Serious Background of “Tone Down” Gold Medal Skater Who Appealed to Anti-War

Russian figure skaters who criticized the war at the time of the invasion of Ukraine have “toned it down”. While they were praised for their “courageous action” in openly criticizing the regime in Russia, where speech is controlled, some were concerned for their safety.

I am sure that no one in their right mind thinks that war is a good thing,” said one Russian figure skater. In this situation, there is only one truth: peace is good, war is evil.”

The anti-war message was posted on her Instagram account by Tatyana Vorosozhar, the Russian figure skating pair that won gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Tatyana is actually from Ukraine and started figure skating when she was 5 years old. She also represented Ukraine at the Olympics, but in Sochi she paired with Russian Maxim Trankov and won the gold medal for Russia. Trankov, by the way, is her current husband.

This “anti-war post” became a hot topic and was quoted and reported in Japan. Perhaps because of such an uproar, Tatiana remained silent for a while.

However, more than a week after the post, she opened her mouth again.

She said, “Let’s find the strength, love, and kindness to forgive everyone. May peace prevail in the world.”

Although he remains committed to peace, he appears to have refrained from using words that could be taken as criticism of Russia.

Russian women’s figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva, who won a silver medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, posted an anti-war message on Instagram at the beginning of the Ukrainian invasion. She, too, remained silent for a while afterwards, but posted a message on Instagram a short time later. The text showed that she was feeling fatigued by the series of upheavals.

She said that since the invasion began, the control of speech has been further tightened in Russia. Are the athletes who had the courage to speak out really safe now?