Yelena Välbe, President of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Association, has again raised serious allegations against her biggest sporting competitors. The target of their attack is once again Erik Røste, President of the Norwegian Ski Association.
It was Røste at the beginning of March who purposefully created a mood against the Russian team in the associations and at the FIS, Välbe complained in an interview with “championat”: “This whole hysteria was created by a person who praised their solution everywhere. “
According to Välbe, the Norwegian not only addressed the associations, but also the other athletes. Røste influenced everyone else to “keep saying they don’t want to compete against Russians,” the Russian cross-country president said.
That Røste behaved in such a way as Norwegian Association President and member of the FIS Board is very unfortunate. “And he was also supported by the cross-country president of the FIS, who made a similar statement,” Välbe also included Røste’s compatriot Vegard Ulvang in her criticism.
Before the FIS officially banned the Russian athletes, Ulvang told the Norwegian media that, in his opinion, Russians should not be allowed to start: “It cannot be that those who are being shot at have to fly home and those who are shooting , can start.”
“The whole hysteria in Norway was provoked”
“What are these statements about?” Välbe rumbled towards Ulvang. There are ethical principles in the associations: “And who are you in this case? Aren’t you a member of the FIS family?” You can bring up such a topic in a small circle and calmly, “but not make these kinds of statements. The whole hysteria in Norway was provoked,” affirmed Välbe.
Røste himself is relaxed about the serious accusations from the Russian camp and classifies them as diversionary maneuvers. In a message to the Norwegian newspaper “Verden’s walkhe wrote: “I perceive these initiatives by Välbe and other Russians as repeated attempts to divert attention from the facts of this tragic situation.”