"The first suffered": Russian biathlon champion accuses the West of attacking Russians

Former biathlete Olga Zaitseva called Russian athletes the first defenders of the Russian Federation who "suffered from Western and European attacks." The two-time Olympic champion hypocritically pretended that the Sochi 2024 doping scandal was fabricated to defame athletes from the aggressor country, although the system of using banned substances was recognized by dictator Vladimir Putin.

Zaitseva said this in an interview with Metaratings.ru. The Kremlin leader's henchwoman, who acted as his proxy in the so-called Russian presidential election last month, added that she considers herself a silver medalist at the 2014 Olympics and does not recognize her disqualification and medal stripping.

"I have always considered myself a silver medalist in the relay race at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. From that moment on, open attacks on our country began, and they started with athletes. Athletes were the first to suffer from Western and European attacks. But we cannot be broken, in such situations, we only become stronger and we now know who is a friend and who is an enemy. It was a difficult period for me, but I know that there are more significant problems than this overblown and fictional story," Zaitseva said.

Earlier, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach accused Russia's Putin of legitimizing doping by Russian athletes after he appeared with disqualified figure skater Kamila Valiyeva at the opening of the Future Games.

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