The head coach of the Russian national gymnastics team, Valentina Rodionenko, said that the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation (GEF) will decide o...
The head coach of the Russian national gymnastics team, Valentina Rodionenko, said that the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation (GEF) will decide on the case of Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak, who wore the Russian pro war symbol 'Z' to competition, next week.
"A decision hasn't been made yet. Our lawyers don't agree with their lawyers, but they are, of course, in the mood for a disqualification. They gave the example that Vanya [Kuliak] was at the rally, they say that the rally was in support of the war," Rodionenko told tass.ru in a statement that was translated by Solnishko. "
Last month, the 20 year old gymnast attended a rally hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin where the latter justified the invasion of Ukraine.
Among the attendees were Tokyo Olympic champions Viktoria Listunova and Vladislava Urazova.
"They have such an attitude. In all likelihood, they will, of course, challenge it, they talked with us for two hours, asked questions, basically, they tormented Ivan and he answered," she continued.
"But it’s useless, they've drawn their line, our lawyers challenged it, they decided that they would continue next week, which means they will make a decision then."
Kuliak wore the Russian pro war symbol during the parallel bars final at the 2022 Doha World cup, which was held in early March.
The Russian athlete, who won the bronze medal, continued to wear the symbol during the medal ceremony which he shared with Ukrainian gold medalist Illia Kovtun.
Photo: RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev
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