Russia’s reigning all-around world champion will not compete in Rotterdam. Angelina Melnikova was among three Russian gymnasts refused Dutch visas, according to Meduza, with the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships opening on October 17.

The refusal notices, reproduced by Russian officials, said “one or several Schengen member states consider the athletes a threat to their international relations.” Of 61 members of the Russian delegation applying for travel, 47 were cleared, the Kyiv Independent reported, including five male and three female gymnasts.

The event, running from October 17 to 25, is the opening stage of team qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

Three profiles, three pro-war flags

Melnikova is attached to CSKA, Russia’s armed-forces sports club, and has shared photographs featuring the “Z” symbol used to signal support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

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Viktoria Listunova, part of Russia’s team all-around gold medal squad at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, attended a Vladimir Putin rally staged in March 2022 to mark the start of the invasion. World Gymnastics had already refused her neutral status over pro-military posts, and she was denied a Croatian visa for a competition in August.

Anna Kalmykova holds a sports contract with the Russian National Guard, Ukrainian sports authorities say.

Russia’s threat: strip the LA 2028 qualifier status

Russia’s response has gone beyond protest. Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov, who also heads the Russian Olympic Committee, said on social media that the country would push for the Rotterdam championships to lose their Olympic qualifying status.

“The politically motivated refusal of visas to the Russian gymnasts by the Netherlands again shows that big sports have no place in Europe,” Degtyaryov said in remarks carried by TASS.

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“EU countries cannot be trusted with international competitions.”

The Russian Gymnastics Federation said it would “appeal to the International Olympic Committee and World Gymnastics,” according to the Kyiv Independent. Russia’s ambassador in The Hague, Vladimir Tarabrin, visited the Dutch Foreign Ministry in person to demand the visas be issued, the Moscow Times reported, and said he was met with “utterly unconvincing arguments that defy any reasonable criticism.”

Any downgrade of the championships would affect every federation competing, not only Russia. Rotterdam is where team places for Los Angeles are first put on the line, and gymnasts who miss it face a narrower path to the Games.

Russian athletes have been competing on the international circuit as neutrals, without flag or anthem, after World Gymnastics began readmitting them under that status. The Dutch denials, targeted at athletes with documented military or political ties, mark one of the sharpest applications of that filter in a non-Russian host country since the invasion began.

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Rotterdam’s first competition day is Saturday, October 17. The Russian team that did receive visas remains cleared to compete.

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