Famous Ukrainian figure skater Oksana Baiul, who has lived in the U.S. for many years, admitted that Americans do not fully understand how Russian sport is connected to the government. Baiul, 45, told what this "misunderstanding" usually manifests itself in.

"There are so many coaches in America who are against the war and Putin, against athletes with the letters Z. But they tell me that there are child skaters who are not guilty of anything. I say, "Guys, if these are kids and they're not guilty of anything, then let them compete in the junior groups." But these are the Olympic Games, international serious competitions," Tribuna quoted Baiul as saying.

As an example, Oksana Sergeyevna cited the situation with the Russian figure skater Kamila Valiyeva, who was caught doping at the 2022 Olympics.

"So you can't treat Valiyeva like that, that she's 15 years old and poor, miserable. If you say that, then Kamila doesn't need to compete with older girls. So she has to grow up and when she's 17 or 18 she should be competing with adults. That's it," Bayul said.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, earlier Bayul commented in harsh tones on the decision of Ukrainian Olympic champion figure skater Viktor Petrenko to take part in the ice show "Scarlet Flower", which was staged by Tatiana Navka. For Bayul, the 53-year-old Petrenko's work in Russia is "double treason and duplicity.

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