Russian gymnasts are fighting their bans from international gymnastics events. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said that the Russian Gym...
Russian gymnasts are fighting their bans from international gymnastics events.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said that the Russian Gymnastics Federation along with Tokyo Olympic champions Angelina Melnikova and Nikita Nagornyy have filed an appeal against the decision taken by the FIG Executive Committee not to allow Russian athletes and officials, including judges, to take part in FIG competitions or FIG-sanctioned competitions from 7 March 2022 until further notice.
The last international competition the Russian gymnasts competed in was the Doha World Cup in early March.
There, Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak sparked controversy after donning the Russian pro war symbol "Z" on his shirt while sharing the podium with Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun.
He is now facing disciplinary action.
Germany's TG Saar has recently cut ties with Nagornyy over his Russia-Ukraine war stance.
The 25 year old gymnast has been publicly supporting Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine.
He is a member of the National Guard of Russia, the internal military force of the Russian Federation, and the head of the Young Army Cadets National Movement, which aims at fostering “patriotic youth”.
A day after the Ukrainian invasion, he shared a post from the organization about their work with children from Ukraine's separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
He has also offered his fans to forward their gifts to the Russian soldiers, who are part of the military invasion of Ukraine.
Nagornyy has as well defended Kuliak.
While Melnikova has not publicly stated her opinion on the on going war, she liked a post on Instagram made by high-profile Russian retired gymnast Alexei Nemov where he defended Kuliak.
Photo: Ginnastica Artistica Italiana
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