April 09, 2024

A Team of "Foreign Agents" at the Paris Olympics


A Team of "Foreign Agents" at the Paris Olympics
An Olympics of yesteryear.  RussianLife files. 

On April 5, the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Posdnyakov, wrote on Telegram that the Russian athletes competing in the Olympics are a "team of foreign agents."

Posdnyakov was referring to the Russian tennis players who will be competing under a "neutral" status at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Paris. His Telegram post was in support of the words of President of the All-Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, Irina Viner, who called the athletes a "team of vagrants" and "refugees." 

In response, Russian tennis star Daria Kasatkina wrote: "'Vagrant' Daria sends her greeting to all and wishes them a good day."

In December 2023, the International Olympic Committee voted to allow Russian and Belarusan athletes to compete in the games only under such a "neutral" banner, without the flag or anthem of their home country, in a move to distance the games from Russia's War on Ukraine.

Any athlete found to have publicly supported Russia's War on Ukraine will be banned from the games. 

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