A Ukrainian Olympic medalist has decided to change their sports citizenship.

Illya Kovtun is a Ukrainian artistic gymnast and silver medalist from the Paris Olympics, who will be changing his sports citizenship.

The athlete has decided to compete for the Croatian team.

Kovtun's decision was announced by the head coach of the local team, Vladimir Madjarevic, in a comment to the publication Jutarnji List.

“We have submitted the documents to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the process for Illya to obtain citizenship should proceed through an expedited procedure. We hope to resolve this issue, and then register the change of citizenship with the World Gymnastics Federation,” said the coach of the Croatian team.

Nevertheless, Croatia expects that the Ukrainian side will not grant permission for Kovtun to compete immediately, which means he will have to spend one year “in quarantine,” causing him to miss the European and World Championships.

Several reasons are cited for Kovtun's decision: since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the athlete has been living in Osijek, Croatia, and he has also had serious disagreements with the Ukrainian Federation of Artistic Gymnastics alongside his coach.

Background. Earlier, the president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine commented, expressing hope that Kovtun would not change his citizenship.