The 23-year-old swimmer, European 100m champion in 2021, will be absent from the next Olympic Games because of the “unacceptable” conditions of the IOC.
Becoming an Olympic champion was Russian Kliment Kolesnikov’s lifelong dream, but not at all costs. At 23, this rising swimming star will not go to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, due to the conditions “unacceptable» you CIO. «No, I’m not sad», says this tall brunette with a shy smile, bronze and silver medalist at the Tokyo Games.
«To this day, under current conditions, for me, this is unacceptable» to participate in the 2024 Olympics, assures Kliment Kolesnikov, in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of recent swimming competitions in Saint Petersburg, the former imperial capital. “The dream of an Olympic gold medal remains, but I’m not sad because I can’t go», Says the swimmer, who was crowned European 100m champion at the age of 20 in 2021 in Budapest.
At the beginning of December, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) authorized Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Paris Games (July 26-August 11) on the condition that they compete under a neutral banner, excluding team events, and that they do not have not actively supported the Russian offensive in Ukraine and that they have cleared the qualification hurdle. To date, there are only 11 in this case, eight Russians and three Belarusians, against around sixty Ukrainians, according to the IOC.
“Black sheep”
If Russia, which denounced criteria “discriminatory», has not yet decided whether or not to recommend to its athletes to go to Paris, Kliment Kolesnikov has already made his choice. “I decided that for me personally it would not be possible to participate in the Olympic Games under these conditions“, he said, explaining that he did not want to be a “black sheep» among the other athletes who will come to the French capital next summer.
«The other guys are participating, competing as if nothing had happened, and we will not have the right to have a delegation (…), nor a flag or anthem», Adds the world record holder in the 50m backstroke, while young athletes gather around him to ask for an autograph. “I always prepared for the Olympics“, the competitions “the coolest» for each athlete, says the 1.95 m swimmer.
«Of course I would like to go. Of course, I would like to win an Olympic gold medal. But given the current situation, I risk returning to my country with this medal and then seeing it withdrawn» by the IOC, he explains.
New world records
While waiting for the situation to change, Kliment Kolesnikov says he wants to focus on “new world records“. The number of competitions organized in Russia has increased significantly since Russian athletes were banned from international competitions following the launch of the Russian assault on Ukraine in February 2022.
«All this time that we are competing inside the country, the guys are improving and breaking records (…), I too manage to break world records», underlines Kliment Kolesnikov, who in July established the best world mark in the 50m backstroke (23”55) in the long course during a competition in Russia. “We swim, and we remain in competition with athletes from other countries by our results“, he says.
And to add: “but if ever the conditions (of the IOC) change” and the Russian authorities decide that “in the name of the Fatherland, we must win medals for our country» at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, “of course, I’m going to go».
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