The 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France are just a few short weeks away with many countries continuing to complete the list of athletes that will be representing their countries at The Games.  

A part of the rules governing the Olympics is no aggression between countries while the games are going on.  Russia violated  that mandate when they invaded the Ukraine during the Winter Games in 2022.  Sinch that time, Russian and Belarus athletes may participate only ask neutrals with no flag or anthem.  This action has led to some athletes deciding not to compete at all.

The International Olympic Committee stated that they would invite, “Russian and Belarusian athletes who do not have ties to the security services or military and who have not publicly supported the war.”

But on Saturday when 10 Russian wrestlers declined an invitation to join the Olympics in Paris because not off the team was invited.  In essence if they all didn’t go, none of them would.

The Russian Wrestling Federation stated that the two time gold medal winning wrestler Abdulrashid Sadulaev and world champion wrestler Zaurbek Sidakov were among the athletes not invited to Paris.  The RWF stated that is was an unanimous decision between the executive committee, the coaching staff, and the athletes themselves not to attend.

In a statement the RWF said, “we do not accept the unsportsmanlike selection principle that guided the International Olympic Committee when forming the list of eligible athletes, the purpose of which is to undermine the principle of unity of our team.”

The RWF added that several of the invited wrestlers were, “far from the status of Russian team leaders.”  They also noted that without the uninvited athletes, “said the Olympic event would now be devalued.”

The RWF statement read, “any sane person understands that the status of the Olympic Games as the most significant sporting event is being questioned, and wrestling competitions without Russian athletes will be incomplete, and the champions will not receive the satisfaction of winning the Olympic tournament.”

Russian cyclist Aleksandr Vlasov withdrew from the Olympics last month.

The Russian Judo Federation has also elected not to send any athletes to the Olympic Games this year; although one of the athletes has chosen to enter the games.  To date 23 athletes from seven different sports have accepted an invitation from the IOC to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games.