Alarm bell: figure skater Gallyamov publicly insulted a journalist of Izvestia

Figure skater Alexander Gallyamov caused a public scandal against the background of his sports failures. Tamara Moskvina's student failed to win the gold of the Russian Championship in pairs, after which he first took it out on his partner Anastasia Mishina, and the next day on a journalist from Izvestia, who was trying to get a comment about Alexander's strange publications on social networks. The skater called the call at 10 a.m. a "mean" and "abnormal" act. This is far from the first case of Gallyamov's harsh statements. A series of failures, including the loss of the status of the country's strongest "greenhouse", probably seriously affected the psychological state of the athlete — earlier in social networks he repeatedly hinted at the machinations of ill-wishers interfering with his career.

"Sick in the head"

On Saturday, December 20, Alexander Gallyamov and Anastasia Mishina became the silver medalists of the Russian Championship. At the tournament in St. Petersburg, the former world champions scored 223.63 points and lost to their main competitors, Alexandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky (224.29). After the rentals, Gallyamov did not utter a word at a press conference, and then stated on his social networks that he had no desire to comment on the competition, and even allowed the option of ending his career. And the next day, the star athlete surprised fans with an ambiguous statement in the "circle" format on social networks.

"Good morning! Although it's not very kind for me," the skater said in his Telegram channel. — I received a call: "Alexander, hello!" Like the newspaper Izvestia, some girl is calling from there. "Sorry for calling so early." I think, "Where did she forget her brain when she calls me after a break, when I wanted to get some sleep?" Well, that's so mean, I think. Today they are still indicative. She's just sick in the head. Then we'll light up her number so that she can receive calls now, so that she understands what she's doing? She's just not normal."

However, as stated by the editorial board of the 78 TV channel (part of the Izvestia News Center) the situation looks completely different: "We called Alexander at 9:54 a.m., a few minutes before the first news release, to clarify whether his account had been hacked and to ask for a comment on the publication. "Alexander, hello. Sorry to bother you early. I wanted to know if you could comment on what you wrote in your Telegram channel," the journalist asked. However, in response, the producer was met with an inappropriate reaction and insults. Gallyamov called the journalist "inadequate" and "sick in the head."

"A public person needs to be more correct"

Gallyamov's behavior caused a mostly negative reaction in the sports and journalistic community. Especially, his desire to "leak the number" of the correspondent, so that angry fans of the figure skater would start calling her. By the way, such actions may threaten an athlete with criminal liability for disclosing personal data.

— Probably, the journalist should have sent the message first. But if I want to sleep, I turn off the sound, and it's physically impossible to reach me. Therefore, the question arises: why pick up the phone? – Svetlana Zhurova, a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Olympic champion in speed skating, commented on the incident. — Calling a journalist sick is not normal. There's a question about the wording: if he had respectfully asked all the journalists not to bother him, no one would have been offended. He wanted to speak frankly about the problem, but chose the wrong form of information presentation. This is a mistake. In fact, I can imagine how many men will say now, "If someone had called me on Sunday morning, I would have said exactly the same thing." But a public figure needs to be more correct in his statements.

"Dear figure skater Gallyamov! I know, of course, that you are on a par with Gorshkov, Protopopov, Zaitsev, Ulanov, Bobrin, Bukin. And here you are standing in this row. But at your age, dear comrade Gallyamov, you can learn how to use a mobile phone, turn off the sound and set the do not disturb mode. And anyway, who gave you the right to talk to journalists in such a tone? We hope that you realize how wrong you are," Dmitry Guberniev, a Match TV commentator, stood up for the journalist.

— We know that athletes can let their emotions run wild. Journalists can also go with pressure. Probably, there was a lack of correctness on both sides in this situation. It remains only to understand and forgive the journalist and Alexander himself," two—time world champion in figure skating Irina Slutskaya advised in a conversation with Izvestia.

"At least keep up appearances."

This is not the first case of Alexander's violent negative reaction in the public space. This has become especially common with him in the current difficult season for the couple. The injury of a figure skater on Lake Baikal, sustained this spring, turned out to be more serious than expected — it took a long recovery. And in May, it became known that Mishina and Gallyamov would not compete at the 2026 Olympics due to the decision of the International Skating Union (ISU) to deny them neutral status.

A series of sports failures, apparently, seriously affected the psychological state of the athlete. He has repeatedly hinted on social media at the machinations of ill-wishers who hinder his career. And after an unsuccessful performance at the Russian Grand Prix in Kazan last fall, Gallyamov had an emotional conversation with his partner Anastasia Mishina right in the "corner of tears and kisses" - a place where skaters wait for the announcement of grades after their performances. Then Alexander had to be stopped by coach Tamara Moskvina, and his partner almost begged the raging athlete: "At least keep up appearances."

Now many people on social networks are advising Alexander to either learn how to put his phone on silent mode, or to completely abandon the Internet in order to calm his nerves amid sports failures and the loss of his status as the country's strongest greenhouse. Gallyamov is currently the Olympic bronze medalist in team and pair skating (2022), world champion (2021) and European champion (2022). After the current Russian championship, the main part of the season is over for him. If our athletes are not returned to international competitions in the coming months, then in March Gallyamov and Mishina can only compete in the Grand Prix finals, the Channel One Team Cup and the Russian Challenge show program tournament.