on February 28th, the IOC asked international sporting federations to ban Russia and Belarus in response to the two countries invading Ukraine. Many federations responded swiftly and banned Russian and Belarus on the same day or the day after. The FIG, however, opted to wait and announced their decision only on March 4th. Russian and Belarusian artistic gymnasts flew to Doha on February 28th to compete at the World Cup. Additionally, acrobatic gymnasts from Russia and Belarus were competing at the World Age Groups Championships in Baku (Ukrainian acrobatic gymnasts had to withdraw due to the war). The FIG banned Russia and Belarus starting from 7th of March, thus, allowing them to finish the competitions.
This decision ended up putting the FIG in the middle of a scandal. 20-year-old Ivan Kuliak from Russia chose to use his first (and possibly last, at least for the nearest future) senior competition to express his views on the war. In the parallel bars final, he competed with the letter “Z” taped onto his leotard – the symbol of Russian invasion in Ukraine which Russians wear to express support for the war. The letter is meant to represent the words “za pobedu” [“for victory” in Russian]. Kuliak won bronze and proceeded to wear this symbol during the medal ceremony where he stood next to the gold medalist Illia Kovtun from Ukraine.
Kuliak’s act was not stopped by the competition officials nor by anyone in the Russian delegation. Moreover, Ivan Stretovich who acted as Kuliak’s coach during the final, later posted the letter “Z” in an Instagram story.
Speaking to MatchTV, Valentina Rodionenko claimed that the decision to allow Russians to compete in Doha after they had already arrived was made by the FIG’s President Watanabe Morinari:
“We experienced unbelievable pressure at this competition. And not in terms of the competition, but in terms of the nervous atmosphere around us, the pressure from the Ukrainian delegation. When the qualification ended, our girls won all four events. And before the final, they started telling us that we would be withdrawn. And until the last minute, already going out to do vault, we didn’t know whether we would compete. And only the arrival of the Federation’s President Morinari Watanabe solved the situation – he personally made the decision to allow us to compete till the end of the competition. But generally the decision to withdraw us had already been made. There was very strong influence of the Ukrainian federation.”
Watanabe’s efforts do not seem to be much appreciated by some of the Russians. Marina Ulyankina, the personal coach of Maria Paseka and Seda Tutkhalian and an international Brevet judge, posted a comment on social media in responce to the news that Russia and Belarus would be banned by the FIG, “We need to remind Watanabe – of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”, echoing Putin’s threat to engage nuclear arsenal.
Rodionenko also claimed that the Ukrainian delegation exhibited rude behavior during the competition. To remind, the whole Ukrainian delegation left Ukraine at the end of February to compete in a series of World Cups. Last week, they turned into refugees, while their families are back in Ukraine under fire from Russia. It seems that they can be forgiven if they were exhibiting some displeasure with the Russian delegation.
Rodionenko claimed she did not know about Kuliak’s decision to compete with the war symbol on his chest but said she thinks it was the right thing to do:
“You know, he didn’t ask us for advice. It was definitely his own initiative. Our guys are Russian patriots. I guess this thing [patriotism] affected him and he did not let us know. I think that he did everything right. Why are they constantly trying to paint us as aggressors, murderers and so on, that they’re all so miserable while we’re silent? We are being told – stay silent, don’t respond – but the other side is taking advantage of that and becoming bolder. It’s not normal! We are staying silent while they are constantly talking, it shouldn’t be like that. We should respond.”
“All the adults there, the coaching stuff, when we gathered together, became united in the opinion that Russia made a big mistake that for eight years, [Russians] were persuading them [Ukrainians], while knowing what shenanigans they were engaged in in Donetsk and Luhansk. Persuading and staying silent. And now we’re paying for it.”
“The medal ceremonies went like this: if our girl won and the Ukrainian medalled, she refused to participate in the medal ceremony. For example, on bars, the first two places were ours and the third one won by the Ukrainian. And she was awarded separately. Regarding Vania [Kuliak], I don’t even know about this situation. As the delegation head, I wasn’t even told about it there. Honestly, I didn’t see him once appearing in this singlet. On the contrary, the Ukrainians treated this [medal] ceremony without any issues because the Ukrainian anthem played [during it].”
“Overall, their athletes behaved provocatively throughout the whole competition. They were walking wrapped in flags and no one could tell them anything in order not to cause a conflict. But this is actually a direct violation of the rules. This was so provocative… Obviously, they were strictly prohibited from talking to us and the Belarusians. All the Russian and Belarusian judges were withdrawn, they didn’t work here. It was announced that the Ukrainian judges would be withdrawn, but for women, a Ukrainian still judged on all events. And she did her job – she dragged her athlete to the top where she could. But this is not important. The only important thing was this horrible atmosphere. And we only had one desire – to leave and go back home as soon as possible. Because we were constantly feeling like something was hanging over use, something would happen. And we didn’t know what kind of provocation Ukrainian athletes were capable of.”
When asked whether Ukrainian athletes were forced to treat Russians these way or actually felt the negative emotions towards Russians, Rodionenko said the negativity was mostly sincere:
“Generally, yes. Well, when the 16-year-old girl [Batrona] refused to attend the medal ceremony with us on bars and floor – this was, of course, the influence of the adults. I’m sure it wasn’t her decision. But the guys – yes, this was deliberate. When we would go to the restaurant to eat, they were constantly trying to say something to us. No one forced them to do it for sure. It’s the generation raised in the 90s, they don’t know what Soviet Union is. And they’ve only been told bad things about Russia since they were children.”
Valentina Rodionenko’s son-in-law Vyacheslav Fetisov, a former hockey player and a senior official in the Putin’s government, has been sanctioned by multiple countries for his involvement in the war in Ukraine. The Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation is sponsored by VTB, the state-owned Russian bank that has also been sanctioned.
The audacity of this woman has no limit. She managed to turn herself into a victim when we know what’s going on right now. And the part about “they don’t know what the Soviet Union is”… is that some kind of nostalgia?
Wow this is disgusting. The Russians have been brainwashed to believe that are not aggressors, including Valentina. A permanent ban on Russia by FIG is the only solution.