Here is why Hungary’s first Winter Olympic gold medallists change country
Short-track speed skaters Sándor Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoan will say goodbye to Hungary. The athletes, who won Hungary’s first Winter Olympic gold medal, kept silent for a while, but now they have revealed the reason behind their life-changing decision in an exclusive interview.
Olympic gold medal-winning athletes’ departure
As we reported earlier, Sándor Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang are Hungary’s first Olympic gold medallists to switch countries. Until now, we could only guess, but now it is certain, that they will move to China, rtl.hu writes.
The Hungarian National Skating Federation (MOKSZ) has announced in a press release that the Shaolin brothers have requested a change of country. The athletes will follow their coach, Lina Zhang, who has left the Hungarian national team. It was later revealed that this daring move could cost between HUF 100-150 million (EUR 249-374 thousand) per person.
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Liu brothers broke the silence
So far, none of the brothers have commented on the change of country. But now, in an exclusive interview with nemzetisport.hu, they have spoken about the reasons behind their decision.
The main reason is that they were unsure about the federation. With the coaching staff, Hungarian speed skating has won a total of 2 gold medals and 2 bronze medals in the last 2 Olympics. However, the IOCOC did not keep together the coaching team of the trio of Ákos Bánhidi, Lina Chiang Ching and Jie Su Chun.
“To date, the federation has not developed a professional plan for this Olympic cycle, at least not to the usual standard,” Shaolin said. Both boys put sports above all else. To do that, they need a stable coaching staff and a professional plan. However, they do not see that in Hungary at the moment, so they will continue elsewhere.
The Liu brothers said that wherever they would go, they would have to start from the bottom. They are ready to give up on everything for a brighter future. They will pay the federation out of their own pockets if they have to, although they added that this would be unprecedented in the international history of short-track speed skating.
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Source: nemzetisport.hu, rtl.hu