Victor An (Korean name Ahn Hyun-soo), who recently failed to return to Korea, expressed his position on receiving a lump sum pension and the naturalization process. 안전놀이터
On the 7th, Viktor Ahn posted on his personal SNS, “The recruitment process is in progress, so I had no choice but to be silent to speak after the announcement, judging that it could cause misunderstanding.
“I have lived exclusively with sports for 30 years , and it is difficult for me to express my voice due to my personality,” he said. I received a ‘naturalization offer’,” he said. So, it is true that I knew that dual citizenship was possible,” he
continued. “However, after realizing that I did not fall under the like that player, after much thought, I found a good athletic environment, a team that can train, and myself. I felt the sincerity of Chairman Alexei Kravtsov, who believed in me, and decided that it was right to return the lump sum I received after , so I donated the entire amount to . Regarding the naturalization decision process, Viktor Ahn said , “As the Russian article reported that the naturalization process was going on in August, the Korean side was wrongly informed as if they received their pension first in July and decided to naturalize in August. Victor Ahn, who won gold medals in the men’s 1000m, 1500m, and 5000m relay at the 2006 Turin Olympics, became the first Korean athlete to win three Olympic gold medals. Later, in 2011, Seongnam City Hall, his team, disbanded and naturalized as a Russian citizen, and again won three Olympic gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Viktor An, who failed to compete at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics due to a drug use controversy in Russia, worked as a coach for the Chinese national team after his retirement and led the team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Recently, he was at the center of controversy when he applied for the position of coach of the ice team at Seongnam City Hall.
The following is the full text of Viktor Ahn’s SNS.
hello.
This is Victor Ahn .
I’m sorry that my name has recently risen due to a noisy issue at a time when everyone is having a hard time.
The reason why I couldn’t answer the questions you were curious about was that the recruitment process was in progress, so I had no choice but to be silent to speak after the announcement, judging that it could cause misunderstanding.
I’ve been working out for 30 years, and it’s difficult for me to express my voice due to my personality. As a result, I will tell you the process without any lies about the most controversial part right now.
I left for Russia in June 2011, and while meeting the president of the Russian Skating Federation and talking about future training plans, he suggested and Tatiana Bordolina, a female player with dual citizenship in Russia and Australia, in the Russian team. You said. So, it is true that I knew that dual citizenship was possible and looked into it.
However, after realizing that I did not qualify as a like that player, I felt the sincerity of a good athletic environment, a team to train with, and the trust of President Alexei Kravtsov I decided that it was right to return the lump sum I received, so I donated the entire amount to . However, as the Russian side reported that the naturalization process was going on in August, the Korean side was mistakenly informed as if they had received their pension first in July and decided to naturalize in August. Naturalization was announced in August, but everything was decided in July and proceeded according to the procedure. After naturalization, I was more careful about being in the press and thought it was right to focus only on sports. In the future, I will humbly accept the criticism of the people who have to choose naturalization for any reason, and I will try to speak out as much as possible so that these misunderstandings do not accumulate.