With less than three months to go before the opening ceremony on 26 July, it looks likely that a few dozen Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to compete as neutral athletes without a flag or national anthem following their countries' actions with regard to Ukraine.

IOC President Thomas Bach, who made several unguarded comments in a recent prank video call, has become a hate figure in Russian circles with Vasilyev - who won biathlon relay gold with the Soviet Union at the Sarajevo 1984 and Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics - the latest to criticise the German adminstrator.

Bach, along with Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and French president Emmanuel Macron, have discussed bathing in the River Seine to prove it is safe to hold open water swimming and triathlon events there after last summer's trials were cancelled.

When asked about Bach potentially taking a dip in the Seine, the 61-year-old former general manager of the Russian Biathlon Union told Sport-Express, "Now he would run naked through Paris to be the centre of attention and save the Olympic Games.

"Everything indicates that Paris 2024 is now in danger and there is a possibility that they will not even take place. That is why Thomas Bach is now making various statements in order not to completely destroy the Olympic movement. All we see are pathetic attempts to preserve what he has ended."

This is not the first time Vasilyev, currently president of the St. Petersburg Biathlon Federation, has hit out at members of the sporting establishment. Last year, he called for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to be cancelled for its "hypocrisy" concerning sanctions against Russia, telling TASS, "I don't trust anyone there."

He also claimed Norwegian skiers and biathletes were doping by abusing therapeutic use exemptions.