Russian gymnasts nearly miss European Championship
The actions of Bulgaria’s aviation authorities have nearly cost the Russian gymnastics team their place at the European Championship. Sofia's civil aviation administration refused to approve a charter flight for the athletes to the country's Black Sea coastal city of Varna.
The team nevrtheless arrived in Varna on an alternative flight on Tuesday, just a day before the start of the competition, which is being held between May 27 and May 31.
The Russian Gymnastics Federation had to promptly approach another carrier – Turkish Airlines – and ask it to provide a bigger aircraft for a regular Istanbul-Varna flight to facilitate the team’s trip.
The federation extended its “sincere gratitude” to Turkish Airlines for its cooperation.
“It is also puzzling that some Russian journalists have been denied visas to cover the European Championship in Bulgaria because of a ‘security threat’,” the gymnastics federation said in a statement.
The championship will be the first major international competition for Russian gymnasts since they were cleared to return to the international events under their national flag. Its results will determine quota places for the World Championship.
Last week, the World Gymnastics Executive Committee announced it was lifting its ban on Russian and Belarusian gymnasts. The restrictions placed in the wake of the Ukraine conflict’s escalation in 2022 have been condemned by Moscow and Minsk as politically motivated.
Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced what he described as selective sanctions against Russian competitors, arguing that the differing treatment compared with other conflicts exposed political bias and corruption within international sports bodies. Athletes should get access to competitions solely on merit as “politics has no place in sport,” the president said at the time.
