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Russian athletes may soon return to the sports world again.
That causes Swedish swimming queen Sarah Sjöström to react strongly.
– That’s the only thing I can say right now, she admits to Sportbladet.
For the past year, Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from competing internationally in many sports. So also in swimming, but now they can soon return to the pools again.
Russian swimmers
The International Olympic Committee, IOC, has earlier this year opened to welcome back athletes from Russia and Belarus. This despite the fact that Russian warfare continues to wreak havoc on Ukraine.
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Now the International Swimming Federation, Fina, has appointed a working group to investigate whether the ported countries should be allowed to return to international competitions again. A decision is expected to come in July and the requirement so far is that they should compete under a neutral flag.
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Sjöström’s concern
The news that Russian swimmers may soon be back causes great concern for the Swedish swimming queen Sarah Sjostrom.
– It will be interesting to see what decision they make. I hope that a decision is made according to what is best for the Ukrainian athletes, I think of them above all. How they should be able to compete and feel safe at international competitions and at the Olympics, says the 29-year-old to Sportbladet.
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In the summer, the next big championship awaits when the World Swimming Championships in long course are decided in Japan. But as the championship runs between 14 and 30 July, Russian and Belarusian skaters will probably not have time to participate, as Fina’s decision will also come as late as July.
– It’s complicated. The only thing I can say right now is that I hope the Ukrainian athletes get what they need to feel confident about the championships, says Sjöström in the interview.
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As for Sarah Sjöström, she is fully committed to the long-course WC after taking a break from all swimming last fall and therefore missed the last championship, which was the short-course WC in Melbourne. Now she is back again and with new motivation in her body.
– The goal is always to be better than ever, but it’s tough to say that, because I need a world record for me to do that. I hope that I can follow my routines at home and make some progress in training all the time, and that I will feel stronger, she tells the evening newspaper.
– It’s the work before the competitions that is the biggest job, then once I’m at the competitions, I swim for like 23 seconds, that’s a very short time. Until then, just try to focus on all the details that I need to improve.
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