In protest, the entire Lithuanian team withdrew from the competition.
Lithuanian athlete Kornelija Duday was disqualified from the World Fitness Championships because of a T-shirt with the inscription “Make Russia Small Again”.
The competitions were held in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Russian athletes were admitted to the World Championships as neutrals. Despite this, they came out in T-shirts with the name of the aggressor country, and the announcer declared them Russians.
Dudaite did not like this. In protest, the Lithuanian athlete wore a T-shirt with the words “Make Russia Small Again,” which is a reference to the slogan of US President Donald Trump's campaign in the last election, “Make America Great Again.”
The competition organizers demanded that Kornelija take off the T-shirt, as it allegedly “insulted Russian athletes.” Dudaite refused to do so and was disqualified.
In protest, the entire Lithuanian team of 28 athletes withdrew from the competition.
“At the championship, athletes were allowed to display the symbols of the aggressor country – they were visible during the live broadcast, the name of the country was indicated. The negligence of the organizers, ignoring the neutral flag policy is contrary to our values, so the Lithuanian Functional Sports Federation recommended that the team members leave the competition,” the federation said in a statement.
On her social networks, Dudaite posted a photo of herself in a T-shirt with the inscription “Make Russia Small Again” and added an eloquent caption.
“They said that my participation insults Russians. I hope that Ukraine will win and really insult them,” the athlete wrote.
