Vasily Titov outlines RGF plans for 2024

Interview with RGF President Vasily Titov.  Confirms broad details of competitions to take place next year.  Efforts to clarify FIG/IOC requirements are underway, but there isn’t much communication.  

President of the Artistic Gymnastics Federation of the Russian Federation Vasily Titov - about relations with the IOC and FIG, domestic competitions and motivation of athletes under the ban

❓ Are the gymnasts planning any competitions next year?

💬 A very busy schedule of domestic competitions, primarily the March Russian Championship in Sochi. In addition, artistic gymnastics is included in the program of the BRICS Games in Kazan, the Friendship Games in Moscow and Yekaterinburg. Plus a match meeting with the Chinese. The first one was already very successful at the youth level at the end of November in Kazan. There will still be meetings at the level of large national teams ahead.

❓ With the participation of stars like Nikita Nagorny and Angelina Melnikova?

💬 Yes, of course. There is no exact date for this meeting yet. But we have an agreement with the Chinese that this event will take place in both 2024 and 2025.

❓ Will it work for us too? Or already in China?

💬 Here in Russia.

❓ What is the situation with FIG? Can we see our gymnasts in 2024 at major competitions, just as we saw wrestlers and judokas last year?

💬 We have received the conditions for admission. They are complex. Let's study them. I must say the following thing: the athlete himself must decide whether he will go to the competition or not. The coaching staff or federation may have their own position on this matter, but it is each athlete who can take part in the competition who must personally make the decision, understanding all the sporting and legal consequences of signing a declaration and application for neutral status. I plan to meet with the team to discuss these issues.

❓ Among the FIG requirements, is there a clause on the non-admission of athletes associated with law enforcement agencies through performances for CSKA (Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) and Dynamo (Rosguard), which was in the IOC recommendations?

💬These requirements, of course, exist. The question is how the commission, which will check the neutral status, will evaluate the athlete’s affiliation with Dynamo and CSKA. We don't really understand it yet. We are counting on an approach in which only the presence of a contract with an organization will become a sign of affiliation, as written in the IOC recommendations. But for now we are clarifying whether this is formulated in a similar way in the FIG requirements.

❓ How broad is the support for your federation in the FIG Congress and Executive Committee now?

💬 I don’t have the right to voice voting numbers on some issues, but judging by what was there, we have a very high level of support.

❓ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov, in his October speech, expressed confidence that Russia will be at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Do you share this point of view?

💬 We must be optimistic. We don't slam the door, we don't close it. The situation is extremely difficult, there is almost no dialogue. More precisely, there is an official dialogue - an unofficial one, of course, is present. I don’t know what will happen next. But we must strive for what Stanislav Alekseevich spoke about.

Source: Izvestia/Google translate

https://iz.ru/1627407/aleksei-fomin/ne-sobiraemsia-khlopat-dveriu-i-ukhodit-iz-olimpiiskogo-dvizheniia