07. January 2021  
Lausanne, SUI  
Artistic Gymnastics

Oleg Verniaiev: Temporarily banned from the World Gymnastics Federation

The Olympic champion on parallel bars, the Ukrainian Oleg VERNIAIEV, has been temporarily suspended by the World Gymnastics Federation (FIG). This was confirmed by the FIG media representative at the request of the Russian media agency Gymnovosti. This is a "temporary disciplinary measure" for the 27-year-old Olympic runner-up in the all-around competition in Rio, about the background of which no further detailed facts were given due to the ongoing proceedings. This was probably the reason for the surprising absence from the European Gymnastics Championships 2020 in Mersin, Turkey last December. Ukraine's national coach Gennadiy Sartinsky cited injuries as a reason for his protégé's withdrawal. It is currently unclear how long the process at the world association will take, whether and when the final decision on a possible permanent exclusion will be made.
* In particular due to the achievements of the former world champion and four-times European champion Verniaiev as a guest starter in the corona season 2020 of the German gymnastics league ("German Bundesliga"), the TG Saar club was determined to be the "German champion" after the DTL final 2020 was canceled by a "decision at the green table".
(C) gymmedia