"Such steps are categorically unacceptable, it said in a statement on Friday. They discredit not only an individual athlete, but also the entire team of Ukraine which every day selflessly fights for the right to represent our country in the international arena. The Diving Federation of Ukraine will also appeal to international sports institutions with a requirement to apply sports quarantine to this athlete in accordance with current international standards, it added."
"The Ukrainian Diving Federation has stripped Sofiia Lyskun of all her medals and awards following her decision to switch allegiance to Russia. Lyskun, who represented Ukraine at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the Paris Games last year, revealed the change in an interview with a Russian newspaper earlier this week."
"The 23-year-old told Russian outlet Izvestia that her switch was based on concerns for her growth as an athlete, as all Ukrainian coaches were gymnasts or trampoline athletes. How can someone from a completely different field teach you anything? Over the past few years in sports in Ukraine, I realised I wasn't growing, she said."
Sofiia Lyskun switched her sporting allegiance to Russia and has been stripped of all medals and awards by the Ukrainian Diving Federation. The federation said Lyskun did not inform them, her coaching staff, or Ukraine's sports ministry about adopting Russian citizenship and called such steps categorically unacceptable. The federation said the move discredits the entire Ukrainian team and will appeal to international sports institutions to apply a sports quarantine in line with international standards. Lyskun won a 10-metre synchronised diving gold with Kseniia Bailo in Belgrade and team gold in Glasgow in 2018. She told Izvestia she switched owing to concerns about athletic growth and a lack of diving-specific coaching in Ukraine. Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from World Aquatics events after the 2022 invasion, though some later competed as neutrals.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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