During the Olympic wrestling qualifiers in May, SVT, in collaboration with Finnish EPN and Norwegian NRK, had an interview with Russian wrestling champion Mikhail Mamiaschvili.
In the interview, he directed criticism at the International Olympic Committee, IOC, and mocked chairman Thomas Bach. After SVT’s camera was turned off, Mamiaschvili continued to speak.
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Standing one meter from the couch where the interview had just taken place, he said that Ukrainians are fascists and that Russian children must be protected from Finland, because “Finland’s most prioritized issue is transgender rights.”
Statements that have caused Ukraine to react.
“Contrary to the Olympic Charter”
In a letter signed by three people: the Minister of Sports of Ukraine, the President of the Olympic Committee of Ukraine and the President of the Ukrainian Wrestling Federation, they demand that Mamiashvili resign from his position as vice-chairman of the International Wrestling Federation’s board.
The letter is addressed to IOC President Thomas Bach and International Wrestling Federation President Nenad Lalovic.
– Mikhail Mamiashvili’s statements are scandalous and insulting. They should be considered offensive because they are against the basic principles enshrined in the Olympic Charter, says Zhan Beleniuk.
He is the reigning Ukrainian Olympic champion in wrestling and a politician in Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s Servant of the People party. In 2019, he made history as the first black person to be voted into the Ukrainian parliament.
Ukraine wants to see more shutdowns
Beleniuk knows that the letter has been sent but not whether it has had any consequences.
He also brings up another statement Mamiashvili made a year ago, in which he threatened that “Russian athletes would travel to the Olympics in Paris in tanks” if they were forced to compete for the so-called Refugee Team.
Ukraine has several times since the outbreak of war pushed for suspensions of Russian athletes and leaders who can be seen as supporting the war in Ukraine or the Russian military.
SVT Sport has asked the IOC, the Russian Wrestling Federation and the Ukrainian sports representatives for comments but has not received a response.
Hear more from Zhan Beleniuk in the player above.