Russian Olympic champion says that without "the strongest in the world" Russia, the 2024 Olympics "will be bad"

Lidia Ivanova, a two-time Olympic champion and two-time world champion in artistic gymnastics, spoke out about the admission of Russian athletes to international competitions. In particular, she called tournaments without representatives of the aggressor country inferior, referring to the 2024 Paris Games and the 2023 Asian Games.

Ivanova said this on the air of the Match TV channel. The former athlete repeated the main narratives of Kremlin propaganda about the alleged greatness of Russia and added that without athletes from Russia and Belarus, "it will be bad".

"I believe that the Olympic Games in Paris, as well as the Asian Games, will be bad without the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes. Because we are the world's strongest sports power," the former gymnast said.

Earlier, the President of the Russian Wrestling Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili called the opponents of the war in Ukraine an "aggressive minority" that "imposes outrages". He also spoke in favour of "going to Paris in tanks" after learning about the IOC's plans to allow Russians to participate in the 2024 Games as refugees.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Olympic athletics champion Yuri Borzakovsky explained Russia's suspension from international tournaments by saying "they are afraid of us, we are the best".

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