Ukrainian Para-Armwrestler Fined €250 for Leaving Podium During Russian Anthem at European Championship
Ukrainian para-armwrestler Dmytro Lutsyshyn and a teammate were fined €250 each for leaving the podium during the Russian anthem at the European Championship in Budapest. They refused to share the platform with a Russian competitor due to the ongoing war. Lutsyshyn cited personal reasons, including his father serving in the military, for his protest.
Dmytro Lutsyshyn, a master of sport of international class from Zhytomyr, won bronze in the left-arm class at the 28th European Para-Armwrestling Championship in Budapest (May 8-20). A national-team colleague took silver. During the awards ceremony, as the Russian anthem began, both Ukrainians consulted their coach and stepped off the platform, refusing to share it with a competitor representing Russia.
Organizers fined each man 250 euros (approximately $290) for breaching medal-ceremony protocol. Lutsyshyn stated he left because Russia's missiles fly over his house and hearing the aggressor's anthem was intolerable. Russian competitors jeered and attempted to force handshakes, which the Ukrainians ignored. Lutsyshyn's father, Volodymyr, joined the 110th Mechanized Brigade in February 2022, fighting on the Avdiivka axis.
The sanction aligns with rules treating walking off a ceremony as unsporting conduct, even as international federations restore Russian flags and anthems in Olympic and Paralympic sports. The Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation has requested its governing body allow competitors to leave the podium during the Russian anthem without discipline. Lutsyshyn is now training for the World Para-Armwrestling Championship in New Delhi (October 26 - November 7), where another medal would secure him the title of Honored Master of Sport of Ukraine.