Russian cross-country athlete Veronika Stepanova (21) returns against Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
He illustrated an Instagram post with an image in which he looks at his phone while reading a German interview with the Olympic president with the caption:
“Thomas Bach: – Silence about Putin is also a message.” In a comment 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 gives me a special pleasure to see your face at the same time, wrote Stepanova, ending with an emoji of big biceps, followed by the abbreviation “RU” for Russia.
Hold on tight
In the interview, Bach said that the IOC had successfully asked 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 yet come to reverse this suggestion and attitude. We also advise against inviting Russian or Belarusian athletes: no 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,” Bach said.
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