Victoria Azarenka has been heavily criticized by the Belarusian Minister of Sports for 'refusing' to play in the Olympics.
Victoria Azarenka enjoys representing her native Belarus and she won them a medal at the London Olympics. However, she ended up not representing Belarus in the Tokyo Olympics where she was scheduled to compete in the singles and doubles with Aryna Sabalenka. The countries Minister of Sports criticized her saying:
“What was Azarenka guided by? It’s unpleasant. How can she not fight for the honour of the country? Not to help when she is needed? Not to lead the young, inspiring them by example? Like Aryna Sabalenka, who is not always stable. And satisfy her own ambitions and try to win the title of two-time Olympic champion. I think she had a great chance to win the gold medal together with Sabalenka. Such behaviour doesn’t make Azarenka look good as an athlete, as a person, or as a citizen of her country.”
The Minister then went on to criticize the state of tennis in the country in general accusing players of only looking for dollars:
“The thirst or even greed for money has given rise to a consumer attitude towards the state, which has invested and is investing a lot of money in the development of athletes. Unfortunately, many of our tennis players count their lives and careers only in dollars.”
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