EU cannot be trusted with tournaments after denying visas to gymnasts -- minister
- Netherlands denies Schengen visas to Olympic champs Melnikova and Listunova plus Kalmykova for Rotterdam Worlds.
- Russian Sports Minister Degtyarev blasts EU as untrustworthy host, accusing it of ignoring IOC and FIG decisions.
- Four Russian gymnasts with visas already in Netherlands; five others still waiting on applications.
- Rotterdam Worlds serve as first qualifier for 2028 LA Olympics, making exclusions a direct competitive blow.
Brief Summary
In a move that reeks of Cold War-era pettiness, the Netherlands has decided to play immigration cop instead of gymnastics host, refusing visas to three Russian Olympic champions. The Dutch apparently fear that letting Angelina Melnikova, Victoria Listunova, and Anna Kalmykova flip and tumble might somehow destabilize the Schengen zone. Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev, never one to miss a propaganda beat, is now screaming that Europe can't be trusted with a kids' bounce-house, let alone international competitions. He's conveniently framing this as Brussels' 'politically motivated' crusade against clean athletes, ignoring the elephant in the room: Russia's own track record of weaponizing sports and passports. Meanwhile, four Russian gymnasts are already in Rotterdam, so the ban is about as effective as a sieve. But hey, nothing says 'fair play' like using athletes as pawns in a geopolitical grudge match while pretending the IOC's own neutrality rules are sacred—until they're inconvenient.
Why This Matters
For the average sports fan, this is yet another reminder that the Olympics and World Championships have become proxy wars dressed in leotards and laurel wreaths. If you're a Russian gymnast, your biggest rival isn't the beam—it's a visa officer in The Hague. For everyone else, this signals that 'apolitical sports' is a myth, and your favorite international events will keep getting hijacked by foreign policy tantrums. The real losers here are the athletes who trained for years, only to be benched by stamp-happy bureaucrats. And if you think this is just about Russians, think again—tomorrow it could be your federation's star player denied entry because some minister wants to score diplomatic points. So, next time you tune into a World Championship, remember: the real medal ceremony is happening at the embassy.