Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak, who supported the invasion of Ukraine during the World Cup in Doha, said he did not regret his gesture, nor his support for Vladimir Putin.
While his gesture had outraged the entire sports community, the 20-year-old gymnast, who had displayed the letter “Z” (symbol of the Russian invasion) on his sokol when competing in the parallel bars final, explained why he had done that.
“They started this whole political movement, wrote the bronze medalist during this World Cup, on his Telegram messenger. It was in response to this behavior that I showed up with this crest on my jersey. The Ukrainians were wrapped in their flag and they shouted ‘Glory to Ukraine’ on the podium. According to the rules of the competition, it was not allowed, but no one told them. They also demanded that we Russians be excluded when we had not said or done anything against anyone.
20-year-old Ivan Kuliak, who saw the International Gymnastics Federation initiate an investigation for possible sanctions, received the support of the president of the Russian Gymnastics Federation. “We were told to cover our flag,” he explained. That’s what I did. The organizers had already banned everything that was possible. I just wanted to show where I am from, that’s all and nothing more. I have never been afraid of the consequences and I mean no harm to anyone. This ‘Z’ sign stands for ‘for victory’ and ‘for peace’. Ukrainian athletes treated us badly. You had to see it to believe it.”
Third in his event, the Russian saw the Ukrainian Kovtun Illia win ahead of the Kazakh Milad Karimi, engaged to the Ukrainian gymnast Diana Varinska.