The star Ukrainian gymnast is preparing to receive a Croatian passport.
The silver medalist of the 2024 Paris Olympics in artistic gymnastics Ilya Kovtun and his coach Irina Gorbacheva have submitted documents to obtain Croatian citizenship.
This was reported by the head coach of the Croatian national team Vladimir Madjarevic in a comment to the publication Jutarnji List.
According to the publication, Kovtun has already received permission to compete from the Croatian Artistic Gymnastics Federation. The gymnast still needs to obtain a Croatian passport in order to finally change his sports citizenship.
“We have submitted documents to the Ministry of the Interior, and this (the process of obtaining citizenship – ed.) should go through an accelerated procedure. There are two options: the first is that he receives citizenship because he is a top athlete, necessary for Croatian sport. The second is as a Ukrainian, who has special conditions for obtaining citizenship through an accelerated procedure in Croatia and the EU. We hope that we will resolve this issue through an accelerated procedure, and then the next step is to register the change of citizenship with the World Gymnastics Federation,” said the Croatian national team coach.
If Kovtun finally changes his sports citizenship, he has two options for debuting for the Croatian national team. If Ukraine gives permission, he will be able to represent Croatia as early as 2025, including at the European and World Championships. Otherwise, Ilya will have to serve a year of “quarantine” before he will have the right to play for the Croatian national team.
“We expect problems, because Ukraine, obviously, will not let him go voluntarily. There are different options, the worst that can happen, as far as we understand, is a year of quarantine and a break from playing in international competitions.
We are ready for anything. He competes on parallel bars in French, Italian, German club leagues, where there is no nationality requirement, so he will definitely have enough competitive practice. The only thing is that he will not be able to compete in big competitions like the Euro or the World Championship. But if there is a quarantine, it’s good that it will happen only now, in the first year after the Olympics,” Madzharevich said.
It should be noted that Kovtun and Gorbacheva spent the entire 2024 preparing for the competition in Croatia. The athlete did not return to Ukraine after the Olympics in Paris.
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 Paris Games – in floor exercises and the individual all-around. In addition, Ilya took fifth place as part of the Ukrainian national team in the team all-around.
The Paris Games 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.
