IOC Executive Board Approves Three Nationality Changes, Including Anastasiia Kirpichnikova
The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday approved seven total nationality switches, including three for swimmers. Among them was the switch for Anastasiia Kirpichnikova to represent France.
Also switching nations is swimmer Lisa Pou, from France to Monaco, and Levenia Sim, from the United States to Singapore.
Kirpichnikova’s switch is largely a formality, as she’s represented France at the last two World Championships and the 2023 European Short-Course Championships. The distance swimmer was born in Yekaterinburg but has trained in France for the last seven years. She made the announcement of her intention to switch in the spring of 2023. Kirpichnikova represented Russia, sans flag as the Russian Olympic Committee, at the Tokyo Olympics. She holds Russian records in the 800 free and 1,500 free, both long- and short-course.
She qualified for one of her first meet thanks in part to Pou switching away from French affiliation. Pou won a bronze medal in the team open water event for France at the 2018 European Championships, but the 24-year-old has previously signaled an interest to seek international opportunities with Monaco.
Like the others, Sim has already competed for Singapore internationally, at the Asian Games in 2023. Born and raised in Alabama, she followed in the footsteps of older sister Letitia Sim in representing Singapore. Letitia is at the University of Michigan, while Levenia has committed to Stanford as a member of the Class of 2024.
All the IOC determinations were subject to Rule 41 of the Olympic Charter. In the case of Pou and Kirpichnikova, Paragraph 2 of the IOC by-laws requires, “that at least three years have passed since the competitor last represented his former country,” with the IOC having discretion to shorten that time period.
