Ukrainian Paralympic athlete Maksym Koval, who was recently crowned champion of the shot put T20 event finals, pleaded for mercy from Malaysians who have flooded his Instagram account with nasty comments.
The Ukrainian athlete has faced a storm of online bashing in recent days after national athlete Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli was stripped of the gold medal due to technicality.
In a recent Instagram story, Koval revealed that his first account was shut down after it was hacked by angry Malaysians.
They hacked my account after attacking me by leaving lots of spam comments on my posts,” he wrote.
He added that after creating a new account, it was also flooded with vicious words, including some equating him to a pig.
Unable to bear it anymore, Koval subsequently offered an apology along with a clasped palm emoji, presumably a desperate plea to Malaysians to not escalate the issue further.
Here’s the original post:
Despite Koval’s best efforts, Malaysians continued their attacks, even spilling it over to accounts linked to other Ukrainian athletes and the Ukrainian embassy.
On the other hand, rational Malaysians urged for calm over the situation.
Response from the IPC
In response to massive vitriol from Malaysians, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) spokesman Craig Spence emphasised that the referee found no justifiable reason for Ziyad to turn up late.
Regarding the abuse levelled towards the Ukrainian athletes, he said:
People said the Ukrainian stole the gold. No, absolutely not. The Ukrainian had nothing to do with it. It was the athletes that were late.
Spence added that the outpouring of hate from Malaysians on social media was “abusive” and “ridiculous”.
He also noted a similar reaction to the IPC forfeiting Malaysia’s spot at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2019 after implying that it couldn’t guarantee the participation of Israeli athletes.
The level of abuse that was directed at the IPC then was through the roof.
However, his words did little to assuage Malaysians, who buried his appreciation post with inflammatory comments.
Today marks 11 years at the International Paralympic Committee. The best years of my life and a role that brings so much satisfaction and joy. Sport with purpose. You cannot beat it. #Paralympics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/bVh7C7CFcB
— Craig Spence (@craigspence) September 1, 2021
Expert: Overturning of ban unlikely
Former National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong opined that it would be difficult for the IPC to overhaul its decision as they are bound to the rules of the World Para Athletics (WPA).
“Rules are rules. Rules and laws are made to be obeyed and not to be violated,” he told Bernama.
“IPC and WPA wouldn’t relax the rules just to solve the Malaysian case, especially when we were late without a valid reason,” added Zolkples, who is also the Head of the Malaysian Contingent to the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
He also said that the national contingent and Malaysians should not blame the Ukrainian team as they had the right to protest.
“The entire contingent, from the CDM (chef-de-mission) to the secretariat, team managers and coaches, they all have to be held accountable.
This is unacceptable negligence in my point of view. They should take care of the athletes. Ziyad should not be blamed.
Zolkples hoped the incident would be a lesson to every national contingent officer not to repeat the same mistake in the future.
If you are OOTL over the controversy, read why Ziyad was denied his gold medal and world record:
Cover Images via Reuters & IG/ @maksym.koval_official
Author: Jin Wen Chan
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
