We, regular spectators of the broadcasts of the figure skating competitions on Channel One Russia, demand that Alexei Yagudin has his opportunity to comment figure skating events withdrawn.

Channel One Russia, which has more than 250 million viewers worldwide, is the only national TV-channel eligible to broadcast the official figure skating events during the season 2019/20 in the Russian Federation.

As a commentator of the national channel, Mr. Yagudin consistently demonstrates his negative attitude towards individual athletes.
Often we are talking not only about skating, but also about people and personalities in general — in particular, viewers have repeatedly noted incorrect, tactless and boorish statements about American skater Jason Brown, Russian athlete Mikhail Kolyada or Latvian skater Deniss Vasiljevs.

We believe that Alexei Yagudin should not be able to broadcast such opinions to a wide audience, setting up inexperienced viewers against strong and worthy athletes.
Here are some examples.

Skate America 2019, Jason Brown is getting ready to perform his short program:
“Well, we can just borrow Jason’s time <and continue to talk about Dmitry Aliev’s skating> — it’s totally fine, ‘cause now he’s gonna only wave his legs in the air and… and nothing more, really.”

World Championships 2019, after Jason Brown’s short program: “His skating skills are amazing, he is a good skater, but nothing more. And thank God that apart from the short program we still have the free one, where without quad jumps he will finally be put in his proper place.”

World Championships 2019, Jason Brown’s free skating: “He is really like a glass of champagne with some lipstick on it” (a hint of his skating being “feminine”).

Free skating, Jason performed after Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen: “We really don’t care how Jason Brown will skate now. We can just sit back, relax, and watch it, since we had already have piece de resistance, and this is a sweet, soft ending of a banquet… like, you know, when you are already full, but there is still something on the table, and it’s just a pity to throw out.”

European Championships 2019, about Latvian athlete Deniss Vasiljevs short program: “You are a man, you compete in the men's singles discipline, so you have to jump <quads>. With content like that I’d lose junior world championships in 1997.”

World Championships 2019, after the free skate of Mikhail Kolyada, two-time Russian national champion: “I’d like to hear, ‘Forgive us, we’re ashamed’ from these people.”

Judging figure skaters according solely to his own criteria of “masculine skating”, Mr. Yagudin ignores the strengths of the athletes that do not fit these criteria, discrediting them in the eyes of the audience.

Mr. Yagudin has repeatedly violated professional ethics during live broadcasts: he has mispronounced athletes’ names (Shiwawa instead of Shiraiwa, Zhanshancha instead of Junhwan Cha), used profanity (e.g. during Cup of China this year).

Mr. Yagudin also occasionally expresses his opinions with rather uncivil statements on his Instagram account.

For instance, after the 2019 NHK Trophy he wrote:
“My sincere gratitude goes to Sergey Voronov from preventing my ‘beloved’ Jason Brown from making it to the Grand Prix Final, or else it would’ve been a DISGRACE.”

When figure skating fans asked Mr. Yagudin to treat all athletes with respect, he suggested that they either tolerate his comments or install VPN, as that is the only possibility in Russia to watch figure skating events without his comments.

Mr. Yagudin also supports inappropriate statements from his followers. Here is a comment to illustrate this: “I don’t get it why people are suddenly standing up for Brown. He’s a f*gg*t who can’t even jump triples” — Mr. Yagudin reacted to this with the emoji picturing applause.

We believe that such behavior coming from a commentator both during live events and in social media damages the reputation of Channel One and its image.

Alexei Yagudin, the 2002 Olympic Champion, is undeniably a significant figure in the history of figure skating, bestowed with great authority, which is why such comments both during live events and in various media outlets can cause bias towards athletes and severely harm the healthy atmosphere among the fans, media, and said athletes.

Figure skating as an Olympic discipline is based on your efforts being rewarding, educational value of having good role models, social responsibility, and mutual respect. Alexei Yagudin’s style of commentating does not adhere to these principles.

As fans of not just athletes but also sport itself and its values, we believe and hope that the person assigned to commentate on the competitions will possess professionalism as well as wisdom and respect to all athletes without exception.

We ask the Channel One Russia management of sport broadcasting to respond to the unacceptable behavior of the 2002 Olympic champion and remove him from commenting on the figure skating competitions.