- During a March medal ceremony, Ivan Kuliak wore a symbol associated with
Russia 'sUkraine invasion. - He was standing next to his Ukrainian rival in Qatar at the time and has since defended his actions.
A Russian gymnast who wore a $4 while standing next to his Ukrainian opponent has been barred from the sport for a year and ordered to return his medal.
In March, Ivan Kuliak, 20, $4 during a medal ceremony at the Apparatus World Cup in Doha, Qatar. The same symbol has been $4 invading Ukraine and has since been promoted by people supporting the invasion.
During the ceremony, Kuliak, who won bronze in the competition's parallel-bars final, stood $4 from his Ukrainian opponent, Illia Kovtun, who won gold.
Immediately after the competition, the International
The governing body, known by its initials in French, FIG, said $4 that Kuliak's stunt breached its code of conduct and barred him from competing in the sport for a year, retroactively disqualified him from the Doha competition, and ordered him to return his medal.
FIG also ordered Kuliak to return his prize money of 500 Swiss francs — about $502 — and pay a further 2,000 Swiss francs for the cost of proceedings.
The federation had on March 4 $4 athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus from joining any event or competition organized by FIG or its affiliate for an unspecified amount of time.
In its Tuesday statement, FIG said that it was barring Kuliak until May 17, 2023, and that if the ban on Russian athletes was still in place then, Kuliak's ban would continue for another six months.
Kuliak can appeal the decision within 21 days of being notified, FIG added.
Russian athletes have been barred from many international
In February, the International Olympic Committee, which organizes the Olympic Games, $4. FIFA, soccer's governing body, has also $4, meaning its men's team will miss the 2022 World Cup.
$4 has also barred Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at this summer's tennis tournament.
Individual Russian athletes have also been sanctioned for supporting the war in Ukraine. Evgeny Rylov, a swimmer who won two gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, was last month $4 for nine months for attending a rally in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After receiving backlash for wearing the "Z" symbol, Kuliak $4 for creating an "uncomfortable" atmosphere at the competition and said he would display the symbol again.
"If there was a second chance and I had a choice whether to go out with the letter 'Z' on my chest or not, I would do the same," Kuliak told Russian state media.
"I saw it on our military and looked at what this symbol means," he added. "It turned out to be 'for victory' and 'for peace.' I just wanted to show my position. As an athlete, I will always fight for victory and play for peace."