Details of the postponement were announced by Artistic Gymnastics Federation of Russia President Vasily Titov to his country's official state news agency TASS.

"The International Gymnastics Federation cannot yet decide how to develop criteria for the neutrality of athletes, so it was decided to postpone consideration of the issue of admission to the next meeting of the Executive Committee, which will be held in July," Titov told TASS.

The decision leaves the chances of Russian and Belarus gymnasts qualifying for next year's Olympic Games in Paris in doubt as they are now set to be excluded from key qualifying competitions. 

The Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation had already filed a case last month at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to "prevent the decisions of the International Gymnastics Federation on the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as part of the qualification for the Olympic Games 2024 and the suspension of the memberships in the International Gymnastics for the Russian Gymnastics Federation and the Belarusian Gymnastics Federation," a spokeswoman for the national governing body told insidethegames.

The decision to postpone any decision is still a surprise, though. 

It had been widely expected that FIG President Morinari Watanabe would force through a return of Russian gymnasts following comments last month when he had told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he would "defend the right of Russian and Belarusian gymnasts who are not involved in the war to participate in competitions".

Titov is a member of the FIG Executive Committee, while Belarus' Nellie Kim, the five-time Olympic gold medallist, is one of three vice-presidents at the world governing body, currently meeting in Turkish resort Antalya. 

But there is also a strong presence on the FIG Executive Committee from countries opposed to Russians being allowed to compete, including Finland's Jani Tanskanen, Latvia's Arturs Mickevics and Romania's Maria Fumea.

It is also understood that Farid Gayibov, the Azeri who leads the European Gymnastics Union, spoke out against their return. 

A group of seven European countries, including Ukraine, boycotted last year's FIG Congress, which was moved from Sandefjord in Norway to Istanbul in Turkey due to the original host's refusal to welcome delegates from Russia and Belarus.

On that occasion, Watanabe defended the invitation of Russian and Belarusian officials, insisting "we have a duty to share our opinions" and arguing "unnecessary punishments create new hatred".

Gymnasts from Russia and Belarus had been banned from competing in international competitions in March 2022 following the previous month's invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin.

In the end, the Executive Committee did not even vote on whether to allow Russians to return or not, but reached a consensus. 

FIG confirmed today's decision in a short statement. 

"After a new assessment of the situation involving the Russian and Belarusian athletes/officials, the FIG Executive Committee considers that the measures already adopted on 1-2 March 2023 and based on Article 13.3 of the FIG Statutes remain fully in force, without any further changes," they said.

"The FIG will continuously monitor the overall situation and may reassess those measures depending on the evolution of the circumstances."

Titov admitted that it means Russian athletes will not be able to compete at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, as they will not be able to qualify for the event, due to start in Antwerp on September 30. 

Valentina Rodionenko, the head coach for Russia's artistic gymnastics team, tried to remain optimistic about her team's chances of qualifying for Paris 2024, but admitted that she feared the worst.

"Now we are definitely left without World Championships, [but] we still have the theoretical opportunity to qualify for the Olympics in a reduced composition through the World Cup next year," she told TASS.

"Athletes are very disappointed that the suspension was extended.

"But they still train and prepare for international competitions, we continue to follow the training plans, although there are not enough incentives for many. 

"But we need to somehow reverse ourselves and continue to do complex elements and combinations. 

"It hurts a lot.

“But now we don’t expect anything good from July either. 

"It’s just talk, people are playing for time, but it’s not clear why."