Famous Russian gymnasts ended their careers at the age of 25 to spite the IOC

Dina Averina, 18-time world rhythmic gymnastics champion and silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and her twin sister, 5-time world champion Arina Averina, have announced that they are retiring from the sport. According to the head of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, Irina Viner, the 25-year-old Russians did so in response to the International Olympic Committee's demand to perform under a neutral flag.

The 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024. Russian athletes will compete there, and they will be able to obtain neutral status.

"They ended their sports career because we refused to participate in the Olympic Games under the white flag. This was a joint decision of the coaching council and the athletes, who are used to performing when the Russian national flag is raised in honor of their victories. Now our attention is focused on domestic events," Wiener said in an interview with r-sports.

As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team refused to participate in international competitions without national symbols.

As a reminder, Russia competed in the 2020 Olympics in neutral status and sensationally failed in the rhythmic gymnastics tournament.

Averina won the silver medal in the individual all-around, losing to the winner Lina Ashram from Israel by 0.150 points.

A year later, at the World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, Dina Averina came in second in the ribbon exercise. When she saw her results and the fact that she was only second, Averina could not contain her emotions, almost bursting into tears and calling the judges "c*cks." This incident was broadcast on TV.

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