Former Russian figure skater Vladimir Samoilov, who now competes for Poland, said he felt the jury members were biased because of where he was born. His words guide the way Sports24.
“If we consider the organizers, the presidents of the federations, the team leaders of other countries, the athletes, then there is no bias. It’s my opinion, but it’s in refereeing. Not only to me, but also to some other athletes,” Samoilov said.
The skater represented Russia until 2021, after which she changed her sports citizenship. At the 2024 European Championship, Samoilov finished in the last eighth place.
At the end of February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) appealed to international sports federations, recommending that domestic and Belarusian athletes not be allowed to participate in any competitions. For this reason, the International Skating Union (ISU) suspended Russian and Belarusian athletes from competitions. In the 2022/23 season, they focused on domestic competitions (Russian Grand Prix stages and the national championship). Although the issue of the return of Russian athletes was brought up at the ISU meeting held in October, it was not brought to the agenda.
The last official competition in which Russian figure skaters competed was the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
European Championships where there were no Russian figure skaters before in the name “a shame.”