Olympian Yuliya Stupak denies condemning Russia for Ukraine invasion; to compete in Olympics 2024 as neutral
Russian athlete Yuliya Stupak stands against condemning her country's actions.
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The international community now stands divided on the fate of the Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the Olympics in 2024. The IOC is of the opinion that the Russian and Belarusian athletes if they were to participate, should be under the banner of a neutral entity. However, other countries in coalition with Ukraine are against this proposition and want to ban the Russian and Belarusian Olympic delegates altogether.
Cross-country skier for the Russian national team, Yuliya Stupak has come up with a controversial stance regarding the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The Russian athlete has come forward to express her patriotism for her country and denies condemning the government for invading Ukraine.
When the news about Russian and Belarusian athletes being allowed in the Olympics reached Stupak, she responded by saying, “I heard that work is underway to allow us to be in a neutral status.” While the athlete agrees to participate on a neutral banner, she is vehemently against signing any clause that might ask her to condemn her nation’s actions.
Russian athlete Yuiya Stupak stands against condemning her country to participate in Olympics
When politics and sports get intertwined, it becomes a complicated and tough affair to separate the two entities from each other. While sportspersons might not have any motive related to the state’s actions, at the end of the day, they form to be an agent of that very repressive state themselves.
While the Russia-Ukraine crisis indeed is a humanitarian issue, Russian athlete Yuliya Stupak stands by the fact that she would never condemn or oppose her own country. When it came to signing any clause of condemnation for participating in the Olympics, Stupak said, “There is talk that you will have to sign some paper. To this, I would like to say that we will not sign any paper stating that we oppose our country. We are really tired of infringing on our rights and humiliating the dignity of a Russian athlete. I am a Russian athlete, I love and respect my country.”
She further states that she would not sign any such paper if she was to participate as a neutral athlete. Speaking of the prejudice against Russians after the invasion, Stupak says, “It seems that if you are Russian, then you are s**pid and uneducated, you do not know how to do anything and do not know how to behave.”
Stupak is a gold medalist in the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, where she won the 4X5 kilometers relay. She has won three more bronze medals in total, combining her achievements at Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022.
At last, Stupak concludes, “If you want to shove us into politics, it’s best not to. We just want to run, that’s all.”
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Siddid Dey Purkayastha
(528 Articles Published)