[Source: Reuters]

Shamil Mamedov, Russia’s only wrestler invited to compete in the Paris Olympics, has opted out of attending, as reported by Tass news agency on Saturday, citing the national wrestling federation.

The federation this week said Mamedov, 23, was free to decide whether to take part.

He won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships.

More than two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, facilitated by Moscow’s ally Belarus, Russian and Belarusian athletes are being allowed to compete in Paris strictly as neutrals, without flags or anthems.

Their participation is subject to additional checks by the IOC that competitors have no connection to the military.

The list of Russian athletes going to Paris has thinned to just over a dozen, with several Russian sports federations refusing to compete in what they see as humiliating conditions.

Thirty-six Russians received the green light to compete, but 20 of them subsequently declined to compete, the IOC said.

Russian officials have denounced the IOC conditions as discriminatory and Russian sports officials say world sport has suffered because of their absence.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in March said the IOC, by imposing such restrictions, had descended into “racism and neo-Nazism”.