Russian cross-country athlete Veronika Stepanova (21) once again took on Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Instagram posts he illustrated with a picture where he was looking down at his cell phone while reading a German interview with the Olympic president with the caption:

“Thomas Bach: – Staying silent about Putin is also a message.” Commenting on Bach’s statement in an interview with Bild, Stepanova said:

– I promise you, Mr Bach, that I will train with triple the energy so that you, and no one else, will give me a medal at the upcoming Olympics! I don’t know about you, but it would give me special pleasure to see your face at the same time, Stepanova wrote, ending with a big biceps emoji, followed by the abbreviation “RU” for Russia.

Holding firmly

In the interview, Bach said that the IOC had succeeded in asking all international federations not to have international sporting events on Russian and Belarusian soil.

“We have given this recommendation and remain firm. The time has not come to reverse these recommendations and attitudes. We also advise against inviting Russian or Belarusian athletes: no national anthem, no flag, no colors. And we took a decision, for the first time in the history of the IOC: We revoke the medal that Russian President Putin received in 2001,” said Bach.

– Words for action

Stepanova herself was one of the Russian athletes who met Putin at a highly criticized ceremony this spring. where Putin will honor Russia’s medal winners at the Olympics.

In a recent Instagram post, Stepanova also cited another excerpt from an interview with Bach over the IOC.

“Less than 50 countries in the world have imposed sanctions on Russia. That is, we have about 150 National Olympic Committees within the IOC, whose governments have not imposed any sanctions on Russia. And they ask us: why are you reacting here? Just because are they in Europe? What have you done with Yemen, what with Afghanistan? And Ethiopia, Mali? We have to look at this worldview too.”

Norway star answer

Stepanova commented on this statement by saying that Bach was working on something, and that she was looking forward to the words turning into action. Stepanova took the hiking world by storm last year. Among other things, he anchored foot for Russia when they won relay gold at the Olympics.