Russian gymnast Yana Zaikina took gold in the ribbon event at the 2026 European Junior Championships in rhythmic gymnastics, held in Varna, Bulgaria.
Sofia Krainska of Ukraine finished second; Melissa Dite of Germany was third.
During the medal ceremony, as the Russian anthem played, Krainska covered her ears with headphones and her eyes with her hands. The Russian Gymnastics Federation posted a video of the moment.
Ukrainian gymnast Varvara Chubarova made a similar gesture during the medal ceremony for the ball event, which was won by Kira Babkevich of Belarus — whose national anthem played during the ceremony.
The first European Championships medal for a Russian competitor went to Ksenia Savinova, who took silver in the hoop event.
Both Zaikina and Savinova train at the Nebesnaya Gratsia Academy of Rhythmic Gymnastics, founded by Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva.
Russian and Belarusian gymnasts are competing under their national flags and anthems at international competitions for the first time since 2022. The International Gymnastics Federation lifted the restrictions at a meeting on May 16–17.
Russian gymnasts were banned from the International Gymnastics Federation’s competitions in 2022. They were allowed to return in 2024, but only under neutral status.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。