Zhan Beleniuk spoke about the situation with the Ukrainian medalist of the 2024 Olympic Games in artistic gymnastics Ilya Kovtun.
Three-time Olympic medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling and people's deputy of Ukraine Zhan Beleniuk commented on the information about a possible change of sports citizenship by the silver medalist of the 2024 Olympics in Paris in artistic gymnastics Ilya Kovtun.
“I read this news, I was shocked by it. Honestly, I don't know the reasons why they decided to do this, what prompted them to do it. It seems to me that Kovtun had all the conditions, he was studying, he was receiving a salary from Ukraine.
I don’t know what funds he used to prepare – maybe the Croatians accepted him – but I know that the national team prepared, there was funding, and I know that he prepared abroad. What is there to comment on? This is a decision. Everyone makes it for themselves individually. “We need to understand the motivation,” Beleniuk said in a comment to Tribuna.com.
Earlier it was reported that 21-year-old Kovtun was considering the possibility of changing his sports citizenship and starting to represent Croatia instead of Ukraine.
According to the athlete's personal coach Irina Gorbacheva, the final decision will be made before the end of this year.
We add that Kovtun and Gorbacheva spent the entire 2024 year preparing for the competition in Croatia. The athlete did not return to Ukraine after the Olympics in Paris.
We recall that Kovtun won silver in the parallel bars at the 2024 Olympics. This is his first Olympic medal in his career.
He also came in fourth twice at the Games in Paris – in floor exercises and the individual all-around. In addition In addition, Ilya took fifth place as part of the Ukrainian national team in the team all-around.
The Games in Paris were already the second Olympics in Kovtun's career. At his debut Games in Tokyo in 2021, he took 11th place in the individual all-around and became seventh on the team.
