"They don't consider me a human being!" 6-time world champion from Russia refuses to participate in the 2024 Olympics

Two-time Olympic medalist Kliment Kolesnikov is furious over the conditions for Russian athletes to be admitted to the 2024 Games in Paris. The freestyle and backstroke swimmer accused international organizations of infringing on the rights of Russian representatives and refused to travel to the French capital.

He said this in an interview with the propaganda outlet MK-Sport. According to the six-time world champion in short water, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) "does not consider Russian athletes to be human beings" and imposes all sorts of restrictions on them.

"Going deeper into this set of rules and sanctions that have been imposed on us to participate in the Olympics, from a purely human point of view, they are not normal! We are absolutely restricted in everything, deprived of everything! Starting with the fact that you come to the Olympics not as an athlete, but as an ordinary person. And you are not considered a human being there, given the conditions you will be provided with at the Games," Kolesnikov said.

Earlier, Russia called the famous swimmer Yulia Yefimova an American for wanting to compete in the 2024 Olympics in a neutral status. Prior to that, coach Iryna Vyatchanina complained that in Russia, athletes are forced to "hide like ostriches in the sand."

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