Team USA’s Rival Russian Gymnasts Face a Major Setback Ahead of Championships Due to the Ongoing Conflict in Ukraine

As the Russia-Ukraine conflict goes on, sports life also seems to be affected for athletes. Many international federations and organizations are barring Russia from competing at various sports events. And the latest setback for the nation is a tense situation for most of the top stars. With the current global crisis, the International Gymnastics Federation bans Russian and Belarussian gymnasts from competing. The Russian gymnasts cannot take part in future competitions until further notice.

This is the latest decision from the sports governing body. the decision will surely be a problem for the gymnasts who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Russian gymnasts get barred from competing

The International Gymnastics Federations governs the sport of gymnastics as they issued the ban. It will be imposed, starting from March 7th as these athletes cannot compete in the future. Earlier, they stated how athletes from Russia and Belarus could compete under a neutral status. Hence, this is a bitter blow for most of the athletes, as they had some great talents amongst their ranks.

Back at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the Russian team took part under the banner of the Russian Olympic Committee due to sanctions by the World Anti-Doping Agency. A team consisting of Angelina Melnikova, Vladislava Urazova, Viktoria Listunova and Lilia Akhaimova won the team gymnastics gold medal in Tokyo.

In the meantime, other sports federations have placed a ban as well.

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FIFA bans Russia soccer team

The World Soccer governing body, FIFA, barred Russia from taking part in the FIFA World Cup, which will happen later this year. They also barred Russian teams from club competitions, and many other federations are following this decision. Likewise, UEFA cut down the sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom which could have fetched them $50 million a year to European soccer.

Hence with all the federations acting quickly, the Russian gymnasts and athletes are in serious trouble. The sporting federations are standing united against the problem and continue to take stringent measures. They are cutting ties and other sponsorships as a collective decision.

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