Olympic champion, State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova believes that the display of the Ukrainian flag at the awards ceremony after the Biathlon World Cup stage by Norwegian biathletes is a political action.
Norwegian biathletes, brothers Johannes and Tarje Boe, as well as Sturla Holm Laegreid, hung the Ukrainian flag at the awards ceremony after the pursuit race at the World Cup stage in Oberhof.
“On the one hand, it’s strange. On the other hand, there are some restrictions, I don’t know, from the biathlon federation, to come out only with their own flags to the awards ceremony, otherwise it’s some kind of political action, we understand that.
If a person comes out with their own flag, it’s one thing, if they come out with the flag of another country, then it’s a political action. I don’t know how the federation spells out in the regulations what they should do, there clearly haven’t been many such precedents before. But it was clearly done on purpose and on purpose. Especially in anticipation of the fact that the Russians may return.
After all, some athletes, on the contrary, speak out for the return of the Russians, and some are categorically against it, who do not want competition. I believe that no one is stopping you from showing this outside of competitions, there are no restrictions. Why is it necessary to express your position on the podium? It is not very clear. I believe that in this way they partly showed their position against the return of the Russians, spoke out in support of Ukraine,” Zhurova told TASS.