Winner of the World and European Speed Skating Championships Evgenia Lalenkova believes that Russian athletes will face discrimination even after agreeing to compete in a neutral status.
The International Skating Union (ISU) still maintains the exclusion of Russians from tournaments organized under its auspices. Lalenkova took part in an expanded meeting of the athletes’ commission of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), where the issue of a possible performance in neutral status was discussed.
— Didn’t it bother you that in the ROC commission there were few specific questions from the athletes in the gym? For example, “How will it affect me if I play in a neutral status?” »
– I myself know the answer to this question. First you’ll refuse the anthem and the flag, then they’ll let you sign a statement and generally beat you to the ground. We are simply not needed there! Remember what happened at the European Championships in Heerenveen, when our whole team was in quarantine, and the Poles in the same situation said that they arrived at the rink alone and their infected person always walked alone . It worked for them, but not for us. And the fact that now we will be raped is 100%.
People either know how to answer all of these questions, or they are at such a crossroads that they don’t know which question to start with. Yes, you can and probably should go if you know you will win without the flag or anthem. Everyone will know where you come from. And if this is the dream of your whole life, then yes, you have to do it,” Lalenkova said in an interview with .
Source : MatchTV
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