An isolated act or the beginning of an opening? A little over 100 days after the end of the Paris 2024 Games, the International Swimming Federation (World Aquatics) has relaxed its rules regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions.
The change remains very measured, but it is anything but anecdotal. As of the new season, neutral athletes from the two countries at war with Ukraine are no longer limited only to individual events. They can now also, subject to eligibility for neutrality status, compete in relays for swimming, synchronized duo events for diving, and team duo and ballet events for artistic swimming.
These new rules, less restrictive than for the Paris 2024 Games in particular, concern World Aquatics competitions, including the world championships and stages of the World Cup. In all cases, relays, pairs and teams must be formed with athletes from a single country.
A breach is opening, therefore, for Russia and Belarus. She remains thin. And does not concern water polo, the only true team sport in aquatic disciplines. World Aquatics confirmed this on Wednesday November 20: Russia and Belarus remain banned from international competitions in this discipline, the only “ intrinsically involving, among other things, physical contact between athletes ».
However, World Aquatics’ decision could mark a turning point, especially in view of new governance to come at the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), presumed to be more open to dialogue with the international sports movement.
In fact, the most visible impact to be expected from the opening decided by the international body concerns artistic swimming. Before its suspension in February 2022, Russia dominated, and even crushed, the competition. She won all the Olympic titles in team ballet between the Sydney 2000 Games and those of Tokyo 2020. At Paris 2024, her absence benefited China, crowned for the first time in history in this event.
At last count, at the end of October, the Swimming Integrity Unit granted neutral athlete status to only 14 athletes from the two suspended countries: six Russians and eight Belarusians. But there were only four – one Russian and three Belarusians – present at the Paris 2024 Games.
Beyond the sporting field alone, the decision of World Aquatics may be decisive in the debate within the Olympic movement on the Russian and Belarusian question. At this stage, it seems unlikely that it will be imitated in team sports. But it will perhaps make certain international sports bodies with multi-person events (rowing, canoeing, triathlon, etc.) want to step into the breach. The only near certainty: World Athletics will not follow the example.
