11 countries appeal to European Gymnastics against allowing Russians with national symbols

The initiator of the collective letter was the German Gymnastics Federation, which demanded that athletes retain exclusively neutral status.

Eleven national gymnastics federations sent an official appeal to the European Gymnastics Union (European Gymnastics) demanding that athletes from Russia and Belarus be deprived of the right to compete under their state flags and anthems. As Sport24 reports, the author and initiator of this appeal was the German Gymnastics Federation. Representatives of the signatory countries insist that athletes should retain the opportunity to participate in international competitions exclusively in a neutral status.

This demarche followed after European Gymnastics on May 24 canceled the previously existing restrictions for Russian and Belarusian gymnasts. The leadership of the European organization emphasized that this decision was made in line with following the position of the International Gymnastics Federation (World Gymnastics), which approved similar relaxations on May 18. The decision of the executive committee of European Gymnastics caused sharp indignation on the part of the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation, whose representatives publicly called on colleagues from other European departments to block the return of Russian and Belarusian state symbols to tournaments.