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Russia’s Ski Sports Association appoints lawmaker Svishchev as new head — minister

Mikhail Degtyarev thanked three-time Olympic champion Elena Vyalbe for her work

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Russian lawmaker and sports official Dmitry Svishchev has been appointed to head the country’s Ski Sports Association (RSI), Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev said on Monday.

"An important step was taken today at the general meeting of the members of the Russian Ski Sports Association - it received a new head Dmitry Svishchev. I thank Elena Vyalbe for her work [in this post]."

Svishchev is replacing three-time Olympic Champion Elena Vyalbe as the body's head. She had been in charge of the federation since 2020.

Svishchev, 56, currently serves as a deputy chair of the State Duma (the Russian Parliament’s lower house) Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, the president of the Russian Curling Federation (RCF) and the vice-president of the Freestyle Federation of Russia (FFR).

Vyalbe, 57, owns a record 14 gold medals (five in relays) at the FIS World Championships, including winning gold in all five events she participated in in 1997.

She is a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist (all in relay events) and four-time bronze medalist in various Winter Olympics competitions in addition to being awarded four World Cup Crystal Globes.

The Russian Ski Association (RSA) was founded in 2005 to unite Russia's ski federations.

It is a non-governmental organization, which represents Russian ski sports in the international arena. The organization encompasses four all-Russian sports Federations: Russian Alpine Skiing and Snowboard Federation, Cross-Country Ski Federation of Russia, Freestyle Federation of Russia, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Federation of Russia.

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