MOSCOW, 28 Aug – Ukrainian athlete Yaroslava Maguchy shouted a Ukrainian nationalist slogan after winning the World Championships.

On Sunday, Maguchy won the high jump at the World Championships in Budapest with a score of 2.01 m. At the end of the competition, the athlete went to the stands to celebrate the victory. Maguchy’s coach Tatyana Stepanova, who was on the podium, shouted the nationalist slogan “glory to Ukraine”, to which the athlete replied “glory to the heroes.” The episode was included in the official broadcast of the competition.

“Glory to Ukraine” is the slogan of the “Ukrainian Insurgent Army”*. The glorification of the UPA and its leaders – Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych – is criticized by many veterans of the Great Patriotic War and politicians who accuse Bandera of collaborating with the Nazis.

Before the European Football Championship last summer, a scandal erupted over the form of the Ukrainian national team. For the performance, the team presented a set of uniforms with the inscriptions “Glory to Ukraine!” and “Glory to the Heroes!”, as well as the outline of Ukraine with Crimea in the composition. First, this option was approved by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Later, the Russian Football Union (RFU) sent an appeal to UEFA, in which they drew attention to the “use of political motives” in the form. UEFA demanded that the Ukrainian national team remove the inscription “Glory to the Heroes!” from the form.

In March, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that international federations allow Russians who did not support the SVO to compete as neutral athletes. At the same time, the organization proposes not to allow athletes associated with the armed forces and security agencies to compete. It was also decided that teams from Russia and Belarus cannot be considered as participants in international competitions. At the same time, the head of the organization, Thomas Bach, noted at the same time that “this decision was made on the basis of the Olympic Charter, which speaks of the unifying role of sport and political neutrality.”

* An extremist organization banned in Russia.