New headwind for Russia’s cross-country star Veronika Stepanova. Because the 21-year-old publicly praises Vladimir Putin and obviously approves of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Olympic champion in Beijing is now being criticized again from the Norwegian camp.
When asked what she thought of Stepanova’s recent statements, Norwegian young hope Helene Marie Fossesholm told NRK: “It’s always said that sport and politics should be separated. But in Russia, sport and politics are definitely not separated. They use it sport for propaganda. And so it becomes difficult for us to separate the two things.”
The values that Stepanova and other Russian athletes unite “are so much the opposite of mine that I can’t express it,” criticized the relay world champion of 2021.
The Norwegian could not answer whether she had already thought about how it would feel to start together with Stepanova and Co. in the future. For this she said: “It is clear that it will not be forgotten.”
It was strange how far Stepanova’s values were from her own, Fossesholm affirmed: “I just can’t imagine it. I can only imagine what it will be like to meet someone who has such contradictory values to my own.”
The Russian Stepanova initially complained vehemently about the exclusion of Russian athletes in a series of Instagram posts at the beginning of the war, but avoided commenting on the invasion of Ukraine. At the reception in the Kremlin a few weeks ago, however, she explained that Russia would also win away from the sporting arena. A statement that left little room for interpretation.