Russian OIympic champion says IOC will "come to its senses and apologize" to Russia

Former Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov expressed confidence that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would later apologize to Russian athletes. He repeated the traditional narratives of Kremlin propaganda about the politicization of the competition.

Kolobkov said this in a comment to the RIA Novosti news agency. The Seoul 2000 fencing champion called the sanctions against the aggressor country unfair, ignoring the fact that Russia started a criminal war against Ukraine.

"The principles should be the same for everyone. They should be clear and understandable, they should not be constantly changing to suit this or that situation under the influence of certain events. Now the IOC has a strong movement of one group of people who have nothing to do with sports. My opinion is that the IOC has shown weakness. I hope that this organization will come to its senses one day and start taking a more principled position. This is my attitude towards the IOC now. At the same time, I am sure that there are many strong sports officials there. I am sure that after some time, if they have some conscience, they will apologize. That time will come," Kolobkov said.

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