Kirpichnikova on changing sports citizenship: “Now everyone understands why I did it”

olympic medalist Anastasia Kirpichnikova said she still faces hatred because of the change of sports citizenship, but now, after the Olympic medal, everyone understands why she made such a decision.

Kirpichnikova became second in the 1,500 meters at the Paris Olympics. In March of this year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the change of Kirpichnikova’s sports citizenship from Russian to French; the athlete had already made her debut at the 2023 French Championships.

— When you were swimming, did you hear how they were shouting at you, how they were supporting you?

— I didn’t hear it from afar. I’m going to reconsider the way they supported me. But when I came out, they supported me like I’d never been supported before, like I was one of my own, and I’ve only been in the French team for a year.

— What do they think about your transition here?

— There are haters, like in Russia. But everyone was hoping for this medal and was talking to me about it. The last time Camille Muffat won a medal in women’s swimming was in 2012.

— How do they perceive this in Russia today?

“There are negative comments about the betrayal, but now everyone understands why I did it,” the correspondent reports Kirpichnikova’s words.

Kirpichnikova is a three-time European short course champion with the French team, as a member of the Russian team she is a silver medalist at the 2021 World Short Course Championship, as well as a three-time medalist at the 2021 World Short Course Championship. European Championship.

More sports news in our telegram channel .