Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk rips IOC's decision on Russia after reaching Wimbledon semifinals: 'It's terrible'

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Marta Kostyuk has reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in her career. (Marleen Fouchier/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
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Marta Kostyuk slammed the International Olympic Committee's move to provisionally lift its ban on Russia on Wednesday after reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon.

The IOC announced Tuesday that it would provisionally lift a nearly three-year-old ban on the Russian Olympic Committee. That suspension first landed in October 2023 after Russia invaded Ukraine, and prevented Russian athletes from competing as members of the ROC.

Under that ban, Russian athletes have competed internationally as neutral athletes. Russian star Daniil Medvedev, for example, is playing at Wimbledon without a flag next to his name.

Kostyuk, after beating Jasmine Paolini to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon for the first time in her career, ripped the IOC over the decision.

"My thoughts are that it's terrible," she said, via The Associated Press. "I think it's very, very far from fair play for all the countries involved here, not just for Ukraine. I 100% don't agree with this decision. ... I just want to go out there and hopefully beat every single Russian I play in the Olympics."

The IOC said it will make a decision about the display of the Russian flag, anthem, colors or any other identifications at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles "at the appropriate time." It also denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the decision.


The move from the IOC comes as the war between Russia and Ukraine is still ongoing. On Monday, according to The New York Times, Russia mounted a massive attack on the Ukrainian capital that killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens of others. In total this week, Russian attacks have killed more than 50 people.

"It's not easy to disconnect entirely," Kostyuk said. "It was really tough for me last week when the first big attack happened. Then, on Monday, they ruined like four streets of residential buildings. It was like 5 kilometers away from where my parents live. Again, another difficult night and a lot of dead people, innocent people, kids. It's not easy. I try to be aware of everything that's going on. Of course, I try for these things not to influence me too much."

Kostyuk will take on Czechia's Linda Noskova in the semifinals on Thursday. American Coco Gauff will square off with Czechia's Karolina Muchova in the other semifinal. If Kostyuk can pull off the win, she'd be the first Ukrainian woman to reach the finals at Wimbledon.

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