Croatia Denies Visas to Russian Olympic Champions

Russian Olympic champions in women's artistic gymnastics, Angelina Melnikova and Viktoria Listunova, have been denied visas by Croatia to participate in the European Championships. The Russian Gymnastics Federation has termed this decision as an attempt to 'effectively eliminate one of the main competitors'. The inability of seven Russian athletes to obtain visas is likely to alter the balance in the European Championships. The Federation has notified the World Gymnastics and European Gymnastics institutions and emphasized that efforts will be made to ensure the participation of Russian athletes in the competitions.The Russian Gymnastics Federation announced that five more female national team members were unable to obtain visas. This situation has resulted in a total of seven Russian gymnasts being unable to participate in the European Championships due to visa issues. The Federation stated, 'We consider the selective issuance of visas as an attempt to effectively eliminate one of the main competitors'