Article by GSP – Published on Friday, 05 December 2025, 18:04 / Updated on Friday, 05 December 2025 18:05
Ukrainian officials have strongly condemned the decision of European diving champion and double Olympic diver Sofiya Lyskunova (23) to renounce her Ukrainian citizenship and accept Russian citizenship. The Ukrainian Diving Federation described her decision as “categorically unacceptable” and plans to withdraw all awards she has won so far.
“This gesture discredits not only an individual athlete, but the entire Ukrainian team, which selflessly fights every day for the right to represent our country on the international stage. The federation will appeal to international sports institutions, requesting the application of a sports quarantine against this athlete, in accordance with the international standards in force,” the federation said in a statement, quoted by the AP agency.
According to her, “the coaches and parents of the athletes joined the defense of Ukraine.”
Sofiya Lyskunova accepted Russian citizenship
Lyskunova, 23, told Russian daily Izvestia that a significant factor in her change of citizenship was the incompetence of coaches: “Most of our coaches coached gymnasts or springboard jumpers. How can a person who deals with a completely different sports field teach you something? In recent years, I realized that I am not developing at all,” she said, as quoted by sport.aktuality.sk.
Sofiya Lyskunova accepted Russian citizenship // photo: X
Born in Luhansk, Ukraine, she competed at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games and is the reigning European 10-meter platform synchronized champion.
She has three other gold medals from the European Swimming Championships and the European Diving Championships, and a silver medal from the World Championships in Budapest 2022 is also on her record.
