Despite the ongoing war in his home country, Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun managed to compete and win a total of five medals at the Cottbus...

Despite the ongoing war in his home country, Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun managed to compete and win a total of five medals at the Cottbus and Doha World Cups that were held between February 24 and March 5.

"I tried and fought to the bitter end," Kovtun said in an interview with International Gymnast. "I was scared for my people, for our freedom, for relatives and friends, but the coach and my parents set me up and helped me to go through the competition proudly for our people and represent our country with dignity."

While standing on the podium to receive his gold medal, which he won on the parallel bars, Russian gymnast and bronze medalist Ivan Kuliak wore the national pro war symbol 'Z' on his leotard.

Kuliak (left)

Kovtun said that they did not notice the sign on Kuliak's chest at first, but later saw it in the pictures after the competition, awards and doping control were over.

"My family and coach raised me to be responsible for my people. I consider myself a good person, therefore I behaved and behave in a civilized manner and in solidarity with everyone, with respect," the 18 year old gymnast told the magazine.

"It was not easy to compete with the Russians, but at that moment we all were convinced that sports is out of politics. Unfortunately, the Russian guy Ivan showed something completely different – not the ability to compete with dignity and sportsmanship, but mixed sports with politics," he continued.

While the Russian gymnast admitted that there was no personal aggression towards him at the event, he accused the Ukrainian athletes of escalating the situation with their general behavior.

Russia's national team coordinator Valentina Rodionenko described the male Ukrainian athletes' behavior in Doha as "provocative" stating that they have deliberately acted negatively towards them.

It has been reported that the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation (GEF) has formally opened proceedings against Kuliak.

Photo by Martin Rulsch, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0