Two-time Olympic champion forced to retire at 26 after Z-meeting

Yevgeny Rylov, a two-time Olympic swimming champion (100m and 200m backstroke), is retiring at the age of 26. The native of Orenburg admitted that he does not believe he will make it to the 2024 Olympic Games.

According to the titled athlete, he is preparing for the alternative games that Russia has invented instead of the Olympics.

"In any case, I was planning that next year would be my last. And I basically think that we will not have the Olympic Games. Russian athletes, as far as I know, will have alternative starts, so I am preparing for them. I just won't go (to the Olympics). I think they won't want to let me go there," Rylov told r-sport.

Last April, Rylov was disqualified by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) for participating in a rally-concert in Luzhniki on 18 March with the participation of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

The swimmer expressed confidence that FINA suspended him for nine months because it considered him a "significant personality".

Later, Rylov called on Russia to put pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He called it a manifestation of weakness to agree to the organisation's demands to allow Russian representatives to compete.

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