Russian Olympic chances ‘high’ despite qualifying ban – official
The Russian Volleyball Federation remains hopeful that its men’s and women’s teams will appear the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, despite the news that they are set to be excluded from the qualifying competition for the event.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently confirmed the 24 nations which have been invited to compete in the men’s and women’s qualifying tournaments for the Paris Games, citing a decision by volleyball governing body FIVB.
Of the nations in each category, Russia was marked as “not eligible to participate,” following an initial ban imposed by FIVB in March because of the conflict in Ukraine.
Despite fears in the Russian media that the qualifying omission would mean the nation’s teams are doomed to miss out in Paris, officials at the volleyball federation were more upbeat.
“We can still get to the Olympic Games based on rating, and the chances of this are quite high,” a spokesperson told TASS on Thursday.
“We are limited by the inability to play in international competitions. But we will count on the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games until the very end.”
The women’s volleyball qualification tournament for Paris takes place in September of next year, while the men’s event follows in late September and October. The draw for the qualifying rounds will be held on December 19 of this year.
The tournaments will determine six nations which qualify automatically for both the men’s and women’s volleyball events in Paris, with France already guaranteed a place as Olympic hosts.
There will be five more places available for the Olympics, which will be allocated based on FIVB world rankings following the preliminary stage of the 2024 Volleyball Nations League (VNL).
The Russian men’s volleyball team is currently ranked fifth in the world, while the women’s team is eighth.
The men’s team won silver at the last edition of the Olympics in Tokyo, losing to France in the final.
Russia’s men were gold medalists at the London Games in 2012, and won bronze in the two preceding editions of the Olympics.
The Russian women’s team was last on the podium in 2004 in Athens, when they won silver.
Reacting to current fears of an Olympic ban, Russian Volleyball Federation vice-president Gennady Shipulin told Match TV that the qualification process could still be reconsidered, should the broader situation change.
“Of course I have a negative attitude to decisions like this. The suspension of Russian athletes is unfair. There’s this attitude towards Russia everywhere now,” said the official.
“I’m a patriot of my country and volleyball as well. I think this is another short-sighted policy of Europe, including in sports.
“You can dispute it, but in order for us to be admitted, the situation must change as a whole. You need to disagree and slowly challenge [the decision].
“Now there’s such an attitude towards Russia, there is pressure through sports, but we must wait until the situation changes.
“Many athletes, competitors, federations do not agree with the absence of our athletes in the international arena.”
IOC dignitary Craig Reedie suggested back in July that Russian and Belarusian athletes could be barred from competing at the Paris Games because they are not cleared in time for qualifying events.
Meanwhile, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin and others have suggested that such talk is premature, and have vowed to make every effort to ensure the full return of the country’s athletes before the Olympics.
The IOC initially recommended a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from all international competitions at the end of February, following the launch of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
That stance has since been adopted by a wide range of sports federations. Russia has also been stripped of a long list of major events it was due to host, including the 2022 Men’s World Volleyball Championship.
