Olympic Games Bronze Medalist, Russian Track Cycling World Champion Denis Dmitriev believes that Mikhail Yakovlev changed citizenship due to sporting ambitions.
As a source close to the situation told , track cyclist Yakovlev received an Israeli passport in early August, the 21-year-old athlete is already in this country.
Of course, there are two sides to this story. I know Mikhail well and you must understand that he is only 20 years old. Here, it is impossible to draw conclusions from his social networks, from what he posted or did not post there. He is still a child, but a very talented, one-of-a-kind athlete. You also need to understand that every athlete’s dream is to perform in the Olympics. And realizing that you are now competitive and that you can fight with the strongest in the world, but that you do not have the opportunity, that is understandable. Because of his age and his ambition.
– Career or country?
– Everyone must decide for themselves. There are athletes who, in a good way, are upset in their life’s work, and here you have a choice: do what you are good at, but sit down and become a 30-time Russian champion, or go and win olympic gold.
That’s not the issue here. In August 2021, the godfather left us, everything became a little sadder, the specialists left. We do not have prize money in national competitions. It is necessary to create conditions, increase the schedule and provide an interesting system with tournaments, then no one will run away and everyone will develop in the country. If we had good conditions in the country, no one would have fled anywhere,” Dmitriev said on the air of the program “There is a theme! on the channel.
Yakovlev is a bronze medalist at the 2021 Track Cycling World Championships in Keirin.
Source : MatchTV
