“Lost the competition”: figure skater Dmitrieva decided to change her citizenship and play for the Israeli national team

Transitions of Russian figure skaters to other national teams have recently become a trend.

Only in August there were two such cases.

Inga Gurgenidze decided to play for Georgia, and Uliana Shiryaeva for Canada.

Maria Dmitrieva was the next to take a similar step.

On Wednesday afternoon, information appeared that the 14-year-old athlete intends to compete in international competitions for Israel.

Soon it was confirmed by interested parties.

So, the general director of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) Alexander Kogan emphasized that the girl already has the appropriate citizenship.

“We received a request to transfer from the federation of Israel.

The permission is given by the board.

The decision will be made at its meeting, ”the R-Sport functionary quotes.

In turn, the Israel Figure Skating Federation emphasized that Dmitrieva's move is "in the process."

Maria's departure can hardly be called a blow to national figure skating, because by the age of 14 she was not considered one of the most promising even at her age.

Nevertheless, the athlete managed to achieve some success at the national level.

For example, in October 2018, she unexpectedly won the stage of the Russian Cup in Krasnoyarsk among girls, ahead of Anastasia Kostyuk and Maria Pavlova.

She managed to shine at last year's stage of the St. Petersburg Federation Cup.

Then Dmitrieva also won, leaving behind Nadezhda Ponteleenko and Maria Novikova.

She also excelled at the All-Russian competition "Mordovian Patterns" -2021.

But at the Federation Cup it was not possible to win awards.

First, the talented girl took eighth place, and then tenth.

But in March last year, Maria was noted for another important achievement - she performed the triple axel for the first time.

This happened at the championship of St. Petersburg.

Her former coach Alexei Mishin then did not hide his emotions from the performance of the ward.

“It's nice that she has a very emotional style of skating, which you just can't help but like.

A girl came to our group from Alina Pisarenko, who also works at the Star Ice school.

Currently, Tatyana Nikolaevna Mishina is working with her, who is also the personal trainer of Zhenya Semenenko, ”quotes the R-Sport specialist.

And just a year after this event, the skater decided to change her coach.

From Mishin, she passed to the famous mentor Sergei Rozanov.

“In this post, I want to express my gratitude to Alexei Nikolaevich and Tatyana Nikolaevna Mishin, who taught me a lot in a year of work.

I appreciate all the moments spent in this group, but due to some circumstances, our cooperation has been terminated, ”the athlete explained her step.

As already mentioned, Dmitrieva was not the first Russian woman who expressed a desire to move to another team.

So, in early August, 13-year-old Inga Gurgenidze made a similar choice.

The athlete who trains with Lyudmila Gafarova in Kazan will continue to represent Georgia.

She is declared for the third stage of the Grand Prix among juniors, which will be held in Riga in September.

If she could hardly help the Russian team in the future, then the departure of Uliana Shiryaeva to Canada turned out to be a more noticeable loss.

By the age of 15, she not only mastered the triple Axel, but, according to her former coach Alexei Vasilevsky, she was almost ready to perform the quadruple salchow and sheepskin coat.

At the same time, in her case, the decision to leave her homeland was associated with the choice of her parents.

“Ulyana left with them a few months ago, before leaving, they processed the documents.

On the eve of her departure to Canada, she only spent three months in Moldova ... They periodically get in touch and moved to Canada in connection with the work of their father, they did not have much choice.

They have already submitted documents to the federation, these are the rules, ”explained Vasilevsky.

To understand whether it is possible to talk about the trend after the transition of three skaters in a month to other national teams, RT talked to experts.

So, according to the European champion Sergei Novitsky, in the current political situation, athletes need to be ready to change their citizenship.

“We have a lot of young ambitious guys who want to take part in international tournaments, and not be under restrictions.

In my opinion, in the coming years the situation will not change for the better and the sanctions against Russia in sports will not be lifted.

This thought takes some getting used to.

I'm not saying that we are talking about a trend, but it is impossible not to hear the sounding bells.

This is disturbing.

Unfortunately, in the foreseeable future, there will only be more people who want to defend the honor of other countries,” Novitsky explained.

He stressed that domestic figure skaters will simply have nothing to offer in the country, except for domestic tournaments such as the Russian Grand Prix.

“International starts are not expected, and everyone will be forced to boil in their own juice, skating at the national level.

It's great, but the guys want to show themselves.

Therefore, they will leave.

Of course, the stars are unlikely to take such a step.

Let's take the same Kamila Valieva.

She has already taken gold at the European Championships and Olympic Games.

But younger girls are deprived of such an opportunity, ”Novitsky added.

But the Olympic champion Natalya Bestemyanova did not agree with him.

According to her, it is too early to talk about the trend, since Russian women who cannot compete are regularly sent to other countries.

“We see a lot of domestic figure skaters who compete for different countries.

Yes, now three more girls have left, but this is absolutely normal.

There is no reason to speak of a mass exodus.

And everyone has different reasons.

For example, someone's parents are moving.

Whether the situation can change for the worse if Russia is not allowed to participate in international competitions, no one knows yet.

I hope this will not happen, ”said Bestemyanova.

At the same time, she stressed that Dmitrieva's departure cannot be called a loss for the Russian team, since she would hardly be able to help the national team in the future.

“Understand, Maria is already 14 years old.

By the standards of women's figure skating - a serious age.

Previously, girls at 15 competed in major competitions, including the Olympics.

But we heard almost nothing about Mary.

That is, she has already lost the competition within the country, ”summed up the Olympic champion.

Solidarity with her and Novitsky, who stressed that it is almost impossible to break into the Russian team, given the huge number of talented girls.

In Israel, she will get a chance to compete at all prestigious competitions, including the Olympic Games.