Olympic champs among 3 Russian gymnasts denied visas for worlds in the Netherlands

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — The Russian Gymnastics Federation says former Olympic champions Angelina Melnikova and Viktoria Listunova are among three athletes denied visas to enter the Netherlands for the world championships starting on Saturday.

Melnikova would have been the defending champion in the women’s all-around in Rotterdam for the week-long worlds that are a team qualifying event for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Russian officials will ask the International Olympic Committee and World Gymnastics to strip the championships of its status as a Los Angeles qualifier, sports minister Mikhail Degtyaryov wrote on social media on Tuesday.

Melnikova and Listunova were gold medalists in the team event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, edging a United States team competing without Simone Biles who withdrew.

The Russians were due to travel to the Netherlands with 18-year-old Anna Kalmykova. Four other Russian gymnasts were allowed into the country, Russian media reported.

Russian gymnasts were cleared in May of restrictions to competing internationally by World Gymnastics, after years of being banned or required to pass vetting for neutral status during the full military invasion of Ukraine.

Countries hosting sports events still retain the right to deny visas for political or security reasons.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, no Russians competed in artistic gymnastics.

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