DIVING: Ukraine strips Lyskun of titles after Russia switch

Ukraine Strips Sofiia Lyskun of Titles After Switching Allegiance to Russia. Ukraine’s diving federation has announced that it has stripped Sofiia Lyskun of her titles following her decision to switch allegiance to Russia.

The 23-year-old athlete, who represented Ukraine at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the Paris Games last year, revealed her decision in an interview with a Russian newspaper earlier this week.

The federation said Lyskun had not informed them, her coaching staff, or Ukraine’s sports ministry about her plans.

“Such steps are categorically unacceptable,” the federation said in a statement. “They discredit not only an individual athlete, but also the entire team of Ukraine, which every day selflessly fights for the right to represent our country in the international arena.

“The Diving Federation of Ukraine will also appeal to international sports institutions with a requirement to apply sports quarantine to this athlete in accordance with current international standards,” the statement added.

Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from World Aquatics events after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, although some competed as neutrals at the Paris Olympics after restrictions were eased.

There was no response from Russia’s federation to a Reuters request for comment outside normal business hours.

Lyskun told Russian outlet Izvestia that she decided to switch allegiance after realizing she was no longer growing under her coaches in Ukraine, whom she described as “all gymnasts or trampoline athletes.”

Lyskun has an impressive record, having won 10m synchronized gold for Ukraine with Kseniia Bailo at last year’s European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, as well as team gold at the 2018 championships in Glasgow. -Karan Prashant Saxena/Reuters