Recently, the name of Dominik Hasek has not left the pages of the sports - and not only - press.
For several months, the former hockey player has been actively criticizing the leadership of professional leagues, such as the NHL, WTA and ATP, for admitting Russian athletes to competitions, and almost every one of his Twitter posts is devoted to this topic.
And after the hockey All-Star Game in Florida, Gashek burst into an attack on the four-year-old son of Alexander Ovechkin, Sergei, who, along with his father, took part in the show.
The ex-goalkeeper said the league "sank to the bottom", allowing the boy to go on the ice.
He called it a spit on Ukrainian children and called on league commissioner Gary Bettman to answer for his "heinous act."
Dominik also assured that after that he was ready to seek the resignation of the official with all his might.
Bettman, on the other hand, reacted rather reservedly to the statements of the former NHL player.
Hasek has been an active critic for the past year.
He has the right to his opinion, but I do not think that it reflects the position of the Czech people or the country's authorities.
And by the way, I do not agree with him, ”RIA Novosti quotes Bettman with reference to Ilta-Sanomat.
In Russia, they urged not to take the Czech hockey player seriously.
So, State Duma deputy Dmitry Svishchev called him an useless pensioner who attracts attention in every possible way.
“Instead of passing on his experience and knowledge to young hockey players in the Czech Republic, Europe and the world, he pours mud on everything connected with Russia.
He drags Ukrainian children here, although it is not clear what relation they have to the NHL ... For me, Hasek has always been, if not an idol, then an iconic figure in hockey, the player whose matches I watched with pleasure.
So now I'm very surprised to see what happens to him.
He is rude out of the blue and tries to catch on.
Perhaps he is going crazy and should be invited to one of our sanatoriums to undergo an examination and treat his nerves?
After all, with these actions, he humiliates himself first of all, destroys the halo of glory that he has created for so many years, ”said the parliamentarian in an interview with RT.
Back in February last year, Hasek called on the NHL to suspend the contracts of the Russians because of the situation in Ukraine, but did not meet with support there.
In December, the Czech prepared a letter with a similar demand.
In his opinion, the performance of Russian hockey players is a "disgusting advertisement for the aggressive policy" of their native country.
“It is clear that every citizen and, accordingly, every athlete is a representative of his country.
Thus, each athlete has a huge advertising and marketing value for this country.
This value is higher, the more prestigious the competition and the more successful the athlete.
Each state uses this for its own benefit to advance its political interests and goals,” the 58-year-old ex-player wrote in his message.
He suggested that the leaders of professional leagues remove the Russians, but at the same time maintain financial support for them.
In addition, according to the Czech, it is necessary to conduct educational courses for athletes, which would explain “why they cannot compete at the present time” and what they need to do to return to the sports arena.
The Czech got it not only to athletes, but also to cultural figures.
Thus, he enthusiastically welcomed the appointment of Lahav Shani as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, who replaced the Russian Valery Gergiev in this post after refusing to publicly condemn the SVO.
And the broadcast of the last fight of Fedor Emelianenko on Czech television generally infuriated the former hockey player.
He even proposed at the legislative level to ban any screening with the participation of Russians in order to "better protect themselves and their allies."
And even earlier, on Twitter, he categorically rejected the proposal of one of the users of the social network to allow at least Paralympic athletes from Russia to compete.
According to the Czech hockey player, even athletes with disabilities should be isolated from world sports, because one way or another they “advertise the aggression of the state.”
“Dominik Hasek has gone crazy!
Apparently, he often hit the puck in the head.
He doesn't know how to get better.
He used to flicker in newspaper clippings - and suddenly they forgot about him!
So it reminds that there is such a character ... Abnormal, in a word!
— coach Vyacheslav Bykov sharply commented on the antics of the ex-hockey player, whose words are quoted by Sport24.
By the way, for all his apparent adherence to principles, Hasek supported the decision of the Czech Olympic Committee not to boycott the upcoming Games if athletes from Russia and Belarus were admitted.
They emphasized that they did not want to repeat the sad experience of 1984 and punish their own athletes, and the former player agreed with this.