"Ordinary envy": the State Duma issued a nonsense about Ukrainian athletes being afraid of Russians

Dmitry Svishchev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, expressed the hypocritical opinion that Ukrainians have no right to speak out about the participation of Russian athletes in international competitions. The deputy added that our compatriots are allegedly afraid of competition from representatives of the Russian Federation.

Svishchev said this in an interview with the propaganda TV channel Russia Today. He criticized Ukraine's number one racket, Elina Svitolina, who called for preventing Russian athletes from participating in the 2024 Olympic Games, absurdly suggesting that she refuse to play for our national team.

"Svitolina can choose not to play for Ukraine if she wants to. Our tennis players dream of playing for their country and love it. So it's not Elina's prerogative to give advice and speculate on who should do what. A fairly large number of Russian tennis players are among the top players - this is a well-known fact, and of course, this cannot suit our closest neighbors. They may have concerns, because none of their representatives are ranked higher than our athletes. All of this speaks to this or to ordinary human envy and a desire to take advantage of the political situation to eliminate competitors," Svishchev said.

On December 8, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the 2024 Olympics in neutral status. However, this applies only to individual events, and the athletes themselves must meet certain criteria.

In response, Russian rhythmic gymnastics representatives announced a boycott of the 2024 Games. Swimmer Yevgeny Rylov also refused to go to Paris.

Dictator Vladimir Putin did not give an unambiguous decree to his athletes on how to deal with the 2024 Olympics. Later, the IOC reduced the number of Russians allowed to participate in the Games, which will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11. Initially, it was reported that 8 Russians and 3 Belarusians had been selected.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, two-time Olympic champion Svetlana Ishmuratova made a delusional statement that the world sports community could not exist without Russia.

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