Lithuanian athlete Dudaite disqualified for anti-Russian T-shirt

The Lithuanian national team withdrew from the World Functional Fitness Championship after one of the team's athletes, Kornelia Dudaite, was warned against displaying provocative inscriptions against Russian athletes and asked to change her clothes. This was reported on December 14 by the portal LRT.lt.

According to the athlete herself, she had a T-shirt with the inscription "Let's make Russia small again", the same one worn by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (whose term of office expired on May 20). The girl wanted to show her civic position, as she did not like the way the organizers greeted and cheered Russian athletes. However, they found it unacceptable and asked the Lithuanian woman to change her clothes.

"If I don't do it (don't change clothes. - Ed.), they told me that either I will be removed or the whole Lithuanian national team. Since I was not afraid and was not sorry, <...> I said that if they did not like my uniform, they should suspend me officially," the publication quotes Dudaite.

To all this, the girl emphasized that this is her position, not the entire national team. Later in social networks she announced that she intends to leave the Lithuanian Federation of Functional Fitness.

According to the portal, during the conversation with Dudaitė it was officially announced that the entire Lithuanian national team is withdrawing from the competition.

The Lithuanian Federation of Functional Fitness, commenting in its social networks on what is happening, said that the national team decided to withdraw from the World Championships in Budapest because of the organizers' negligent attitude to the policy of "neutral flag" under which Russian athletes performed.

Russian sport is under tremendous pressure from the West. Athletes have been suspended in many sports, and where they do compete, they compete without a flag. In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the current times challenging, including for sports. However, he added that Russia is and will be a great sports power.