Karatsev and Kudermetova, excluded from the Olympic Games due to their political positions.

Diego Jiménez Rubio | 11 Jul 2024 | 10.18

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Aslan Karatsev and Veronika Kudermetova have been identified by the International Olympic Committee and the ITF as tennis players linked to Putin's regime and the war in some way, being the only ones who have not passed the neutrality test that all Russian and Belarusian athletes must undergo to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympics.

A tricky situation arises for Russian sports in the context of an event like the Paris 2024 Olympics, where they are unable to present athletes competing under their flag and representing the country. The International Olympic Committee decided that they could participate under a neutral status, meaning they would not represent their country. To do so, a series of tests were established to ensure that every Russian athlete at the Olympic event had no ties to Putin's regime and had not expressed support for it at any time.

The case of tennis is notable as there have been instances such as player Mirra Andreeva, who liked a series of Facebook posts containing pro-Russian jokes mocking the misfortunes of Ukraine. Additionally, two other Russian tennis players, Karen Khachanov and Anastasia Potapova, clearly violated these neutrality boundaries. Khachanov posted a photo with the George Cross, a military decoration of the Russian Army, while Potapova even attended a match wearing Spartak Moscow's shirt, the team associated with this institution.

- The Russian Tennis Federation blames the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for these two prohibitions

Neither of them will be in Paris in 2024 because they chose not to present their cases for participation, just like Kasatkina and Rublev, who have emerged as two of the few Russian tennis players openly opposing the war initiated by their country against Ukraine. The final selection consists of Daniil Medvedev, Roman Safiullin, Pavel Kotov, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Mirra Andreeva, and Diana Shnaider, who will compete under a neutral flag after passing the required tests.

However, the Russian Tennis Federation also submitted the candidacies of Aslan Karatsev and Veronika Kudermetova, both rejected by the ITF and the IOC. The case of Kudermetova, who previously ranked 9th in the world and is now 38th, was foreseeable as she had continued displaying the logo of Tatneft, a Russian oil and gas company sanctioned by the EU for its ties to the regime, long after the war began. As for Karatsev, a silver medalist in mixed doubles at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the reasons for his exclusion remain unknown.

🚨Russian tennis players Veronika Kudermetova and Aslan Karatsev were not allowed to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris as neutral athletes! They are the only tennis players who failed the "neutrality test" (no connections with war, army, no symbols, statements) 1/2
— Dominik Senkowski (@dsenkowski07) July 10, 2024