ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. Russian sports federations should use every available instrument to challenge the unjust ban against the country competing internationally, Dmitry Mazepin, the head of the Russian Aquatic Sports Federation (RASF), told TASS on Saturday.
In mid-April, the world’s governing body of swimming sports, World Aquatics (formerly known as FINA), lifted all previously imposed sanctions against Russia and Belarus, allowing their athletes to compete again under the countries’ flags and to the tune of national anthems.
"We [the federation] as well as the rest of our athletes participating in top-level athletics adhere to the Olympic Charter. It stipulates that sports have no borders, and politics is separate from sports. I won't go too deep into the history, but there were disagreements and situations when conflicts were paused so that everyone could take part in the Olympic Games," Mazepin said in an interview with TASS speaking on the sidelines of the 29th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
"And then there was the 1980 [Summer Olympics], when the Americans refused to come to Moscow for the Games. And 1984, when we refused to come to Los Angeles. If we look at the big picture here, entire generations of athletes, who prepared vigorously to compete at the top of their sport, to battle at the highest speeds, meter by meter, were simply stripped of this opportunity," he continued.
