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One of the most capable figure skaters in Russia, Sofya Samodelkina, is very close to switching to the flag of Kazakhstan. What forced the athlete to change her citizenship – in the material Sport.
Patriot underestimated by the judges
Back in the fall of 2022, signals were received that Sophia’s focus began to gradually shift towards its southern neighbors – cautiously, even hesitantly, but steadily. For a long time, the figure skater lived in the patriotic paradigm traditional for our sport, in which competing for the Russian national team is an honor, and leaving it is akin to betrayal. Sophia wanted to realize herself in her native country and made every effort to do this, learning all types of quadruples and a triple axel, thus putting together one of the most competitive technical sets in our figure skating. But the more high-quality performances she showed, the stronger the feeling became that the judges were in no hurry to evaluate her on her merits.
Over time, not only Sophia’s fans, but also she herself came to this conclusion. And after our sport was forced to withdraw into itself, there was nowhere to put it off. The time has come to act – first by changing coaches (from Sergei Davydov to Svetlana Sokolovskaya, and from her to Evgeni Plushenko), and then by changing the flag. Last off-season, Sophia officially became a citizen of Kazakhstan, and the transition, it seems, could no longer be stopped.
Several months have passed since then, but the situation has not moved forward. The December executive committee of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR), authorized to resolve issues regarding the transfers of our athletes, did not even really consider Sophia’s case, and through no fault of its own. It is in this case that I want to stand up for our functionaries, because they did not intend to interfere with Samodelkina in the first place.
A little more, and she would have become a “homeless child”
The only issue that, in theory, could worry the federation concerns mandatory quarantine (according to the ISU, it is a year from the date of the last start, according to the FFKKR – two years), but according to international rules, Sophia has already “served her time.” And our dogmas, as we know, can sometimes be adjusted to suit circumstances.
br>Moreover, Samodelkina’s case, if desired, can very easily be brought under “force majeure circumstances.” Firstly, she has already received a Kazakh passport, which means she has little to do with the Russian national team. And she hasn’t been on the national team lately, to be honest – at the end of last season, in which she took gold and silver in the national Grand Prix series, there was no place for her even in the reserves.
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And secondly, the rules for obtaining Kazakhstani citizenship oblige one to renounce the original one upon reaching adulthood. That is, another year – and Sophia will cease to be a Russian even according to documents, and this in turn means that she will not be able to get into the Russian national team even purely legally. As well as performing at domestic Russian tournaments, being, in fact, a “homeless child” – no longer a Russian figure skater, but not yet a Kazakh figure skater.
So, the problem at the moment is not with the FFKKR. Then in whom? According to our information, in the Kazakhstan federation. Until November 2023 in Kazakhstan, the affairs of speed skaters and figure skaters were handled by the same organization, similar to the ISU. But in the fall, it was decided to divide the federations into separate speed skating and separate figure skating – and after that, Sophia’s contact with Kazakhstan was interrupted. At the same time, the figure skater trained hard, regained her ultra-c, and every day polished up both of her competitive programs for this season, desperately hoping to compete at the Kazakhstan Championships in December. But since they stopped contacting her, the trip was cancelled.
Since then, the situation around the transition has been shaky and unstable. Sofia continued to work in training and wait for at least some decision from the officials, and the Kazakh side, in turn, continues to watch from the sidelines. At the same time, one of the sources said that a certain “request” did come from Kazakhstan – although it is not entirely clear what exactly it was.
In the fall, the leadership of the local federation noted that they did not know what shape Sophia was in and with whom she was training (which is strange, because information about the athlete’s transfer to Plushenko was in the public domain) – it is quite possible that the paper was sent precisely to clarify this data . However, we cannot exclude the option of early sounding of the ground regarding the transition and refusal by the FFKKR with the conditional wording “now is not the time,” however, it is hardly possible to test this theory for certain.
“In 2023, the Skating Union of Kazakhstan sent a request to remove Sofia Samodelkina from the Russian Figure Skating Federation; at the moment, the RPO “Kazakhstan Skating Union” has been reorganized into two federations (RPO “Kazakhstan Skating Union” and “Kazakhstan Figure Skating Union” “).The Kazakhstan Figure Skating Union did not send a request to detach this athlete to the FFKKR due to the preparation of documents at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Accordingly, the request will be sent from the KSFKK RK after receiving accreditation.”
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In general, now all that’s left to do is wait for accreditation (the most difficult stage), send a request and receive the coveted release from the FFKKR. The control point for this, based on the athlete’s desire to compete for a new country in the next season, is May of this year, when the next executive committee of the FFKKR will be held. But considering that the FFKKR initially did not intend to seriously limit Sophia in the transition, everything should be resolved quickly and painlessly.
And then – who knows . From now on everything will be in her hands.
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