PARIS– Russian tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider gave the competing group as Individual Neutral Athletesknown by the French acronym AIN, the chance to win your first gold medal in Paris Olympics winning on Friday to reach the women’s doubles final.
Andreeva17-year-old, and Shnaider, a 20-year-old who played one season of college tennis at North Carolina, beat the eighth-seeded team of Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals.
Russia and Belarus were banned by the International Olympic Committee from participating in team sports at the Paris Games due to war in Ukraine that began in February 2022. Individual athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports were allowed to compete as neutrals if they qualified and were approved to enter the Olympics.
“We will do everything possible to win,” said Andreeva. “It’s a really, really good feeling because we know we’re going to take home a medal no matter what. Of course, it would be amazing if we could take home a gold medal.”
Andreeva and Shnaider, who held commemorative ice cream cones during the interview, wear all-white uniforms with none of the flags or other markings worn by other tennis players at the Olympics. Shnaider said her outfit is the same one she wore last month at Wimbledon, which has a policy requiring white clothing.
They now know they will leave France with just a silver medal. They will face Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the final on Sunday.
“We are very excited,” Shnaider said. “We’ll go ahead.”
The previous Friday, gymnast Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya from Belarus won the first medal for an AIN athlete at these Olympics, taking silver in the women’s trampoline.
Shnaider, whose family lives in Moscow, and Andreeva, whose training base is in Cannes, France, eliminated the duo Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova from the Czech Republic – champions of the Tokyo Olympics – in the quarterfinals.
After this victory, the Russians were asked how they felt about not being able to represent their country at the Olympics.
“For me, it doesn’t matter. I just go out there and play,” Andreeva said. “It just doesn’t matter what’s going on outside of tennis.”
Andreeva reached her first Grand Slam singles semifinal at the French Open in June. This tournament is played on the same clay court at Roland Garros used for tennis during the Paris Games.
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Associated Press writer Tom Nouvian contributed to this report.
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