to the security forces). At the same time, athletes must officially declare in all social networks how they relate to the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Since the end of February 2022, most Russian sports federations have been suspended from tournaments on the recommendation of the IOC.

In 2015, a scandal erupted in Russian sports due to the use of doping in competitions. The information basis for it was created by the former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who fled to the United States. WADA and the IOC built their accusations on his testimony. At first, he broke the rules with Russian athletes, and after fleeing abroad, he indicated who to catch. Targeted testing of samples has been a significant part of the success. In other countries, there was no whistleblower of this level, clearly pointing to violators. Domestic athletes were accused of massive violations of accepted medical rules. The scandal affected many sports, some winners of international tournaments lost their medals at the main starts. As a result of the investigation, some of the domestic athletes did not get to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Further, the team of “Olympic Athletes from Russia” went to the Games of 2018, 2020 and 2022 without a flag and an anthem.