Irina Viner suspended for two years from gymnastics due to scandal at the Tokyo Games

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has suspended the president of the All-Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, head coach of the Russian national team Irina Viner for two years. This was reported on the official website of the organization.

The proceedings against Wiener were connected with the withdrawal of the candidacy of the Russian woman Natalya Kuzmina from the elections to the FIG technical committee in 2021.

Kuzmina’s name appears in a scandal involving refereeing in rhythmic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics. Then the Russian “artists” were left without gold medals – this happened for the first time since 1996. In the individual all-around, the Israeli Lina Ashram won, who was given the “gold”, despite the gross mistake she made – in the last performance she dropped the ribbon. During the competition, several states at once filed protests against the marks given by the judges. Wiener’s public statements on this topic were found to violate the rules of the International Gymnastics Federation.

Later, the technical committee, headed by Kuzmina, did not reveal bias and irregularities in the work of the Olympic refereeing team in Tokyo.

In September 2021, Viner told RIA Novosti that the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics removed Kuzmina from the elections. At the end of October, it became known: FIG again included Kuzmina in the list of candidates. In November of the same year, an independent FIG ethics commission upheld the withdrawal of Kuzmina’s candidacy from the election for the post of head of the technical committee.