This felt like national revival: international scandal over covering ‘Azerbaijan’ word

Armenian skier Mikael Mikaelyan drew international attention during one of the stages of the prestigious Tour de Ski held in Italy. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) imposed disciplinary sanctions on the Armenian athlete after Mikaelyan covered the word “Azerbaijan”—the tournament’s official sponsor—on his competition uniform with adhesive tape.

“I covered the word and started the race. For me, dignity and my Homeland come above all. The jury noticed this after the race. I explained the reason, they said they understood, but according to the International Federation’s rules all sponsors must be visible,” Mikaelyan said following the scandal.

Alpha News spoke on the matter with Gagik Sargsyan, President of Armenia’s Ski and Snowboard Federation.

“We are a dignified nation. I was once again convinced of this. I have not met a single person who condemned Mikael Mikaelyan’s action. This felt like a national revival. Our people truly needed this; they showed that there are values that simply cannot be destroyed,” Sargsyan said.

He also noted that there are many shortcomings in Armenian sports and cautioned against expecting major achievements under current conditions.

“With a semi-Soviet system, it is simply impossible to achieve great success in the 21st century. We had a system that worked brilliantly during the Soviet Union. Those were times of full state funding and our athletes being included in the USSR national teams. The Soviet Union collapsed, but no new system was created that would correspond to the changes taking place in the world. Especially in this technological era, we are already late in creating any system,” Sargsyan said.