Only 4 Russian Gymnasts Had Dutch Visas as of Oct. 12, Days Before World Championships in Rotterdam

The Russian gymnastics team missed its planned departure for the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships because most of its athletes still have no visas to enter the Netherlands.

As of Monday, Oct. 12, only 38 of the 61 members of Russia's delegation had visas, a Russian gymnastics official said. Just four were competitors: Alyona Glotova from the women's side, and Daniil Marinov, Arseniy Dukhno and Sergei Naidin from the men's.

The championships run Oct. 17 to 25 in Rotterdam.

Who is still waiting

The list of athletes without documents includes defending all-around world champion Angelina Melnikova, Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Viktoria Listunova, Anna Kalmykova and Lyudmila Roshchina. Glotova is the only member of the planned women's lineup cleared to travel.

On the men's side, Ilya Zaika and Saveliy Seydin are still waiting, along with both teams' alternates.

The Russian Gymnastics Federation says every athlete was selected and appears on the official entry lists submitted to World Gymnastics. It says the full document package went to the visa center between Sept. 30 and Oct. 5, right after invitations arrived. As of Oct. 9, the federation says, it had been given no date for a decision.

The team had planned to leave overnight Oct. 11 to 12. Official training in Rotterdam starts Oct. 13, and the men's podium training is Oct. 14. The federation warns that the women cannot compete with their intended lineup and that the men may have to travel short-handed.

It also says officials have given no explanation for the delay. It has notified World Gymnastics and is working with Russia's Foreign Ministry and World Gymnastics president Morinari Watanabe. World Gymnastics and the local organizers did not immediately answer USA TODAY Sports' requests for comment.

"We are waiting for good news," Melnikova wrote on her Telegram channel. "So far, today's only news is that everyone has gone out to train."

A deadline with Olympic consequences

Rotterdam is the first chance for national teams to earn spots at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The top three men's and women's teams qualify. The Russian women are reigning European team champions and are expected to challenge the United States for the world title.

The federation put the stakes in its own words: the Dutch authorities, it said, are "jeopardizing the Russian national team's participation in the qualifiers for the 2028 Olympic Games." That is the federation's accusation. The Dutch side has not been quoted explaining its handling of the applications.

A source cited by TASS, Russia's state news agency, says all outstanding visas will be issued Tuesday, Oct. 13, or Wednesday, Oct. 14. The source was not named, and nobody on the Dutch side has confirmed the timeline.

Not the first time this year

Before the European Championships in Zagreb in August, several members of the Russian delegation hit similar entry problems. Most eventually got visas. Listunova did not, and she missed the event. The Russian women still won the team title, and Melnikova and Kalmykova took first and second in the all-around.

The political backdrop

The sport's governing body, World Gymnastics, decided in May to allow Russian athletes back into international competition under their own flag and anthem. In July it said exceptions were possible for events approved before that decision if local authorities impose restrictions. The International Olympic Committee said in July that it was provisionally lifting its ban, which was imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. USA TODAY reports Rotterdam would be the first major event with a full Russian team in more than four years.

Not everyone accepts that return. Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, said on Monday, Oct. 12: "Sports and culture must not become vehicles for whitewashing Russian aggression." She said her services, together with the European Commission, "will put forward proposals on how to sustain Russia's isolation in global sports."

Ukrainian outlet ua.news has also highlighted Melnikova and Listunova's public support for Vladimir Putin and the war, and cites Russian media reports about Melnikova's political activity. Neither athlete's position is in dispute in the reporting; what remains open is whether a host government can or should treat that as grounds for refusing entry.

Visa decisions belong to the Netherlands, not to gymnastics federations. The Dutch government has given no public reason for the delay in the cases reviewed here.

What happens next

If the TASS source is right, the visas arrive Oct. 13 or 14, leaving the team to fly in and train for a few days before competition opens Oct. 17. If they do not, Russia either sends an incomplete roster or does not go. World Gymnastics, which cleared Russia to compete, has yet to say publicly what it will do about the team's missing visas.