FIG has recently accepted the license change of Eleonora Romanova and Janika Vartlaan. These two gymnasts have different stories on why they decided to compete for other countries, and the expected outcome should be also different.
Ukranian borned, living in Moscow and 2016 Estonian champion Janika Vartlaan, surpised everyone by changing her license to compete for Ukraine. The annoucement took place during Group Ukranian Nationals, were she showcased her routines. This change comes as a shock since Janika was under Irina Viner's wing, Alexandra Merkulova coached her and was easily the best estonian gymnast. As Natalia Inno, board member of the Estonian Gymnastics Union said, in sports, athletes with dual citizenship have to choose which country to represent once you turn 18 years old, Janika applied for russian citizenship after she won the 2016 Estonian Championships and didn't compete internationally since 2016, although she appeared as OC (out of competition) during this year's Alina Cup, the side international tournament held at the same time as the Moscow Grand Prix, and it seemed obvious since she has trained all her life in the russian system and lives there to do it. But suddenly the decision was made to compete for Ukraine.
The Estonian Gymnastics Union didn't put any trouble to transfer the gymnast, although they tried to persuade her, they wished her luck in her career, and the Ukranian Federation accepted swiftly too... as Mazur annouced her retirement from competitive gymnastics, and Anna Rizatdinova expecting a baby. Remembering that in this year's World Championships, for the first time ever no ukranian gymnasts made apparatus finals.
Romanova, who's family lived in the troubled Krasnodon, Luhansk region, which has been controlled by the Luhansk People's Republic since 2014, went to visit her family on New Year's eve after the annual training camp in Beregevo. When the celebrations ended, Romanova didn't return to train saying that she wanted to stay with her parents. But the Federation managed to find out that she was really in Russia with her family. She was granted russian citizenship in September 2016. According to Irina Deriugina, also shocked by the news, Elya's parents abandoned her because her father never visited and she only saw her mother 4 times, the School was her home and the team was her family.
It will be hard for Elya to make the team given that she went to the country with most depth in Rhythmic Gymnastics. She's being coached by Evgenia Kanaeva and has posted pictures in her social media around the Novogrsk training facility.
No comments :
Post a Comment