The International Gymnastics Federation has announced today that Russia and Belarus will face sanctions due to the two countries’ invasion of their neighbor Ukraine. Upcoming FIG events in the two countries will be canceled and they will not be allowed to use the national flags or anthems at FIG competitions. Yahor Sharamkou from Belarus was the first gymnast to experience the sanctions today – Belarusian flag was not used today when he won gold on floor at the Cottbus World Cup.
Additionally, the FIG said they will ask the FIG Foundation for Solidarity to provide special aid to Ukrainian gymnasts and staff.
The decision was taken by the FIG’s Executive Committee which includes representatives of both Belarus (vice-president Nellie Kim) and Russia (EC member Vassily Titov).
Vassily Titov who serves as the president of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation called the decision biased and said that he fought to lessen the impact of the sanctions:
“If we’re talking about the decision itself, it was imposed [on the FIG] by the IOC. It is absolutely biased.”
He added:
“We managed to ensure that our athletes will compete with the national symbols on the uniforms, everything will stay completely the same on the uniforms. We managed to insist that “Russia” will be written in the [results] protocols. In case of award ceremonies, the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation flag will be used. Regarding the anthem, they generally aren’t against Tchaikovsky, but they want to discuss it with the IOC.”
Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto was used instead of the Russian anthem at the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics.
