MOSCOW — The Russian parliament will consider barring athletes from competing in more than two Olympics in a bid to keep older, injury-prone athletes from denying places to younger competitors.
The bill submitted by lawmaker Yegor Anisimov aims to avoid a repeat of an incident at last year’s Sochi Winter Olympics when figure skater Evgeny Plushenko entered his fourth Olympics despite injury concerns before a back problem forced him to withdraw from the men’s competition at the last minute.
While the bill’s level of support is unclear, nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky has backed a similar idea in the past.
If Anisimov’s proposal becomes law, it would block some Russian stars from competing at next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, including two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva.