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Russia returned to international judo competition on Sunday for the first time in almost a year at the world championships in Qatar as Ukraine boycotted Olympic qualifiers.
Competing under the name “Individual Neutral Athlete,” Russia got off to a slow start in Doha as its first competitor, Sabina Giliazova, lost her opening contest to France’s Blandine Pont. Three more Russians are due to compete Monday.
Seventeen judokas from Russia and two from its ally Belarus are listed as competing in the world championships despite some having actual ties to the Russian military. Ukraine pulled the team from the event last week in protest.
The International Olympic Committee has allowed Russia and Belarus to compete as neutral athletes without national symbols as they qualify for next year’s Paris Olympics. The IOC, which last year recommended excluding Russian competitors on security grounds but now argues it would be discriminatory, has left the final decision to the governing bodies of each sport.
Some sports like track and field remain excluded from Russia and Belarus in international events. Several other Olympic sports have said they are ready to welcome Russians and Belarusians, but have not yet done so, with some saying they need extra time to decide on the process or vet athletes. The International Judo Federation has progressed rapidly.
The IJF allowed a Russian team without a national symbol in the first Olympic qualifying event in June 2022 in Mongolia, which was boycotted by Ukraine, but then withdrew and excluded Russia and Belarus for the rest of 2022. The world championships were the first time that Russia or Belarus entered a team since then for major international judo event.
The world champion skips the event
The IJF published the entries of Russia and Belarus for the world championships on April 30, ahead of the deadline. The Ukrainian government has a policy of boycotting national team sporting events that allow Russians or Belarusians, a policy supported by Ukrainian judo world champion Daria Bilodid, who stayed away from the championships as part of the boycott.
The IOC recommends that sports not recognize Russian or Belarusian competitors who are contracted to the military or security forces. Some of those competing in Qatar have previously been listed in a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry or the Central Army Sports Club, known as CSKA, as holding military ranks.
They include Olympic bronze medalist Madina Taimazova, who is listed as a staff sergeant in the Russian army at the Russian Ministry of Defense and CSKA’s statement from June 2022. Inal Tasoev and Mikhail Igolnikov have won gold medals for Russia at the Military World Games, a sports event. for soldiers. CSKA listed Tasoev as a staff sergeant when congratulating on his birthday in February, and Igolnikov as a lieutenant in the same statement in October.
The IJF has yet to publish the full criteria for deciding which athletes can compete and which are rejected, especially regarding military athletes. The IJF said there was an independent investigation into the athletes’ “workplaces,” that all those competing in Qatar were employees of Russian state sports training centers, and that their social media accounts had been checked for “pro-war interactions.” propaganda”.
The IJF said it rejected eight unnamed people from the Russian or Belarusian delegation.
Despite advocating for Russia and Belarus to return to competition in the Olympic qualifiers, the IOC has not made a final decision on the Paris Olympics and has not set a date to do so.
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