Athletistic / Figure skating. Figure skater Anastasia Gubanova, who has been competing for the Georgian national team since 2021, explained why she supports the return of Russian athletes to international tournaments. She also responded to criticism from those who believe that her victory at the European Championships in 2023 became possible only because the Russian national team did not come to the competition.
“I have a lot of friends in Russia. I live and skate in the group of Evgeniy Vladimirovich Rukavitsyn. I perfectly understand how difficult it is for Russians without international competitions. The competitions themselves are now calmer without the Russians, but with them, it seems to me that there would be a more charged atmosphere.
How do I feel about the headlines that Gubanova is winning only because Russia is not in the competition? These are already standard comments. This is written by people who are sitting at home on the couch. Let them think so. We all know very well what a huge amount of work this is and that almost nothing in figure skating happens by chance. As for the comments that there is no Russia, there is a competition, there are participants, there is a medal, there is a title. And whoever is not there is not there,” Gubanova said, as quoted by Okko Sport.
Anastasia Gubanova became European champion in 2023 by winning the tournament in Espoo (Finland). In 2024, the Georgian figure skater became second at the European Championships, leaving the Belgian Luna Hendricks ahead of her.
Source: Sport
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