Evgeny Rylov

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) banned two-time Olympic champion Russian swimmer, two-time world champion Evgeny Rylov from competitions for nine months. The reason was that on March 18, the athlete took part in a concert rally in Luzhniki in honor of the Day of the reunification of Crimea with Russia. This was reported by the press service of FINA.

The Federation noted that Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials will not be invited to events under the auspices of FINA until the end of 2022.

– the swimmer’s lawyer told the broadcast “Match TV”.

Earlier, due to participation in the concert, Rylov lost an advertising contract: Speedo (swimming equipment manufacturer) terminated the agreement with him.

Last summer, the athlete attracted attention with the cat-faced mask she often wore at the Olympics. The swimmer even wanted to wear this mask at the awards ceremony in Tokyo, but the organizers were against it.

Recently, this is not the first suspension of Russian athletes from participating in international competitions due to the socio-political situation. Thus, it became clear this week that Russian tennis players will not be able to participate in the Wimbledon tournament this year.