They wore Hungary’s flag, but don’t speak the language: What’s really happening in Hungarian ice-skating?
At the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships, Hungary’s only notable result was an eighth-place finish for the pair of Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko, which also earned them an Olympic quota. This could be celebrated as a success, as such a placement could be valuable for a small sporting nation. However, a closer look reveals that there are far more questions and problems than glory beneath the surface.
The most striking phenomenon is that none of the members of the ‘Hungarian’ team at the World Championships were born in Hungary, and only one of them, Danijil Leonidovich Semko, speaks Hungarian. According to Eurosport, he has been living in our country since he was 14 years old; he was really brought up here, so he has a real community connection with the country.
The others, however, are athletes of Russian origin who hardly ever spend any time in Hungary and do not speak the language. This contrasts sharply with the fact that, in principle, a minimum level of language proficiency is required to obtain Hungarian citizenship, even if one claims Hungarian ancestry. Yet current practice shows otherwise.
The root of the problem: it is not the athletes, but the system
Naturalisation is not a new phenomenon in international sport. Figure skating is particularly complicated in this respect, as only athletes of the same nationality can compete in pairs at the Olympics. This makes the change of nationality understandable, for example, the Germans are waiting for a skater of Russian origin to become a citizen, who has to pass a language test. The Lithuanian example is even stricter: there, a successful athlete’s application was refused. But here, it seems that different rules apply in these cases, fast-track procedures, special treatment, and minimum integration requirements.
It is important to clarify that naturalised athletes are not bad people; in fact, many of them are probably decent, hard-working athletes. Rather, the question is why and how they ended up in Hungarian colours. The current practice does not promote domestic youth education or the development of local talent, but acts as a kind of sporting “import programme”, where the federation tries to produce results with foreign athletes, even artificially.
What matters more? An eighth place or language?
While the names of athletes of Russian origin are lining up on the competition lists, there are hardly any young Hungarians in the international field. The education of young talent is taking a back seat, with talent disappearing from the sport due to a lack of motivation. The Federation’s decisions are thus endangering not only the present but also the future of Hungarian sport. The situation is similar in the field of alpine skiing, where an Austrian-born athlete represents Hungary, although he has not been naturalised by the current management. The same question arises: what will happen to Hungarian-born athletes?
The Hungarian language is not just a means of communication, it is one of the most important pillars of Hungarian identity. If the country’s national team includes athletes who do not speak its language, this is a problem not only in terms of competitive results, but also from a cultural point of view. In the long term, what is more conducive to the development of Hungarian sport? The acquisition of a quota, or the support of young people growing up in the Hungarian youth system, who really live at home, think in Hungarian and consider this country their home?
In the 21st century, it is perfectly acceptable for an athlete to find a home in another country and want to compete there. The problem is not with naturalisation, but with no real basis for it, no language skills, no community integration, just a signed piece of paper and a flag to represent in competitions. In this case, we are not talking about equality between athletes, but about creating an artificial competitive environment where homegrown talent is at a disadvantage.
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