Hundreds of Russian sportspeople have changed citizenship, but number is underreported by Russian Ministry of Sport

Russia’s Ministry of Sport says that over 100 Russian sportspeople have changed citizenship and joined the teams of other countries, but Russian journalists have calculated that the number is twice as high.

Source: Russian state-owned news agency TASS, citing Russian Deputy Sports Minister Alexei Morozov; Russian media outlets Meduza and Kholod

Quote from Morozov: "55 sportspeople competing in Olympic sports have changed their citizenship, and if we include non-Olympic sports, this figure is over 100. There are precedents for the repayment of the funds spent on their training. Regarding changes of citizenship, some countries are not behaving entirely fairly."

Details: In July 2023, the media outlet Kholod estimated, based on open data, that since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at least 204 Russian sportspeople had changed or were about to change their sport nationality in order to continue their careers.

According to journalists, most of the people who changed their sport nationality in 2022-23 are chess players - 141 people.

Background:

• Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee recommended that international federations should not allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete.
• In early 2023, the IOC called on sports federations to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, but only as neutrals and subject to a number of conditions, including not supporting the war.

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