A year and a half ago, a loud scandal broke out in the Ukrainian figure skating team. Russian figure skater Anastasia Shabotova, who for several years represented the neighboring country, was suddenly expelled from the national team. Moreover, this happened just before the World Championships, where the girl could well have competed for prizes. However, the athlete’s political position turned out to be more important than her talent.
It is curious that the girl also entered the Ukrainian national team after an unpleasant story. Four years ago, the figure skater, who was still performing in Russia, spoke publicly about the use of doping by her famous colleagues…
And suddenly his sports citizenship changed.
TALENTED MUSCOVITE
Until 2019, only the most devoted fans of the Russian figure knew Shabotova. Even in early childhood, the girl began to play sports at the Moskvich Olympic Reserve School and soon her potential became evident. Nastya began to actively compete in national tournaments at the age of eight and showed her first solid results in the 2016/17 season.
After this, the athlete moved to the already stronger Snow Leopard Academy, where she was trained by Svetlana Panova. As part of the new sports school, the figure skater won first prize, winning bronze at the Moscow championship, followed by fifth place at the Russian championship.
The girl progressed quickly. At the age of 13 she took the next step: she won the NA Panin Memorial and then gold in the V stage of the Russian Cup. At this rate, the talented figure skater could have easily made it to the youth team and then become a real-world star… However, these prospects were ruined by a careless statement.
Anastasia Shabotova social networks.
“DRINKING DOPING — AND YOU GIVE UP STABLE”
The incident occurred in January 2019, when Shabotova was communicating with her subscribers on social media. The 13-year-old athlete decided to hold a live broadcast, during which she answered questions from fans. The girl responded to one of them in the most unexpected way:
– How to act consistently? Drink a lot of doping and perform consistently. That’s all. You just have to dope correctly. Do they drink or not drink in Khrustalny? Of course they drink,” said Nastya.
No wonder the girl’s words shook the world of figure skating. It would be quite possible to turn a blind eye to the young athlete’s private statement: you never know what methods are used in her sports school. However, Nastya recklessly mentioned “Crystal” in her comment, meaning she offended both Eteri Tutberidze, often criticized abroad, and many of the Russian national team stars who train under her leadership, including the champion Olympian Alina Zagitova.
“BLANK UNDER THE SIGHT OF A JOKE”
The reactions to the athlete’s statement were very different. The president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Alexander Gorshkov, called her words nonsense, the famous coach Ilya Averbukh tried to justify the girl, and Tutberidze herself complained that for Shabotova’s generation “the formula for success is use of doping”. A great responsibility fell on coach Anastasia, who then had to explain to the whole country:
– Let’s talk frankly, Nastya is still a child. The girl was broadcasting live, they asked her leading questions and because of her stupidity she responded this way. She gives her vitamin C for her cough, but the girl thinks she is doping. She just blurted out something incomprehensible under the guise of a joke, she took it and posted it. Since Nastya skates with me, of course, now I have to fix everything,” she quotes SE as Panova.
FFKKR
Later, Anastasia herself also publicly apologized for her words, saying that she “said something stupid.” But it turned out that this story was not completely exhausted. The girl and her parents were under enormous pressure, so the family decided to abandon the auspices of the national federation. In the spring it became known that Shabotova had moved… to the Ukrainian national team.
In the new country, the girl began to be useful almost immediately. Shabotova won gold at the Ukrainian Championships three times in a row and helped the team get a ticket to the 2022 Olympics. However, in Beijing the skater unexpectedly failed and she took the last place in the protocol. The girl had the opportunity to rehabilitate at the World Championships, but she could not participate in the tournament: the Russian athlete was fired from the Ukrainian team for political reasons. Now Nastya is training again in her homeland.
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