More than 200 Russian athletes have switched flags to continue their careers

More than 200 Russian athletes have changed or are trying to change their citizenship to continue their careers after sanctions were imposed on Russian sports first for doping scandals and then for offensive to Ukraine as the independent Russian digital portal ‘Holod’ reported today.

“After studying announcements about changing sports citizenship, open data on participants in competitions and the open records of sports federations, Holod counted 204 athletes who changed or intend to change the sports citizenship,” the outlet said.

Holod pointed out that among these athletes there are well-known professionals, European or World Champions in their specialties, and very young athletes, where “renunciation of Russian citizenship is often the only way to save their career.”

Among athletes who have changed their citizenship the most in the past two years, chess players lead the way, with a total of 141.

Most of them don’t make this decision public, which usually comes up during competitions, Holod said.

Besides International Chess Federation publishes the transfer of athletes from one national federation to another.

Russia also suffered the escape of 11 skaters and 11 horsemen, five gymnasts and 5 tennis players, as well as four soccer players and four runners.

In 16 other sports disciplines, Russia lost between one and two athletes.

The country that hosts the most Russian athletes is Israel, under the flag 25 Russian appears, followed by Serbianwith 19 athletes, Germany there are 13 and France there are 12.

However, according to Holod, the actual number of Russian athletes who switched flags may be higher, as there are many young Russian athletes who are little known or involved in disciplines with little publicity.