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Victor Ahn (38, Korean name Ahn Hyeon-soo), a former national short track speed skater who was naturalized as a Russian citizen, recently applied for a job as an ice team coach at Seongnam City Hall and was rejected.
Viktor Ahn said on his social media on the 7th, “I’m sorry that my name came up because of a recent noisy issue during a difficult time for everyone.” After the announcement was made under the judgment that it could cause a stir, I had no choice but to remain silent in order to speak.”
He said, “I have lived only with sports for 30 years, and it is difficult for me to express my voice because of my personality.” I’ll tell you,” he said.
At the same time, Viktor An revealed the process of naturalization to Russia in 2011 and the process of receiving a pension lump sum, and said that he had given all the pension he received.
He said, “I left for Russia in June 2011, and while talking to the president of the Russian Skating Federation about future training plans, I heard the story of an athlete of dual Russian-Australian nationality.” he explained.
“However, after realizing that I did not fall under the ‘special case’ like that player, I felt the openness of a good athletic environment, a team where I could train, and Chairman Alexei Kravtsov, who believed in me, and it came naturally. in July, I made a decision,” he said.
He said, “However, as the Russian side reported that the naturalization process was going on in August, the Korean side first received the pension in July and it was misrepresented as if they decided to naturalize in August.” Everything was decided and moved forward accordingly to the procedure.”
Finally, “I was more careful about standing in the media after naturalization, and I thought it was right to focus only on the movement.” I will,” he added.
Viktor Ahn’s position appears to contradict the statement made by the Korea Skating Coaches Federation when applying for a coaching position at Seongnam City Hall last month.
Victor Ahn previously tried to return to Korea by applying for an announcement from Seongnam City to select an ice team coach in December last year.
When this news became known, the Korean Ice Skating Leaders Federation released a press release saying, “Viktor Ahn gave up his Korean nationality and naturalized as a Russian citizen, and when the controversy arose about betraying his country, he explained, ‘ I knew dual. citizenship would be possible’. However, it was later revealed that he received the pension as a lump sum immediately before naturalization,” he argued.
However, the Korean Skating Coaches Federation was said not to criticize other candidates who have a history of disciplinary actions such as beating players, and that the statement was issued in support of a particular candidate. In addition, controversy arose when it was known that President Jang Gwang-deok, who led the federation, had been active with a certain candidate in the Young Ice Merchant Alliance.
After Victor Ahn was eliminated from the final nomination, players from Seongnam City Hall, including Choi Min-jung, issued a position statement asking them to ‘select a coach transparently’ before the results of the coach recruitment screening were announced. anyone hired for the position.
Meanwhile, in 2011, when Seongnam City Hall, the team he belonged to at the time, ended the ice team due to financial problems, Viktor Ahn became a naturalized Russian citizen to continue his career as an athlete.
After the cancellation of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Victor Ahn announced his retirement as an athlete and became a coach, and served as a coach for the Chinese national team at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
