Rejected: 12 Foreign Athletes Punished for Linking to Russia

Over the past few months, the national federations and governments of several countries have taken decisions to suspend athletes who are related to Russia. Lithuanian figure skaters Povilas Vanagas and Margarita Drobyazko were deprived of state awards for participating in the Tatiana Navka show, defender Maciej Rybus was not included in the Polish national football team for a contract with Spartak. The star of the Finnish national volleyball team, Lauri Kerminen, is not going to the Euro 2023 qualifying matches for admitting the possibility of continuing his career at Dynamo. Who else among the athletes turned out to be objectionable to officials - in the RT material.

Anastasia Shabotova

One of the first to feel the anger of officials was 16-year-old figure skater Anastasia Shabotova.

A native of Moscow changed her sports citizenship to Ukrainian back in 2019.

She became the champion of the country three times, and also performed at the Beijing Olympics.

The tournament did not turn out well for her.

Nevertheless, after a trip to the Games, she was preparing to participate in the World Championships in Montpellier, but at the last moment the athlete was fired from the national team.

In March, Anastasia liked Yevgeny Plushenko's video message about the special operation in Ukraine.

According to one version, local officials noticed this and expelled the skater from the national team, according to another, the reason was that the parents took the athlete to Russia at the end of February.

Plushenko promised to help the athlete with training, but the girl has not yet turned to a specialist.

Anastasia Shabotova at the Beijing Olympics
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© Harry How

Ekaterina Bekh, Oksana Moskalenko and Olga Abramova

Ukrainian biathletes Ekaterina Bekh, Oksana Moskalenko and Olga Abramova were also fired from the national team.

All three girls were born in Russia, but then changed their sports citizenship.

With the beginning of the special operation, the athletes left the territory of Ukraine.

Officially, their exclusion from the national team was explained as follows: “They did not fulfill the criteria for getting into the squad.”

Volodymyr Brynzak, head of the Biathlon Federation of Ukraine, also paid for helping the girls return to Russia.

The specialist who headed the FBU for a quarter of a century ended up not being elected for a new term due to public pressure.

Now Bekh is training with the Moscow Region national team and plans to take part in the Russian summer biathlon championship.

Ekaterina Bekh at the IBU Cup stage
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© TF-Images

Elizabeth Polstyanaya

The representative of Latvia, Elizaveta Polstyanaya, played for Russia until 2018, then received a passport from the Baltic country and entered her rhythmic gymnastics team.

Moreover, she said that she could get another sports citizenship.

“After performing at the Baltic Hoop, international competitions in Riga, I was noticed.

Two proposals were received at once: from Israel and Latvia.

We accepted the second one, because this country is close to me.

I was born there, plus every summer we went there to rest.

The parents have many friends.

Therefore, the procedure for obtaining citizenship began.

I went through everything completely, passed the exam for knowledge of the Latvian language.

And only in 2018 I received the documents, ”said the gymnast in an interview with RT.

Under the new flag, Elizabeth repeatedly climbed the podium at the stages of the Grand Prix and the World Cup in rhythmic gymnastics.

However, in early August, the athlete announced that after a successful performance at the European Championships, she was not going to the world championship in Sofia.

According to Polstyana, she was required to give up her Russian passport, but she refused.

The athlete arrived in Moscow and is now training in the capital.

At the same time, Latvian officials allowed Elizabeth to participate in international competitions.

On Tuesday, August 9, a meeting of the board of the Latvian Gymnastics Federation was held, at which it was decided that Polstyanaya could continue to perform at the World Championships and the World Cup stage in Romania, but at her own expense.

The organization sent an official letter to Elizabeth, to which she has not yet responded.

Elizabeth Polstyanaya
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© Beautiful Sports

Victor Petrenko

Olympic champion Viktor Petrenko was punished for performing in Tatyana Navka's show "The Scarlet Flower" in Sochi.

First, he was expelled from the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation and suspended his powers as vice president.

Then the head of state Volodymyr Zelensky deprived the famous athlete of his scholarship.

However, Petrenko rarely visits Ukraine and has been living in the USA for a long time.

One of his pupils was the bronze medalist of the 2008 World Championship, American Johnny Weir.

Also in the 2000s at international competitions, Victor was the ISU technical controller.

For the first time in the production of "The Scarlet Flower" Petrenko appeared in 2018.

Viktor Petrenko at the 1988 Olympic Games
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© American Broadcasting Companies

Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas

Following Petrenko, figure skaters Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas paid for participating in Tatiana Navka's Swan Lake show.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has stripped the athletes of the knightly crosses of the Order of Gediminas, which they received in 2000 after winning medals at the World and European Championships.

