Hungarian flag not carried by Russian-born figure skaters at Winter Olympics closing ceremony, despite previous announcement

"They were both very moved as they hadn't expected it, so they could hardly believe that they had been given this honour," the Hungarian State News Agency, MTI reported on Saturday, citing the Hungarian Olympic Committee, (MOB) after it was revealed that Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko, the figure skating duo who achieved the best result of the Hungarian delegation, narrowly missing out on a medal, would carry the country's flag at the Winter Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday evening. In the end, however, just as at the opening ceremony, it was Maja Somodi and Bence Nógrádi, two short track speed skaters who carried the Hungarian flag on Sunday.

The MOB claims that the change was necessary due to a technical problem, but Magyar Hang reported that, according to their information, it was decided by the Fidesz leadership that it would not be a good idea for two Russian-born athletes to carry the Hungarian flag at an event that was expected to attract a large audience.

Two hours before the opening ceremony, Magyar Hang reported that to their knowledge, the switch had taken place, and indeed, the names of the Russian-born figure skaters were not the ones listed in the document published on the Games' official website. Nemzeti Sport contacted the MOB about this, and the MOB confirmed that Somodi and Nógrádi would indeed be the ones carrying the flag. As they wrote, the reason for this was that "due to a technical problem, the biographies of the flag bearers from the opening ceremony ended up being posted on the electronic platform for the closing ceremony too," and the information that had been entered could not be changed after the fact. We contacted Fidesz's press office about the matter, and will publish their response – if we receive one.

As previously reported, the number of Russian-born skaters competing for Hungary has far exceeded that of athletes of Hungarian descent in recent years. In figure skating, Hungary has now become more of a club than a nation, although Hungary's role being that of a club for these athletes has become an integral part of competitive sports nowadays. The pair predominantly live and train in Sochi and do not speak Hungarian, but both changed countries before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, meaning that the exclusion of Russians from the Olympics was not their motivation.

According to Erika Gulyás, director of the figure skating division of the Hungarian Skating Federation, them competing for Hungary is also useful because their expected placement in the World- and European Championships could pave the way for up-and-coming Hungarian skaters. On the other hand, the federation has already lost a Hungarian competitor due to the large number of Russian athletes invited to compete for Hungary. As we also reported at the time Vivien Papp, the country's national junior champion, no longer competes for Hungary.