>> Anastasia Rybachok/BGV Group Management
At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Ukrainian rower-canoeist Anastasia Rybachok was banned from performing with the inscription “I am Ukrainian” on a boat.
This was announced on Facebook by the BGV Group Management company, which is the official partner of Anastasia Rybachok.
Anastasia Rybachok came to perform at the Olympic Games with her boat, which had the inscription < strong>“I am Ukrainian”. At the Olympics, the athlete is represented in two boats: in a double canoe and in a single canoe.
However, before the start of the games, the inscription on the canoe underwent forced changes. Due to the position of the International Canoe Federation, the rower had to tape over part of it.
The head coach of the Ukrainian national team Ihor Nagayev calls this situation a case and says that the organizers of the competition did not like that there was such an inscription on the boat. The federation argued that this is political advertising.
But this is absurd, in our opinion. However, rules are rules. We covered the side of the boat with a sticker and put a blurb that simply reads “Ukraine”, – notes the coach.
He adds that the cases when the International Canoe Federation forces to stick slogans on the boats, – have already been. Although in the first year of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, there were no such demands from the governing bodies, and in 2022 they went out for awards with slogans against war and violence. And this year it manifests itself too concretely. And if any slogans are written on the boat, they are forced to stick them.
This surprises and annoys us a lot. Even our slogan “Glory to Ukraine – Glory to the Heroes!”, which was pasted on some boats at international competitions, was demanded by the organizers to be pasted. They have this rule. For us it's normal, we live with it, but for Europeans – I don't know, something political, – comments Nagaev.
Anastasia Rybachok/BGV Group Management
Anastasia herself also commented on the ban on placing the inscription “I am Ukrainian” on the boat.
The International Olympic Committee forbids placing any war-related inscriptions on boats. For example, we cannot write “Stop War”. They consider it propaganda. But the inscription “I am Ukrainian” is something else, it indicates our belonging to Ukraine, this is important. This is, first of all, a symbol of faith in me and my capabilities. While creating the design for the canoe, I wanted to emphasize that I am from Ukraine and I am incredibly proud of it, said Rybachok.
More about Anastasia Rybachok:
Anastasiya Rybachok is the silver medalist of the 2020 Olympic Games. in a double canoe. She is also a world champion, a European champion, and a bronze medalist of the world and European championships.
At the 2024 Olympics, the Ukrainian rower together with Ludmila Luzan automatically qualified for the semifinals of the competition in the doubles. The rower will compete in the singles due to the fact that Ukraine won the quota in the doubles canoe (each athlete from the crew can participate in the singles).