Russian national team coach calls Russia an "island of adequacy" and proudly states that athletes did not condemn the war in Ukraine

The coach of the Russian national taekwondo team, Bolat Izutdinov, has called the World Taekwondo Federation's demands that Russian athletes not be photographed with their 2023 World Cup awards against the backdrop of national symbols absurd. The coach of the championship winner Lilia Khuzina added that athletes from the aggressor country did not sign documents condemning the war in Ukraine to participate in the tournament.

Izutdinov said this in an interview with the propaganda TV channel Match TV. He called Russia an "island of adequacy" and World Taekwondo officials crazy. The Russian coach added that the athletes were also banned from speaking about politics.

"When the whole world is going crazy, we must remain an island of sanity. I declare with full responsibility that the boys were not offered to sign and did not sign any declarations condemning the SVO (as the war in Ukraine is shamefully called in Russia - Ed.) or the country's policy. After arriving, they were asked not to make any political statements, to refrain from showing the Russian flag and anything related to the Russian Federation. What will happen next? They are going to go crazy. The most important thing is that a Russian citizen is a world champion. Five medals came to Russia. They have a motivational effect," Izutdinov said.

Earlier, world athletics champion Yolanda Chen called for the assignment of supervisors to Russian athletes to monitor the documents signed by athletes to participate in international competitions.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, the World Taekwondo Federation launched an investigation into Russia after athletes who had been suspended from the 2023 World Cup arrived in Baku.

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