Hungarian figure skater Vivien Papp to compete for another country – as too many Russian skaters added to Hungary’s team

There will be far more Russian-born athletes competing in Hungarian colours than those of Hungarian origin at this year's world figure skating and ice dancing competitions. One of the consequences of this is that Vivien Papp, Hungary’s junior champion will not be competing for Hungary in the future – VálaszOnline reported.

At the International Skating Union's (ISU) junior grand prix competition to be held at the end of September, there will be four athletes competing under the Hungarian flag. However, neither they nor the captain of the federation were born in Hungary: Polina Dzhumanyiatsova is from Moscow, Alexander Vlasenko is from Siberia and ice dancers Mark Shapiro and Maya Benkiewicz are both from Moscow as well. Even Gurgen Vardanjan, the director of the figure skating branch of the Hungarian National Skating Federation (MOKSZ), is not of Hungarian origin but was born in Armenia.

While it is not unusual in Hungarian figure skating for foreigners to take to the ice, one competitor told the paper anonymously that "there is a kind of new Russian base being built under Vardanjan's leadership, where Hungarians are more and more treated as decoration.”

This Russian majority is something Vivien Papp has felt on her own skin. She commented on Facebook saying:

"since I achieved an outstanding result, they quickly brought in a Russian (...). And I'm going to go to a place where I'm welcome and appreciated. My beautiful homeland does not need me".

VálaszOnline also spoke with Vivien Papp’s parents, who confirmed that their daughter would be competing for another country, adding that she already has three offers.

The article also brings up that sports director Vardanjan has previously spoken to several Russian media outlets commenting that he does not agree with the ISU’s decision to suspend Russian and Belorussian athletes’ right to compete – which was also one of the sanctions introduced against Russia after the attack against Ukraine was launched in February.