Ivan Litvinovich and Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya know they’ve gained Olympic medals – the gold and silver hanging round their necks is proof – however they won’t be proven within the official medal desk.
The trampoline gymnasts are two of the 17 Belarusians competing in Paris as Particular person Impartial Athletes (AIN) as a result of their nation is banned owing to its help of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) has invited eligible athletes from the 2 international locations to compete as AINs in the event that they meet strict standards, however they haven’t any nationwide flag, colors or anthem – and their medals is not going to be displayed within the desk of countries.
Among the many circumstances are that the athletes should not actively help the struggle and should not be contracted to the Russian or Belarusian navy or nationwide safety companies.
Litvinovich, 23, efficiently defended his title on Friday however – quite than listening to the Belarusian anthem that accompanied his flag on the rostrum in Tokyo – he listened to a track commissioned by the IOC with no lyrics, whereas the teal AIN flag was raised.
He did, nevertheless, get a message of congratulations from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who wrote on his official web site: “Expensive Ivan, you might be our satisfaction! Thanks for the Olympic gold.”
Litvinovich was fast to close down a query from a reporter asking him about his previous help for Lukashenko, saying: “Subsequent query. I do not wish to reply this. It is a provocation. Please, questions on sport.”
He did, nevertheless, say the Belarusian anthem was “significantly better” than the AIN one, including: “After all on the subsequent Olympics I want to compete beneath my very own flag and anthem.”
Litvinovich stated everybody is aware of which nation he’s from and that “nothing had modified”.
Bardzilouskaya, 19, had earlier taken silver behind Nice Britain’s Bryony Web page within the girls’s trampoline.
She acquired congratulations from the Belarusian Olympic Committee (BOC), which isn’t recognised by the IOC.
“That is your first Olympic medal and the primary medal for Belarus in Paris, so it’s twice as precious and particular,” its president Viktor Lukashenko – son of Alexander – stated in feedback carried on the BOC’s web site.
“Your lovely debut on the Video games is spectacular and admirable. You’ve got given unforgettable feelings and pleasure to hundreds of thousands of Belarusian followers and our athletes.”
Eligible Russian athletes are additionally competing as AINs and there may be one other AIN medal assured at these Video games after Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider reached the ladies’s doubles tennis remaining. They’re two of the 15 Russians competing in Paris.
The IOC initially banned Russian and Belarusian athletes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
However it later determined athletes from the 2 international locations would have the ability to take part as neutrals in the event that they met strict eligibility circumstances, saying that letting people participate was about “respecting human rights”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated final yr that permitting Russia to compete on the Olympics would quantity to exhibiting that “terror is someway acceptable”, including there was no neutrality in sport whereas his nation’s athletes have been dying on the battlefield.
It’s the fourth successive Olympics the place Russians are competing beneath an acronym. Earlier than its invasion of Ukraine, Russia was already being sanctioned on the worldwide sporting stage for a state-sponsored doping scandal.
