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"Why are there no questions to Israel?" Russia threw a tantrum over what happened at the 2024 Olympics
Elena Zavarzina, the Russian bronze medalist in snowboarding at Sochi 2014, has said that the saga involving Russians at the Paris Olympics was "grim." The 35-year-old native of Novosibirsk admitted that what happened at the Games in France, in particular the way Russian athletes were allowed to compete at the 2024 Games, caused her a lot of pain.
The Russian snowboarder was outraged that Israel, which, like Russia, is a country at war, was allowed to participate in the 2024 Olympics.
"It was grim. It's a shame and painful for the guys. I'm sorry that an entire generation will be athletically inferior - without international competitions. And I'm going to throw this out there, but why were there no questions about Israel's participation in the Olympics?" - Zavarzina threw a tantrum.
The athlete suggested that we should no longer "pretend that the Olympic Games are about fairness or 'faster, higher, stronger'.
"It's an entertainment sport. It's entertainment, it's nationalism, it's sport-washing - the engine of the country's economy and image, it's in some cases a social elevator, it's big PR companies of American superstar athletes like Simone Biles," the Russian added.
As a reminder, 15 Russian athletes participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics under neutral status. These athletes competed under the acronym "AIN" (Individual Neutral Athletes), and a neutral flag was developed for them, as well as a short instrumental anthem instead of the traditional anthem. The main disciplines in which Russians were allowed to participate included road cycling, gymnastics, weightlifting, and wrestling.
Neutral athletes from the Russian Federation managed to win several awards:
- A gold medal in men's trampolining, won by Ivan Litvinovich.
- Two silver medals: one in women's trampolining, won by Viyaleta Bardzilovska, and another in men's single sculls, won by Yevhen Zolotyi.
- The bronze medal in men's weightlifting (category up to 102 kg) was won by Yevhen Tsykhantsov.
As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Russian skier Veronika Stepanova, whose intelligence was compared to a washing machine, was outraged by the trip of athletes from Russia to the 2024 Olympics.
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