“The West is doing everything to harass our athletes and Kamila Valieva. It’s unfair.” – Volochkova

Russian ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, in a conversation with a correspondent, called the decision of the Canadian Figure Skating Federation (Skate Canada) to protest against the redistribution of medals in the team figure skating tournament at the 2022 Olympic Games.

Skate Canada announced Friday that it will appeal the International Skating Union’s (ISU) decision to redistribute the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics in the figure skating team event.

— This is another attack on Russia and Russian athletes. We represent a very great force. The West is doing everything to harass our athletes and Kamila Valieva, because she is a very talented figure skater. It’s very unfair. Medals are earned through hard work. If a person goes on the ice, it’s their victory. Why didn’t the Canadiens beat us on the ice? “I will be at the forefront and defend our athletes to the end,” Volochkova told .

At the end of January, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) suspended Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva for four years from December 25, 2021 for violating anti-doping rules, and her results for this period were annulled. The move led to a review of the results of the 2022 Olympics team tournament, where Valieva helped the Russian team win. First place is now awarded to the American team, the Japanese are second and the Russians will receive bronze. Team Canada remained fourth.

The ISU later announced that the decision regarding the team tournament was based on a comprehensive expert evaluation and was fully in line with the CAS verdict.