Olga Zabelinskaya, a 43-year-old Russia-born athlete, made headlines as she won gold for Uzbekistan in the women’s individual time trial at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
This is not her first time atop the podium as she had previously won two Olympic road cycling bronze medals and a silver medal while competing for Russia in London 2012 and Rio 2016.
However, she was also suspended for 18 months for doping between her Olympic appearances.
Zabelinskaya’s teammate Anna Prakaten, another Russia-born athlete, had won the rowing single skulls gold at the Asian Games last week.
Prakaten had previously won silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2019 while representing the Russian Olympic Committee.
Zabelinskaya finished the 20km course nearly a minute ahead of her competitors, Japan’s Eri Yonamine and Kazakhstan’s Rinata Sultanova.
She credited her success to her persistence and dedication to winning medals, regardless of the nationality she represented.
“Representing different teams is due to various reasons,” she said.
“No matter if I represented Russia at the Olympic Games or Uzbekistan at the Asian Games, my goal has always been to win medals. I don’t pay much attention to the nationality. I just need to do my best.”
The athlete will also be participating in the women’s road race on Wednesday, and she hopes to compete in the Paris Olympics next summer.
“It’s like the final race of my career, the last big one,” she said.
“Maybe also the world championships. Depends on how I feel.”
Meanwhile, more than a hundred Russian athletes have changed their sports citizenship by joining foreign national teams, according to Russian Deputy Sports Minister Alexey Morozov.
The International Olympic Committee is expected to discuss Russia’s and Belarus’ participation at the Paris Olympics at a session in Mumbai later this month.
Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete as neutrals at the Paris Paralympics after the International Paralympic Committee voted against maintaining a full ban on the two countries, imposed after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