Moreover, officials are seriously discussing the idea of revising legislative acts so that Drobyazko can be deprived of citizenship.

A native of Moscow received it in 1993 as an exception in order to be able to compete under the flag of Lithuania in tandem with Vanagas.

Such a verdict was given to athletes who became in fact the only notable figure skaters in the history of the country.

Povilas' mother, head of the Lithuanian Figure Skating Federation Liliya Vanagene, said that she discouraged her son from performing in Russia.

Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas
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© Anatoly Lomokhov

Lauri Kerminen

In Finland, one of the leaders of the national volleyball team, Lauri Kerminen, was suspended from the games because he did not rule out the possibility of continuing his career in Russia.

The athlete will definitely not take part in the selection for Euro 2023.

Moreover, as a result of the decisions of officials, the team may not get to the main start of the next season.

Kerminen has been playing in the Russian championship for seven years, and spent the last two years at Dynamo Moscow.

At almost every tournament, he is included in the symbolic team, he showed himself superbly at the last Final Six.

At home, the Finn was accused of staying in Russia after February 24, preferring to work out the contract and complete the season, and posted a photo with the team and the winning cup on social networks.

Officially, neither the athlete nor the club have yet spoken about the continuation of cooperation with Dynamo.

Lauri Kerminen at the 2017 European Volleyball Championship
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© Matusewicz/Press Focus/MB Media

Leo Komarov

Olympic champion Leo Komarov, who helped the Finnish national ice hockey team beat the Russians in the final of the Beijing Games, believes that he suffered because of the Russian surname.

His father, Alexander, is from Petrozavodsk, however, being a Karelian by nationality, he managed to obtain Finnish citizenship.

The son started skating after moving to the country and went through a youth school of Finnish hockey.

Since 2012, with the exception of the lockout, Komarov has played in North America for the Toronto and New York Islanders.

As part of Dynamo Moscow, he won the Gagarin Cup, and spent the last season for St. Petersburg SKA.

Leo was not called up to the national team for the World Championship in the spring, citing the hockey player's poor form.

According to the athlete, the reason is either in the surname, or in the fact that he did not leave Russia immediately after February 24, but remained in SKA to work out the contract until the end of the season.

In addition, there is now talk of renaming the ice palace "Komarov Arena" in the Uusikaarlepyu community, where the hockey player's family lives, and the player's wife admitted that she is considering changing the children's surname to stop the attacks at school.

SKA hockey player Leo Komarov in the KHL match against Torpedo
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Maciej Rybus

The Polish defender Maciej Rybus, who signed a contract with Spartak Moscow, also remained without performances for the national team.

Because of this, the head coach of the national team, Cheslav Mikhnevich, announced that the player would not be invited to the September team meeting and would not go to the World Cup in Qatar.

At the same time, Rybus was supported by Polish athletes.

In particular, Grzegorz Krychowiak, who previously played with him at Lokomotiv.

“Matzei is more connected with Russia than I am.

He lives there for a long time, he has a Russian wife and children.

For him, this is already a second home ... Who knows if his decision will not be better in the future than if he abruptly turned his professional and personal life upside down.

None of the guys (in the team. -

) condemn him, ”RIA Novosti quoted Krychowiak as saying.

In total, Maciej played 66 matches for the Polish national team, in which he scored two goals and gave 14 assists.

The last time the footballer played for the national team was last November in the match against Andorra.

Defender Maciej Rybus in the 2022 World Cup qualifier against Andorra
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Anatoly Timoshchuk

The former midfielder of Zenit, and now the assistant to the head coach of the blue-white-blue Anatoly Timoshchuk, after the start of the SVO, chose to stay in St. Petersburg and did not make loud political statements.

Ukrainian officials have deprived one of the country's most titled football players of all state awards and titles.

And the player had enough of them: Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine, holder of the Order "For Courage" III degree, Honored Worker of Physical Culture and Sports of Ukraine, honorary citizen of Lutsk.

In addition, Tymoshchuk's Pro category coaching license issued by the UAF was revoked, and he was banned from playing football in the country.

In addition, the record holder of Ukraine in the number of matches for the national team was excluded from the official register of players of national teams.

In addition to everything, Anatoly was stripped of the titles of the winner of the Ukrainian championship, the Cup and the Super Cup of the country.

However, the athlete’s track record remains impressive - as part of Bayern, he won the Champions League, and with Zenit, the UEFA Cup and Super Cup.