Alina Kabaeva: “The attitude towards Russia is the most shameful page in the history of world sports”

Alina Kabaeva. Photo courtesy of the Alina Kabaeva Charitable Foundation

Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics Alina Kabaeva said that the attitude towards Russia on the part of international sports organizations is the most shameful page in the history of world sports.

“I believe that there has never been a more shameful page in the history of world sports. The leadership of many international sports organizations has been engaged in completely unsportsmanlike affairs for a long time and under various pretexts. Now it is no longer hidden. Their "concern" for the world is as hypocritical as the fight for a clean sport.

They did not worry and did not remove from the competition any country that participated in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria. But sports officials were very angry when Russia decided to protect the Donbass and Luhansk from the Nazis," Kabaeva said. She also stressed that the hypocrisy of top sports officials has a long history.

“The International Olympic Committee took away the medals won from the Russian athletes who participated in the Sochi Olympics and disqualified them for life. Without any real evidence! But the Court of Arbitration for Sport acquitted the athletes and forced the IOC to return the medals. Have any of these organizations: the IOC, WADA and other accusers apologized to our athletes? How could you not notice that 28 athletes were completely acquitted by the court?

You tried so hard to humiliate the Russians, banned our symbols, flag and anthem. At all competitions, Russian athletes were examined under a microscope. For three molecules that do not affect anything, they were immediately removed from the competition. And we still won! Our successes at the next Olympics have confirmed that Russian sports are of a high level not due to doping and therapeutic exceptions, but due to the talent of our athletes. Russia was, is and will be a great sports power, and you can't do anything about it.

The hypocrisy of top sports officials is a very powerful dope. It greatly influences the success and quality of world sport. If there were tests for hypocrisy, none of the hypocrites would ever get admission to the management of the sport of high achievements. I think that we will survive all the bans," Kabaeva added.

On February 28, the International Olympic Committee recommended that international sports federations prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine.

On March 2, the International Paralympic Committee allowed Russian athletes to participate in the Beijing Paralympics in a neutral status, but on March 3 changed its mind and withdrew the admission.