Judo-Russia opts not to send any judokas to Paris Olympics

Russia will not be sending any participants to the Paris Olympics after only four of its 17 judokas received permission from the International Olympic Committee to compete, the country's judo federation said on Friday.

Russia and Belarus have been barred from sending national teams to the Games more than two years after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Belarus, Russia's closest ally, allowed its territory to be used to carry out the invasion.

A number of athletes from the two countries are being allowed to participate in Paris as individual neutral athletes (AINs) without their flags, anthems and emblems, subject to vetting by the IOC to ensure they have no connection to the military.

The Russian judo federation, in a statement on its website, said it could not accept the IOC ruling.

"Until the very end, we had hoped that common sense and a desire to hold full-fledged Olympic Games with athletes from Russia and Belarus would prevail over political intrigues," the statement said.

"Unfortunately, our hopes were not realised... Under the circumstances, the presidium of the Russian Judo Federation has decided unanimously that the Russian judo team will not accept the humiliating conditions and will take no part in the Paris Games in the form proposed by IOC officials."

The federation said Russia's judo team was among the strongest in the world and officials had met IOC requirements. It had long pledged to sign no declarations "discrediting the policies of our country" and rejected any selection method "aimed at...breaking the spirit of Russian athletes."

Putin, a judo blackbelt, has often sparred with his country's judokas. The International Judo Federation in 2022 said it had suspended Putin's status as an honorary president. REUTERS