MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Russian figure skater Yelizaveta Tuktamysheva approves of the accommodation conditions, which are provided by organizers of the the 2021 ISU (the International Skating Union) World Figure Skating Championship in Sweden, the press service of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSFR) announced in a statement on Tuesday.
The 2021 edition of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships is hosted by the Swedish capital of Stockholm between March 22 and 28 at the over 13,850-seat capacity Stockholm Globe Arena.
"It turned out to be much better in reality as you almost feel no [anti-COVID] restrictions," the statement quoted Tuktamysheva as saying. "The main rule is to always wear masks. There are also special boxes at ice rinks, where we can place our belongings in order to avoid personal contacts with coaches."
Tuktamysheva also said that Russian figure skaters spent one day under quarantine upon their arrival.
"We have been released [from the quarantine] relatively quickly," she continued. "We have entertainment zones, so we don’t get bored here, and I mean that the organizers [of the championship] did everything possible to provide athletes with a comfortable staying at the hotel."
"My favorite place is canteen because it has large windows facing the skating arena and one can sit here in warmth and watch figure skating," she said. "This is why I am very glad with the organization of the World Championship."
Tuktamysheva, 24, of the winner in ladies singles figure skating of the 2015 World Championship in China’s Shanghai and the 2015 European Championship in Sweden’s Stockholm.
She is also the bronze medal winner of the 2013 European Championship in Zagreb, the gold and bronze medal winner of the Grand Prix Finals (2014/2015 in Barcelona and 2018/2019 in Vancouver respectively) and the silver and bronze medalist of the World Team Trophy in team events (2015 in Tokyo and 2019 in Fukuoka correspondingly).
The ISU confirmed to TASS in February that a musical piece from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 would be played during the awarding ceremonies of Russian figure skating medalists at the World Championship instead of the country’s national anthem.
The duration of the musical piece will be approximately one minute. The Russian national team of figure skaters will be participating in the world championship under the FSFR official logo.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland’s Lausanne partially upheld on December 17, 2020 WADA’s (the World Anti-Doping Agency) previous ruling on a number of sanctions against Russian sports.
According to the CAS decision as of December 17, 2020, Russian athletes were deprived of their right to participate in all World Championships, Olympic and Paralympic Games under the national flag of Russia for the two-year period.
The national anthem of Russia was also ruled out to be played at international sports tournaments in the course of the next two years, including at the upcoming Olympic Games in Japan this year.
The ruling of the Swiss-based court also stripped Russia of the right to bid for the organization of all international sports tournaments for the period of two years. WADA’s sanctions will be in force until December 2022.