When the sports agent Andrey Baranov sent an email in the spring to New York Road Runners, asking the group to accept five of his female Eastern European runners into the professional field of this year’s New York City Marathon, he was confident that at least one of them would receive an invitation.

At minimum, Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova of Russia would make the cut, Baranov thought. She was, after all, the bronze medalist in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics. One of the best marathoners in the world.

The response from New York, Baranov recalled on Thursday, stunned him: Sorry, not interested. Good luck with other races.

“I can get runners into London, Boston, Tokyo, but New York always gives me problems, and it’s confusing for me,” Baranov said. “Can you imagine if the U.S. Open had no Russians playing tennis? If there would be no Maria Sharapova there? Now what kind of scandal would that be? But in the marathon, there’s nothing. No scandal, nothing. I don’t understand it.”