A Russian gymnast's gesture that seemingly showed support of his country's invasion of Ukraine has attracted strong criticism. Ivan Kuliak's shirt had the letter 'Z' emblazoned on his leotard as he stood on the podium at the Gymnastics World Cup in Doha.
To make matters worse, Kuliak was standing next to Ukraine's Kovtun Illia, who won the gold medal in the parallel bars event. Kuliak had landed the bronze.
Though the letter 'Z' is not part of the Cyrillic Russian alphabet and over the last ten days has been seen on Russian tanks and other military vehicles during the attack on Ukraine.
The International Gymnastics Federation condemned the move by Kuliak, terming it as "shocking behaviour".
“The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) confirms that it will ask the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation to open disciplinary proceedings against Ivan Kuliak following his shocking behaviour at the Apparatus World Cup in Doha, Qatar,” a statement from the ruling body said.
The FIG has already said that a ban would be enforced on Russian and Belarussian gymnasts from today onwards, and for the forseeable future. Belarus has been a key facilitator in the Russian invasion.
The FIG has also cancelled all of its events in Russia and Belarus, adding that it would not allocate other events to the two countries until further notice.
Kuliak's gesture comes at a time when the global sports community is removing Russian teams and sponsors from competitions to protest the invasion. The 20-year-old gymnast is sure to face action by the sport's governing body in the days to come, with some suggestions that he could be banned for life.