Olympic boss wants to pretend that there are no Russians, says high jump world champion

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas is unlikely to reverse his organization’s recommendations for a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes because it’s easier for him to pretend they just don’t exist, according to the high jump -Olympic champion Mariya Lasitskene.

The 29-year-old Lasitskene is one of the most vocal Bach critics in the Russian sports community. He previously wrote an open letter to the IOC chief, accusing him of hypocrisy.

The Tokyo 2020 high jump champion repeated her criticism in an interview with TASS on Wednesday, declaring that there was no dignified path for Bach after the IOC urged sports federations in February to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes wherever possible.

“No one can take away from athletes the right to self-actualization and the restrictions imposed on Russians and Belarusians, put in place following the IOC’s strong recommendations, have only exacerbated an already difficult situation.” said the three-time world champion.

“I think that Bach simply has to renew his recommendations now that there is no worthy way out of this story for him.

“It will be easier to pretend that we, Russian and Belarusian athletes, do not exist and do not exist.”

Lasitskene has suffered bans before, having been denied a chance to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympics over state-sponsored doping allegations against Russia, despite being completely uninvolved.

“The older you are, the more this injustice depresses you. The 2022 season will be even more difficult with the realization of what is happening in the world at large.” Lasitskene to TASS.

“There were a lot of moments here that unsettled me. But, of course, this cannot be compared to the situation that Ukrainian high jumpers have been in for the past six months.”

The high jump star also criticized her country’s sports authorities, accusing them of taking insufficient or misguided measures to protect Russian athletes.

“In general, in 2016-2017 I was sure that we have knowledgeable people who will not get athletes into trouble and will defend our rights to the bitter end.” said Lasitzkene.

“In 2019 I still trusted our sporting management a little bit, they calmed me down and said: ‘Mascha, there’s nothing to worry about, everything will be fine.’

“And it was only then that I finally saw that our sports officials have no effective leverage to protect their athletes, nor an understanding of how to solve these problems.

“As a result, we were offered neutral status in 2017 [in order to compete]and the fact that we agreed without hesitation turned out to be the only way to at least perform somewhere.”

Craig Reedie, former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and IOC Honorary Member of the IOC, has already suggested that the bans on Russian and Belarusian athletes could force them to miss the Paris 2024 Olympics because they are not eligible for qualifying events in advance of the games.

Russian officials have warned it is far too early to speculate, and Lasitskene promised she will fight for her right to appear in Paris until the very last moment.

“I will defend my right to compete in the Olympics to the end. If it is necessary to go [the Court of Arbitration for Sport] one more time for that, we will” said the high jumper.