Ukrainian Diver Sofiia Lyskun Condemned for Russia Switch<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Olympic diver Sofiia Lyskun has switched her national allegiance from Ukraine to Russia, drawing condemnation in her home country.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ukrainian Olympic Diver Sofiia Lyskun Switches Allegiance to Russia, Draws Condemnation\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Olympic diver Sofiia Lyskun has switched her national allegiance from Ukraine to Russia, drawing condemnation in her home country.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-07T05:27:15+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-27T07:32:55+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"799\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsdoctormd\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/aff20a2913cc03a514d0343a4c8788f3\"},\"headline\":\"Ukrainian Olympic Diver Sofiia Lyskun Switches Allegiance to Russia, Draws Condemnation\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-07T05:27:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-27T07:32:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/\"},\"wordCount\":329,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Russia\",\"Sofiia Lyskun\",\"Ukraine\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Diving\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/\",\"name\":\"Ukrainian Diver Sofiia Lyskun Condemned for Russia Switch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-07T05:27:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-27T07:32:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"Olympic diver Sofiia Lyskun has switched her national allegiance from Ukraine to Russia, drawing condemnation in her home country.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799,\"caption\":\"Oleg Kolodiy and Sofiia Lyskun at the 2018 European Championships; Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia\/Giorgio Scala\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ukrainian Olympic Diver Sofiia Lyskun Switches Allegiance to Russia, Draws Condemnation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"description\":\"The Global Leader in Aquatic News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1799,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Swimming World\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/aff20a2913cc03a514d0343a4c8788f3\",\"name\":\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cfca9cef277cfa1a9f4150330ba69a2?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cfca9cef277cfa1a9f4150330ba69a2?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Matthew De George - Senior Writer\"},\"description\":\"Matthew De George is the Americas Correspondent for Swimming World Magazine. He's the author of two books on swimming, Duels in the Pool and Pooling Talent. He's also the assistant sports editor for the Delaware County Daily Times in Pennsylvania, where he covers high school and college sports as well as the Philadelphia Union. His work has also appeared in The Guardian and The Athletic.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.swimmingworld.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/sportsdoctormd\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/mattdg\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ukrainian Diver Sofiia Lyskun Condemned for Russia Switch","description":"Olympic diver Sofiia Lyskun has switched her national allegiance from Ukraine to Russia, drawing condemnation in her home country.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ukrainian Olympic Diver Sofiia Lyskun Switches Allegiance to Russia, Draws Condemnation","og_description":"Olympic diver Sofiia Lyskun has switched her national allegiance from Ukraine to Russia, drawing condemnation in her home country.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/","og_site_name":"Swimming World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","article_published_time":"2025-12-07T05:27:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-27T07:32:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":799,"url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sportsdoctormd","twitter_site":"@swimmingworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/"},"author":{"name":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/aff20a2913cc03a514d0343a4c8788f3"},"headline":"Ukrainian Olympic Diver Sofiia Lyskun Switches Allegiance to Russia, Draws Condemnation","datePublished":"2025-12-07T05:27:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-27T07:32:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/"},"wordCount":329,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg","keywords":["Russia","Sofiia Lyskun","Ukraine"],"articleSection":["Diving"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/","name":"Ukrainian Diver Sofiia Lyskun Condemned for Russia Switch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-07T05:27:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-27T07:32:55+00:00","description":"Olympic diver Sofiia Lyskun has switched her national allegiance from Ukraine to Russia, drawing condemnation in her home country.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg","width":1200,"height":799,"caption":"Oleg Kolodiy and Sofiia Lyskun at the 2018 European Championships; Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia\/Giorgio Scala"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ukrainian Olympic Diver Sofiia Lyskun Switches Allegiance to Russia, Draws Condemnation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","name":"Swimming World","description":"The Global Leader in Aquatic News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Swimming World","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","width":1799,"height":900,"caption":"Swimming World"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld","https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/aff20a2913cc03a514d0343a4c8788f3","name":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cfca9cef277cfa1a9f4150330ba69a2?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cfca9cef277cfa1a9f4150330ba69a2?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Matthew De George - Senior Writer"},"description":"Matthew De George is the Americas Correspondent for Swimming World Magazine. He's the author of two books on swimming, Duels in the Pool and Pooling Talent. He's also the assistant sports editor for the Delaware County Daily Times in Pennsylvania, where he covers high school and college sports as well as the Philadelphia Union. His work has also appeared in The Guardian and The Athletic.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.swimmingworld.com","https:\/\/x.com\/sportsdoctormd"],"url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/mattdg\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Oleg Kolodiy and Sofiia Lyskun at the 2018 European Championships; Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia\/Giorgio Scala","source_text":"","source_url":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/european-championships-4.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56Jja-2DvV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":637659,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628551\/revisions\/637659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":628551,"date":"2025-12-06T22:27:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T05:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=628551"},"modified":"2026-02-27T00:32:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T07:32:55","slug":"ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ukrainian-olympic-diver-sofiia-lyskun-switches-allegiance-to-russia-draw-condemnation\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian Olympic Diver Sofiia Lyskun Switches Allegiance to Russia, Draws Condemnation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian Olympic Diver Sofiia Lyskun Switches Allegiance to Russia, Draw Condemnation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Olympic diver Sofiia Lyskun<\/strong> has switched her national allegiance from Ukraine to Russia, drawing condemnation in her home country.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Lyskun competed at two Olympics for Ukraine. In an interview with a Russian newspaper<\/a>, she cited coaching incompetence among the reasons for her defection.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our coaches are gymnasts or trampoline athletes. How can someone from a completely different field teach you anything? In recent years, I\u2019ve realized in sports in Ukraine that I\u2019m not growing,\u201d Lyskun said.<\/p>\n

One of Lyskun\u2019s early coaches now is based in Moscow. Whether or not being in a state of war affected the quality of her coaching was not a question broached by a Russian state-approved media outlet.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian diving federation condemned the move, saying that it \u201cselflessly fights every day for the right to represent our country on the international stage.\u201d It said it will strip Lyskun of awards and will urge World Aquatics to restrict Lyskun\u2019s ability to compete internationally.<\/p>\n

Lyskun finished 25th in Paris in 2024 in the women\u2019s 10-meter platform and seventh in women\u2019s platform synchro. In Tokyo in 2021, she was 29th in women\u2019s platform. The native of Luhansk won silver with Oleksiy Sereda <\/strong>in 10-meter mixed synchro at the 2022 World Championships<\/a>. She\u2019s a seven-time European Championships medalist, including the team title in 2018 and gold in women\u2019s platform synchro in 2024 paired with Kseniia Bailo.<\/p>\n

Luhansk has been a battleground since Russia\u2019s first incursion into Ukraine in 2014. The city, Ukraine\u2019s 12th-largest, is part of the Donbas region. It was seized by Russian separatists and made the capital of a separate republic, which was then further annexed by Russian when it declared a larger invasion of the country in 2022. The annexation of Luhansk and other regions in 2022 has been condemned as unlawful by the international community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"