Evgeny Rylov Calls Time on Career Following Pro-Putin Stance & Olympic Titles
Evgeny Rylov has announced his retirement after a career which will be remembered more for his allegiance to Vladimir Putin than his Olympic titles.
The Russian was handed a nine-month ban by World Aquatics – then FINA – in April 2022 after appearing on stage with Putin at a pro-war rally in Moscow a month earlier at which he wore the “Z” symbol of Russian nationalism.
That followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which is still ongoing today although World Aquatics has now permitted Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at their events without restrictions.
They had been banned in 2022 from World Aquatics events before being permitted to return as individual neutral athletes in 2024 and 2025.
Rylov won gold in both the men’s 100 and 200 backstroke at the Tokyo Olympics, representing the ROC. He also earned silver in the 800 free and was the bronze medalist in the Rio Olympics in the 200 back. He was the 2021 Swimming World European Men’s Swimmer of the Year.
His last international appearance came at the 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia.
The Russian Swimming Federation and Rylov announced the swimmer’s formal retirement on social media, saying:
“Every great sports story eventually comes to an end.
“For Evgeny Rylov, these were years of hard training, self-improvement, ups and downs, culminating in triumphant victories and well-deserved awards.
“Thank you for your dedication to the sport, your champion’s character, and the emotions you brought to millions of fans 💪🏻
“ Good luck in this new stage of your life, Zhenya!”
Rylov was once good friends with Mykhailo Romanchuk but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine destroyed that in an instant.
Following bronze in the 800 free at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, Romanchuk issued an impassioned plea for the suspension of Russian athletes to remain in place.
“If someone tells me that sports is not politics, I will tell them that sport is the biggest [realm of] politics,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s true and it is the right decision that the Russians are not here because if I saw some of the Russian guys I don’t know how I would react towards them. Maybe I would be aggressive. I don’t know. Especially when the backstroke guy [Rylov] joined the…(Putin rally).” He added: “We were friends before but everything changed.”