In Russia, the Olympic Games are not broadcast on television, and some politicians and media figures have even called the athletes competing in Paris “traitors.”
Banned from the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, 15 Russian athletes are taking part in the Paris Olympics with a special status of “neutral individual athletes” following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In the Olympic village, some opposed their participation, and Russian opinion itself is divided.
In Russia, The Olympics are not televised and some politicians and media figures have even called those competing in Paris “traitors”..
“We are here to fight for ourselves”says Diana Shnaider, a 20-year-old tennis player competing in her first Olympic Games.
In duet with Mirra Andreeva, They became the first Russians to win a medal at the Paris Olympicswinning silver in women’s doubles on Sunday.
The two players took to the podium in matching green and white tracksuits, while a green flag bearing the words AIN – for “Neutral Individual Athlete” – was raised.
Ukraine opposed participation of Russian athletes
The Ukrainian government and Olympic Committee had demanded that Russian athletes be banned from all international sports and opposed efforts by the International Olympic Committee to include them as neutral athletes.
Ukraine also briefly boycotted Olympic qualifying competitions open to Russian athletes.
More than 3,000 Ukrainian athletes and coaches took part in the war against Russia, and nearly 500 died.according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Sports.
This year’s Olympics in Paris feature only 140 Ukrainian athletes, the smallest delegation in the country’s history at a Summer Olympics.
“The Olympic Games are about peace”
Activists collected information from Russian athletes’ social networks before the start of the Olympics to report messages they considered to be support for the war.
Asked if she liked two of these posts, Diana Shnaider replied: “I’m not going to answer political questions here”.
The day after, Ukrainian high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchich spoke out about neutral athletes, asking “How can a terrorist be allowed to participate in a competition on peace”.
“The Olympic Games are about peace”she says. “But Russia did not stop the war, and during these Games there were massive attacks on Ukrainian cities.”.
“Neutrals” represent only a fraction of Russian athletes
Of the 32 “neutral” athletes present in Paris, 17 previously represented Belarus and only 15 Russia.
At the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the Russian delegation consisted of almost 300 participants.
In gymnastics and weightlifting, Russian teams refused to participate in the qualifying events in protest against the neutral status as well as the controls imposed on themespecially on social networks.
Some qualified athletes also accepted their Olympic invitations before withdrawing just weeks before the start of the Games. The IOC cites 10 Russians and one Belarusian who have “initially accepted but later declined”.
The committee did not specify whether they had taken the decision to withdraw under pressure from their country.
At least 82 athletes competing in this year’s Olympics were born in Russiaaccording to statistics from Norwegian broadcasting network NRK.
More than 60 athletes represent other nations, some having lived outside Russia for years or having moved abroad as children. Others have changed their sporting allegiance since Russia invaded Ukraine.