Baku, June 29, AZERTAC

Russia will not be sending any competitors to the Paris Olympics after only four of its seventeen judokas were given permission to compete by the International Olympic Committee, to insidethegames.biz.

In a statement posted on its website on Friday, the Russian Judo Federation said it could not accept the IOC's decision. "Until the very end, we hoped that common sense and the desire to hold a full Olympic Games with athletes from Russia and Belarus would prevail over political intrigues," the statement said.

"Unfortunately, our hopes have not been fulfilled. Under these circumstances, the Russian Judo Federation has unanimously decided that the Russian judo team will not accept the humiliating conditions and will not participate in the Paris Games in the form proposed by IOC officials," the statement said.

The IOC issued invitations to Valery Yendovitsky, Makhamdbek Makhamadbekov, Elis Startseva and Dali Liluashvili. The Russian judokas invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to take part in the Summer Olympics will not go to Paris, President of the Russian Judo Federation Sergey Soloveichik told TASS.

"Of the seventeen judokas who qualified for the Olympic Games, the IOC has invited only four. The rest will have to stay at home. In this situation, the Russian Judo Federation has made a unanimous decision: the Russian national judo team will not accept the humiliating conditions and will not take part in the Paris Games, as proposed by the officials of the International Olympic Committee," he said.

The IOC suspended Russia from the 2024 Games last year, but gave the green light for its athletes to compete as neutrals as long as they did not actively support the Kremlin's offensive in Ukraine. "We are one of the strongest national federations and teams in the world. We have met the IOC's requirements whenever we found them acceptable and we have said from the beginning that we will not compromise and will not sign any statement that discredits our country's policy," he said.

"The Russian Judo Federation condemns the unsportsmanlike method of classification, which is aimed at undermining the principles of unity of our team and breaking the spirit of Russian athletes. I am convinced that such actions of the IOC ruin confidence in the Olympic movement as such and discredit the status of the Olympic Games as the most important sporting event," he stressed.

"We, the Russian Judo Federation, athletes and society, love sport and cherish traditions. Obviously, there is a great need for reform in the IOC. We hope that these Paris Games, inadequate in every respect, will help all conscious people in all countries to open their eyes and give an impetus to reforms. The Olympic traditions will be revived as a guide to honest competition, a guarantee of clean sport, independence from political influence and a unifying factor for millions of people around the world," he concluded.