Russian Yevgenia Medvedeva, the Olympic figure skating gold-medal favorite, said in a speech to International Olympic Committee members that she “can not accept” competing at the Olympics as a neutral athlete.
Medvedeva reportedly said later Tuesday to media that it was too early to answer whether she would competing in PyeongChang as a neutral athlete now that Russia has been banned.
Her full speech is here, according to Russian media. A translation, according to Icenetwork.com, is here.
Medvedeva was part of a three-person Russian delegation at the IOC executive board meeting in Switzerland, led by Russia Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov.