A volleyball legend, and a woman committed against the action of her country. Ekaterina Gamova, a real star in Russia, has decided to add her voice to the wave of protest that has been following the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s troops for five days.
If several Russian athletes, including Daniil Medvedev, the brand new world No. 1 in tennis, want to believe in peace, the position of the 41-year-old volleyball player, double European and World champion, takes on a whole new dimension since she does not hesitate to use very strong terms to openly criticize the action of her government.
“This shameful page will forever remain in the history of my country, writes the retiree from the field since 2016. I never imagined that Russia would attack a European state, with bombings and shootings. The whole world is now against Russia and imposing sanctions on it. They don’t want to see us in their countries, they want to isolate us. »
“Our government must stop as soon as possible, continues the champion. Could I have been silent? Yes, I could have. But I am ashamed and afraid. Know that in Russia there are a lot of people who are against what is happening… I’m sorry…” The position taken by Gamova is all the stronger as the ex-international (237 caps) has of strong credit. On September 30, the player was also in Moscow the godmother of the draw for the 2022 world championship … which will not take place.
The organization of the 2022 Men’s Volleyball World Cup, scheduled for August and September, has thus been withdrawn from Russia. Respectively Olympic and world champions, France and Poland announced two days after the Russian offensive their intention to boycott this event if it were to be held in Russia. In recent days, several events scheduled to take place in Russia, as well as competitions involving its national teams and even clubs, have been canceled.
