Athletes and fans attending the amateur European Boxing Championship in Belgrade, Serbia finished singing the Russian national anthem a cappella after the music unexpectedly cut out.
The incident took place on Saturday, at the award ceremony that followed the women’s finals. Team Russia won three gold medals at the event: Yulia Chumgalakova took first place in the super lightweight category, becoming a two-time European champion; Darima Sandakova took gold in light heavyweight and Elena Gapeshina in heavyweight.
While Chumgalakova was receiving her award, the recording of the Russian national anthem abruptly stopped. According to footage posted online, the crowd picked up the verses, completing the anthem.
In the videos, Chumgalakova can be seen singing the anthem along with other members of the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF). Eyewitnesses told the outlet Sport Express that at least half of the audience joined in to finish the piece.
According to RBF representative Tatyana Kiriyenko, the incident was unintentional, and the music was cut off due to a technical problem.
“It was unpleasant, but there was no malicious intent. We received an official apology… We objectively understand that this is a technical glitch. Actually, there was a brief power outage in the beginning of the ceremony. There were a number of such troubles in the organizational aspects,” she stated.
In addition to the three gold medals, Russian women won seven silver medals at the championship. The tournament will end later on Sunday with the men’s finals. Nine Russian boxers are taking part.
The championship in Serbia is among the few sports events where Russian athletes have been allowed to compete under their national flags. Following the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, Russian and Belarusian athletes have been barred from competing in a number of international events except as neutrals.
Russian athletes will take part in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, but only under a neutral flag and in limited numbers. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced last month that the maximum number of Russians who can qualify is 55, and they will be restricted to individual competitions. The IOC has also previously ruled that Russians who have publicly supported Moscow’s military operation against Kiev or are found to be linked to state security agencies or the military will be banned from participating. It has formed a special commission tasked with checking Russian qualifiers for compliance with the criteria.
Moscow has repeatedly objected to restrictions placed on Russian athletes taking part in international competitions, with President Vladimir Putin slamming them as “ethnic discrimination.” Commenting on the IOC’s latest decision, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was “absolutely contrary to the entire ideology of the Olympic movement” and an “infringement of the interests of athletes.”
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