Ukrainian high jumper Oksana Okunyeva found herself at the center of a scandal after she posted a post on her Facebook page in defense of the Russian language. After the post sparked outrage, the athlete quickly deleted it.
In her post, Okunyeva expressed dissatisfaction with criticism of the Russian language, noting that “the Ukrainian and Russian languages are descended from the Old Russian language.” She also tried to argue her position by pointing out that the indigenous citizens of Ukraine and their ancestors spoke and still speak Russian.
"I'm so tired of seeing posts about how the Russian language is being slandered. I'm speaking for nationalists from Western Ukraine. Based on historical facts, the Ukrainian and Russian languages originate from the Old Russian language. The Slavs were divided into tribes, each with its own dialects and accents. The majority of indigenous citizens of Ukraine, their ancestors who lived before the emergence of Ukraine, spoke and speak Russian. The Russian language was not invented by Putin or Yeltsin, not by their predecessors! As the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko said: 'Learn from someone else's, and do not shun your own.' If our enemy speaks our Russian language, we should not be ashamed of it. I urge nationalists not to divide the great Ukrainian people on the basis of language," Okunyeva wrote in her post.
This post caused a wide resonance in Ukrainian society and was later deleted from both the athlete's personal page and the Ukrainian Athletics Instagram page, which had previously shared this post.
Oksana Okunyeva is a seven-time Ukrainian high jump champion, a participant in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, and the winner of the 2017 Universiade.
