In addition to the moral aspect, Finnish swimming influencers are doubting whether the Russians have been subject to credible doping testing. As many as 27 Russians are in the World Cup pool in Budapest.
9.12. 19:00•Updated 9.12. 19:40
The head coach of Uimailiitto is leaving at the turn of the year Eetu Karvonen had quite a surprise while reading last week’s swimming news site Swimswam. It could tellthat Russia will come rushing back to the world’s biggest individual sports arena this week. As many as 27 Russian and five Belarusian swimmers have been announced as neutral athletes for the Short Course World Championships starting on Tuesday in Budapest. According to Karvonen, there was no prior information about the matter.
– This happened with very little noise and came as a surprise to us. There’s nothing we can do about it.
Finland is represented by a team of seven athletes in Hungary.
The Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban between the President of Russia to Vladimir Putin are known to be warm and close. Even Russia’s biggest return to international top sports since February 2022 and the beginning of the war in Ukraine will be seen in Budapest.
Only one Russian, a breaststroker, jumped into the Olympic pool in Paris in July-August Yevgeny Somov. Swimming is one of the sports where its own international umbrella organization allows Russians and Belarusians to participate in international competitions without national emblems.
The chairman of the swimming association Ville Riekkinen according to the board of the umbrella organization World Aquatics softened its Russia policy after the Paris Games.
– The previously set criteria, following the war in Ukraine, were softened for Russians and Belarusians, which led to this situation. For example, the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and even the European Swimming Federation (the continental organization of World Aquatics) represent another position, but swimming is a very global sport. The political weight of the war in Ukraine is not the same all over the world, says Ville Riekkinen.
The World Aquatics Bureau, or the board, which decided to soften the lines, has 44 members, 12 of which are European. There is no Finnish representation. Russia is represented by a freestyle swimming legend Vladimir Salnikov.
Can’t stand daylight
The chairman of Uimailiitto, Ville Riekkinen, believes that the government’s procedure does not stand the light of day.
– The decision is not based on the view of the Congress, i.e. the member countries, but the government made it without communicating with the national unions in any way. We read about it in the media. The procedure cannot be considered appropriate. The international sports community should stand by Ukraine, not sympathize with a state waging an aggressive war of aggression, says Riekkinen.
He adds that a number of European member countries of the umbrella organization have made their views on the matter clear to the World Aquatics board of trustees in a separate petition.
China’s swimming and doping were hotly discussed during the Paris Olympics. China allowed no less than 11 swimmers to swim in the Games, whose names were connected to the extensive doping network that was revealed last spring.
The test deterrence makes me think
Head coach Karvonen and chairman Riekkinen admit that both of them are wondering whether Russia will enter the short track World Cup qualifiers from this point of view. Russia’s anti-doping work, which is otherwise considered to be cowardly, will soon not arouse much international confidence during the three-year war.
– It makes me wonder a little again when it comes to this country. We have to hope that World Aquatics has some control over the matter, says Karvonen.
At least by Aquatics Integrity, World Aquatics’ independent anti-doping body of testing statistics according to the Russians, urine and blood have been intensively collected during 2024, both during and outside the Games. According to statistics, Russian swimmers have been tested a total of 253 times between last New Year’s Day and Finland’s Independence Day, corresponding to, for example, Finns 21 times.
The ban imposed by Aquatics Integrity has this three at the moment Russian swimmers.
“You swam hard all the time”
Although the Russians’ sense of international competition has remained very thin in recent years, head coach Karvonen thinks the athletes are in good shape.
– They have been swimming hard in their own competitions all along.
For example Yevgenia Tshikunova cut as much as 1.40 seconds off the women’s 200m breaststroke world record in Kazan on March 21, 2023, when she stopped the clocks at the current ME time of 2:17.55. On the men’s side Kliment Kolesnikov has swum during the Ukrainian war in the 50-meter backstroke of the ME period, both on the long and short course.
In Budapest, the team code for Belarusian swimmers is NAA, i.e. Neutral Athletes A, and Russia’s NAB, i.e. Neutral Athletes B.