For Karina Poludkina, May 25, 2023 is undoubtedly a date that matters. That day, at the Slava Metreveli Stadium in Sochi, which hosted a Russian sports competition, the athlete launched his javelin to 49.88 meters. New personal record. She then won an honorable fifth place, which made her climb to 218e rank in the world rankings, according to data from the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics).
A few days later, the name of the young 19-year-old woman reappeared on the occasion of the Pan Arab Games, which take place until July 15, in Algeria. Twenty-two nations compete there in twenty-two sports. Including Syria, for which Karina Poludkina, renamed on this occasion “Karina Polud”, was to compete on Friday July 7, if we are to believe the official website of the competition. Thursday evening, however, the athlete denied his presence in Algeria, while admitting to having received ” an offer “ financial to participate in competitions. She did not specify the origin of this offer.
In all, seven Russian sportswomen from various disciplines are registered on behalf of the Syrian delegation for this pan-Arab sporting event, according to Russian journalist Sergei Lissine, who revealed their presence on a sports channel broadcast on the Telegram social network. “A terrible scandal awaits us”he believes. “It is inconceivable that anyone has agreed in advance with the international badminton, water sports, cycling and athletics federations that Russian athletes can compete for Syria without an official change of nationality, and even with modified dates of birth », he adds.
Dates of birth and names changed
In addition to Karina Poludkina, two cyclists, a judoka, a gymnast, a badminton player and a swimmer were thus spotted by the journalist. The dates of birth of two of them have been modified, others have changed their surname or first name.
According to the Russian Ministry of Sports, two of the sportswomen are representatives of the Syrian team, officially registered under this nationality with international federations, and are currently no longer part of the Russian national teams.
For the other five, the information given on the Pan Arab Games site does not correspond to the ” reality “, explained awkwardly in a press release the ministry, on July 6, after being arrested by the press. The Russian athletics and cycling federations have announced that they will “grab the deal”. The organizers of the Pan Arab Games have, at this time, not reacted.
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