Elizaveta Hlusovic was the main target of criticism of Moldovan fans
The statement was published in response to numerous messages of Moldovan users in social networks criticizing athletes, especially 18-year-old skier Elizaveta Hlusovici.
“We are forced to intervene to stop the campaign directed against our athletes. It is sad that while athletes fight with zeal in competitions under the colors of the Moldovan flag, at home they are being smeared with mud, either out of ignorance or, even worse, with malicious intent,” the statement reads.
Far-fetched accusations
Both federations emphasize the legality of the athletes’ performance as representatives of Moldova.
“Pavel Magazeev, Maxim Makarov, Alina Stremous and Andrei Usov obtained citizenship of the Republic of Moldova absolutely legally, based on presidential decrees in 2020-2021. These are the people who proudly represented our country at the Olympic Games in 2022. They are not “tourists” who appeared overnight. They are graduates of the State University of Physical Education and Sport, as it used to be called, and have been fully integrated into our society,” the text of the statement reads.
Special attention is paid to the story of Elizaveta Hlusović, accused of publicly supporting the Russian authorities.
“Her story has perhaps been most distorted in the public space. Elizaveta is not a ‘naturalized’ athlete in the sense in which some speculate. She holds Moldovan citizenship by blood right. Hlusovici is the daughter of Natalia Levchencova, a biathlete who wrote her name in the history of Moldovan sport after she finished eighth in the individual race at the Winter Olympics in Turin 20 years ago. To accuse an 18-year-old girl, who trains with us in Moldova and who has completely renounced any ties with Russia, on the basis of screenshots from obviously fake social media accounts is a manifestation of cowardice. We have conducted internal checks which proved that those posts are part of an artificially created scandal aimed at destabilizing the morale of our delegation right before the start of the competition,” the communiqué said.
The Biathlon Federation, together with the Ski and Luge Federation, warned of their readiness to apply legal levers to stop any discrediting campaigns and called on Moldovan fans for solidarity.
Olympic starts of Moldovan athletes
At the XXV Winter Olympic Games Moldova is represented by six athletes (one as a reserve). Only one of them – skier Iulian Lukin – is a native of Moldova, the rest were born in Russia.
The most successful athlete is 30-year-old biathlete Alina Stremous. She took 14th place in the individual 20 km race, performing better than the more famous Hanna Eberg (Sweden), Lisa Vitozzi (Italy), Lisa Theresa Hauser (Austria), Justine Breza-Buche (France) and others.
On the eighth competition day of the Olympics, February 14, Stremous will take part in the 7.5km sprint race. If she finishes in the top 60, she will qualify for the 10km pursuit race on February 15.
The other athletes of the Moldovan national team showed much lower results. In the men’s 20km individual race, Pavel Magazeev took 45th place, while Maxim Macarov was 84th among 89 competitors. Elizaveta Hlusovici was 104th among 108 finishers in the men’s 10 km freestyle ski race.
Julian Lukin is the last to enter the Olympic race. In the afternoon of February 13, the men’s 10 km cross-country ski race will be held, in which the Moldovan skier will take part.
