Famous Ukrainian athlete officially changed his citizenship
12 July 00:37
Gymnast Ilya Kovtun, who won a silver medal for Ukraine at the 2024 Olympics, has officially changed his sports citizenship to Croatian. This is reported on the website of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
The Croatian national team confirmed the gymnast’s transition in January – since then, he has been completing the process of changing his sports citizenship.
Sports experts say that if Ukraine does not approve his transition, the athlete will face a year-long quarantine outside of competitions.
Now Ilya Kovtun has two options for making his debut for the Croatian national team. If Ukraine allows the gymnast to immediately join this team, he will be able to perform at the main competitions in 2025 – otherwise, he will miss both the Euros and the World Championships this season.
It is worth noting that the media have long written about Kovtun’s plans to change his sports citizenship.
Following these reports, in December 2024, the Ministry of Youth and Sports initiated a conversation with the gymnast’s coach. At the time, Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi emphasized that despite the difficulties caused by the war, Ukraine was “making every effort to support athletes.”
But in January, Croatia confirmed that Kovtun had not abandoned his intention to compete under the Croatian flag. The president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, Vadym Gutzeit, expressed disappointment with the athlete’s decision, saying that it meant that “you don’t want to be Ukrainian.”
Kovtun himself explained that “it’s not just about the war in Ukraine.” According to him, he “practically lived in Croatia, sleeping, training, eating”.
According to him, when he won an Olympic medal, it seemed to him that people in Croatia were more excited about it than in Ukraine.
What we know about Ilya Kovtun
the 21-year-old gymnast was born in Cherkasy.
In 2024, he became a silver medalist at the Olympic Games. He is also a bronze medalist at the World and European All-Around Championships, a medalist at the World Junior Championships, a six-time European Junior Champion, a medalist at the European Junior Championships, and a multiple champion and medalist at the European Youth Olympic Festival.
In 2021, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) approved a new element named after Kovtun, who performed it at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup.
Ilya Kovtun is an Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, how many athletes have changed their sports citizenship?
Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, a significant number of athletes have changed their sports citizenship. The most notable changes occurred in chess: during this period, 110 Ukrainian chess players started representing other countries. Among them, 66 were minors, and 8 switched to the flag of Russia.
In total, according to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, approximately 300 athletes left the country during the war and never returned. Most of them were not members of national teams, but the list remains dynamic.
Biathlon news
Among the famous athletes who changed their citizenship are wrestler Semen Novikov, who joined the Bulgarian national team, and weightlifter Anton Plesnoy, who represents Georgia.
Thus, although the exact number of athletes who changed their citizenship during the war is unknown, there are at least 110 chess players and about 300 athletes who left Ukraine and never returned.
