Defection row overshadows South Korean Viktor Ahn’s skating victory for Russia
It was a night when Viktor Ahn should have been out celebrating becoming the most successful short track speed skater of all time but instead he was quizzed from all sides at the Sochi Olympics about why he defected to Russia.
Ahn confirmed his place among the greatest Winter Olympians when he won the 500 metres individual event then returned to the ice about 45 minutes later and helped Russia win the 5,000m relay. Ahn also won gold in the 1,000m at Sochi and now has six Olympic gold medals in total - more than any speed skater either in short track or the more traditional long course.
I took the decision and have no regrets about this
If the skater formerly known as Ahn Hyun-soo, who won three golds for South Korea at the 2006 Turin Olympics, thought he would clarify his position once and for all at a packed news conference starting after midnight he was clearly mistaken.
Rather than clearing up the misunderstandings, it only served to cause even more confusion as Ahn and Russian speedskating federation president Aleksei Kravtsov kept contradicting each other.
Instead of asking Ahn how he felt about winning three golds for the host nation at these Games – taking the 28-year-old’s Olympic tally to a record six golds for a short track skater – the duo were bluntly asked: “Did Russia buy Viktor Ahn?”
“Please make no illusions that Viktor Ahn was bought and that there were some commercial offers for Viktor to change his citizenship and move to Russia. No way,” Kravtsov said through a translator.