Fourcade Sr. is still opposed to the war in Ukraine

The French biathlete commented on his controversial statement made earlier.

Simon Fourcade explained his position on the war in Ukraine. It will be recalled that earlier the French biathlete had the imprudence to speak out against the disqualification of athletes from the aggressor country.

For this, a vague criticism came to him, its leader was the Ukrainian biathlete Dmitry Pidruchny, who has now changed sports equipment to combat equipment and defends the country in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine .

The captain of the Ukrainian national team, who knew firsthand about all the atrocities of the Russians, strongly condemned the position of Fourcade Sr. and received support from athletes and fans. Simon had to make excuses to reduce the tension.

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Posted by Simon Fourcade (@simonfourcade)

“Since yesterday, my social media has been live. After an interview I gave in the Russian media, in which I said that I considered the exclusion of Russian athletes in international competitions completely counterproductive, I got the road -hundreds of hate messages.

So, for everyone to understand once and for all: I do not support the war and do not support the Russian government. Is that enough?

I will add that I am old enough to defend my own position, so there is no need to include my brother in this discussion. So please let him step back from this story, “Fourcade began.

Simon and Martin Fourcade / A source: Getty Images

“Yes, I said I don’t support the decision to suspend Russian athletes. Most Russian athletes are against the war, but the truth is they can’t say that.

Even Dmitry Pidruchny wrote about it in his message: “A Russian athlete wrote to me in support. He was afraid to talk about himself and his family.”

Does anyone really think that being in their own country, which threatens to lose everything, even their freedom, will help them stand up against the Russian authorities? “

Simon Fourcade / A source: Getty Images

“It’s pretty easy to see how some Western European athletes sit comfortably on the couch and say: you have to speak, you have to take a position, you have to make excuses to be a part of it.

It is very easy to see how international sports federations and institutions unanimously exclude Russian athletes when they host major sporting events in countries that do not respect international peace and human rights.

Where were you when Syria was bombed by the same regime that attacked Ukraine? Where were you to oppose the Chinese Olympics when the Chinese government oppressed the Uyghurs?

Where were you when the World Cup was handed over to the Qatari government when they did not respect human rights? Where were you at the F1 Grand Prix in Jeddah when the Saudi government invaded Yemen and killed 81 people a few days ago?

So maybe it’s time to say stop supporting the regime and the dictatorship by arranging such events for them and waiting for the athletes to make decisions and positions they can’t afford to do. “

Simon Fourcade / A source: Getty Images

“I fully understand Pidruchny’s message, and even if he doesn’t ask me well in his post, I don’t blame him, because I sympathize with him and the situation in which Ukrainians live today.

All I can say is that on February 26, when I found out about Ukrainian athletes serving in the Ukrainian army, my first messages were to him and to Yulia Jim. I wished them support, asked if I can do something to help, take care of them and the family.

I wrote to him yesterday and he just replied that there was a Ukrainian quote about not sitting in two chairs. Hopefully the sports quote is: “Let’s get out of the chair and share together,” Fourcade wrote.

Fourcade was also published on Srories screenshots of his messages to Pidruchny, where he asked how the Ukrainian was and if he could help in any way.

Screenshots of messages to Pidruchny posted by Fourcade

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