Swimming’s governing body Fina said it is looking into Russia’s Evgeny Rylov taking part in his country’s national championships, despite being banned.
Rylov was suspended for nine months after attending a rally in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian president Vladimir Putin called Rylov’s punishment for attending the rally “absurd”.
Fina said it was aware double Olympic champion Rylov “competed in the Russian Championships this weekend”.
It stated it had “launched an internal review to ascertain whether Fina sanctions or rules have been broken” and that “the outcome of this review will be announced in due course”.
Rylov won gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke at the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
The 25-year-old was among a number of athletes present at the rally, hosted by Russian president Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium in March.
They wore the pro-war symbol of the letter ‘Z’ on their clothing.
After the rally, Speedo announced it had terminated its sponsorship deal with Rylov.
