MINSK, 19 February (BelTA) - Chairman of the Belarusian Ski Union Aleksandr Grebnev commented on the Belarusian team’s performance in ski aerials at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, BelTA learned from the press service of the National Olympic Committee.
“Emotionally, right now I cannot convey all my indignation. But this is terrible injustice, and we have encountered it before. It’s clear that we weren't expecting a warm welcome here, considering all the timeframes and the competitions we have participated in. The return was not and will not be easy. But such injustice... We saw this with the whole country. Unfortunately, freestyle skiing is a very subjective sport. The judges’ attention towards athletes here is often unjustified. Today we saw an example of not the fairest judging towards our athletes. We saw similar jumps from representatives of other countries, and the scores varied greatly. And their jumps were not of the highest quality either. I repeat, unfortunately, the judging factor in freestyle skiing is very subjective. Yes, there is geographical diversity there, but I won’t go into specifics. Those who need to will look it up online. All the flags and well-known individuals are there. As a coach, I can only express my outrage and draw certain conclusions about the judging system. This whole story goes back to the time of Anton Kushnir, when we first raised the issue of improving and perfecting the judging system. They answered us: ‘Let’s do it tomorrow or another day’. Today we saw yet another confirmation of injustice in sports. For our part, we will not simply leave the judging system as it is. We already have certain ideas and actions that we will take to substantially change the approaches to judging in freestyle skiing.”
Aleksandr Grebnev also praised Hanna Huskova’s performance on the trampoline in Livigno: “Anya is our hero. The main hero of our sport! What Huskova did is an example to follow. The second jump in the first final, the one she performed, was executed by her for the first time this season. This is something the Belarusian freestyle school can be proud of. We are ready for any challenges, despite the difficulties. I repeat, we did not expect an easy return. But such injustice on the part of the judging can only be caused by one factor - they are afraid of us. We have returned. And we have returned for good.”
On 18 February, Hanna Huskova took the final eighth place. Gold was won by China’s Xu Mengtao, becoming a two-time Olympic champion.
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