Three star Russian gymnasts won't get visas for worlds. What it could mean for Olympics

Editor's note: Follow the latest gymnastics world championships live updates and scores from Rotterdam.

Russia said three of its gymnasts, including Tokyo Olympics gold medalists Angelina Melnikova and Viktoria Listunova, have been denied visas by the Dutch government for the upcoming world championships.

In a post on its official Telegram channel on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the Russian gymnastics federation said the athletes were turned down because they were considered a threat to international relations. The federation later said five more gymnasts had received their visas for worlds, which begin Saturday, Oct. 17, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and are the first opportunity for countries to qualify gymnastics teams for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

All five members of the men's team have been cleared, but the women's team is down to four gymnasts — and only because the original alternate, Milana Kayumova, and backup alternate, Elizaveta Us, were given visas. That will complicate the Russian women's hopes of qualifying for LA28 in Rotterdam because only the top three countries in the men's and women's competitions get spots.

The remaining nine spots in the 12-team Olympic field will be determined at next year's worlds, which are in Chengdu, China.

"The Russian Gymnastics Federation views the actions of the Dutch authorities as a deliberate attempt to exclude the strongest gymnasts from competing for World Championship medals and Olympic quotas," the federation said on Telegram. "This constitutes direct discrimination against Russian athletes and a gross violation of the principle of equal conditions for Olympic selection."

The International Olympic Committee, World Gymnastics and local organizers of the world championships have not responded to requests for comment from USA TODAY Sports.

In a story on her official Instagram account, Melnikova called the decision "unfair."

"Just unfair competition and selection to LA," she wrote in a caption of a video of her training on uneven bars.

Why Dutch officials would deem the gymnasts a threat is not clear. But Listunova has shown public support for Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine, and was unable to compete at the European championships in August after Croatia refused to grant her a visa. Melnikova's visa request for that event was initially denied, too, but Croatia eventually granted her one and she led Russia — or WG2, as it was called by local organizers — to the women's title while she and Anna Kalmykova went 1-2 in the all-around.

Kalmykova is the third gymnast whose visa has been denied by Dutch officials. Alyona Glotova and Lyudmila Roshina, who with Us comprised the rest of Russia's European team, were granted visas for worlds.

The visa holdups show how fraught the issue of the Russian athlete participation remains, despite the IOC saying in July it was provisionally lifting a ban imposed in reaction to Russia's unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Sports and culture must not become vehicles for whitewashing Russian aggression. Based on today's discussion, my services together with the Commission, will put forward proposals on how to sustain Russia's isolation in global sports," Kaja Kallas, the foreign policy chief for the European Union, said Monday, Oct. 12.

Russia has largely been a pariah in international sports since 2022, though athletes in some sports have been able to compete as "independent, neutral" athletes for the last two years. By lifting its ban, the IOC is clearing the way for Russia to return without restrictions, and the world gymnastics championships is to be the first major sporting event where it will have a full team in more than four years.

Russia sent full teams to the world championships for fencing, modern pentathlon and rhythmic gymnastics this summer, but none of those sports are as prominent as gymnastics.