«Worthless Athlete». President of the Russian Rowing Federation Insulted a Participant of the Olympics from the Russian Federation.

The President of the All-Russian Federation of Rowing on Kayaks and Canoes, Evgeny Arkhipov, stated to one of the Russian media outlets that he considers canoeist Olesya Romashenko a worthless athlete who should end her career. 

This followed the fact that Romashenko failed to advance to the semifinals of the single canoe races over a distance of 200 meters at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. In the quarterfinal race, Romashenko finished fourth, while the top two advanced to the semifinals.

Arkhipov was angry at the performance of the Russian athlete: «A completely worthless athlete. How she got there is unclear, but this is the level of our women's canoeing. Maybe if we hadn't had a difficult selection history, another athlete would have gone. Romashenko needs to quit big sports and move to tourism».

The 34-year-old athlete directly contacted the International Olympic Committee to obtain a license. Romashenko is a five-Time silver medalist at the World Championships, a four-time European champion, and a finalist of the previous Olympics. Due to the war in Ukraine, Russians and Belarusians are competing in Paris under a neutral status.

Earlier, the controversial Serbian head of the International Wrestling Federation, Lalovich, missed the absence of Russians at the Olympics. 

Recall that the Summer Olympics are being held in the capital of France, Paris, and 16 other cities across the European part of France, as well as in Tahiti – an island within the French overseas country and overseas collectivity of French Polynesia. These Olympic Games will feature the debut of breakdancing as an Olympic sport, and they are expected to be the last Olympic Games held during the presidency of IOC President Thomas Bach.

The 2024 Games are the first to have an equal number of male and female athletes. The Games are expected to cost 8.3 billion euros.

The opening ceremony began at 19:30 on July 26, 2024. This was the second such instance in history where the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games took place outside of a stadium (the first was the opening ceremony of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games).

The Parade of Nations occurred as part of a boat parade along the Seine from the Austerlitz Bridge to the Iena Bridge, and the official protocol took place at the Trocadéro square in a temporary «mini-stadium». The 6-kilometer-long (3.7-mile) parade route showcased cultural elements of the ceremony and views of Paris's landmarks.

The director of the opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was Thomas Jolly.

Olympics-2024. Medal tally