Russia finishes atop medal count at 2023 Youth Summer Games in China
MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. Russia finished with the most medals at the 2023 Russian-Chinese Youth Summer Games in China.
On the final day of the games, Russia’s athletes won two golds: in rugby and in the 400-meter individual medley (Yaroslav Sokolovsky).
In all, Russian athletes took home a total of 92 medals at the Games in China - 37 gold, 27 silver and 28 bronze medals. The youth movement from China came away with 25 gold, 35 silver and 13 bronze medals.
The 9th annual Russian-Chinese Youth Summer Games were hosted by the Chinese city of Chongqing from May 21-26 and the Russian delegation at the event was represented by 158 athletes in addition to 50 members from the coaching and accompanying staff.
The Russian-Chinese Youth Summer Games included eight sports disciplines, namely badminton, basketball, volleyball, handball, wrestling, swimming, football and rhythmic gymnastics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on October 17, 2022 to hold the Year of Russian-Chinese cooperation in physical culture and sports in 2022 and 2023.
IOC’s ban on Russia’s international participation
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Athletes from the countries in question should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status.
