Russian Olympic Biathlon Athlete Expelled For Criticizing Team

By RIA Novosti

Feb. 22, 2014

Glazyrina was banned from the Russian team for making "incorrect statements" about her colleagues. Yekaterina Glazyrina

Russian biathlon athlete Yekaterina Glazyrina has been expelled from the Olympic national team for making derogatory comments about her teammates.

The Russian Biathlon Union announced in a statement that Glazyrina had been banned for posting "incorrect statements in relation to the Olympic team," on her Vkontakte page, R-sport reported Saturday.

Glazyrina has also been excluded from elite-level competition for the rest of the season, officials said.

Though the supposedly derogatory comments had been deleted from Glazyrina's Vkontakte account on Saturday, some reports suggested the athlete had criticized the Russian team's coaching staff, newspaper Gazeta.ru reported.

Glazyrina was a regular figure in World Cup competition this season and won a relay event with the Russian women's team last month.

However, at the Sochi Olympics she was only entered for the individual event, in which she finished 61st, and was not included in the Russian team that won silver in the women's relay on Friday.

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