Ukraine withdraws from Judo Worlds to protest against the presence of Russians and Belarusians

A very political competition. The Ukrainian Judo Federation announced on Monday May 1 that it would not send a delegation to the World Judo Championships in Qatar from May 7 to 14 due to the presence of Russian and Belarusian judokas. The International Judo Federation (IJF) had given the green light the day before to the presence of Russians and Belarusians at these world championships on the condition that they do so individually and as neutral athletes.

According to the Ukrainian federation, “the majority of the Russian team is made up of sportsmen who are active soldiers in the army of the Russian Federation which attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022” and that “continues to wage a brutal war against our territory”. Ukrainian judoka Daria Bilodid called the IJF’s decision a“unacceptable”.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said at the end of March that Russian and Belarusian athletes could “compete as neutral individual athletes”, as long as they don’t “do not actively support the war in Ukraine” and don’t be “under contract” with the military or security agencies of both countries. However, the IOC has yet to make a decision on the participation of representatives from these two countries in the Paris Olympics in 2024.