Athletistic/ Others. Athlete Elena Kulichenko, who won silver at the 2021 Russian Junior High Jump Championship, explained how the public reacted to her decision to change sports citizenship from Russian to Cypriot.

“When I first announced the sport citizenship change, the hate lasted probably three weeks and then there were some unique outbursts. I think all these people didn’t care, they just wanted to pour something negative. They didn’t even know me, but they had to write somewhere. Then, of course, they immediately forgot about me. Those who really understand what’s going on reacted normally to this,” Kulichenko said. .

Elena changed her sports citizenship in March 2021. Since then, the athlete has represented Cyprus internationally, living and training in the United States, in the state of Georgia. Kulichenko’s transfer to another federation was seen by many as a betrayal, but after a short time his transfer to Cyprus was forgotten.