Winter Olympics - 'Cut off her tongue' - Former Olympic champion Tikhonov in shocking attack on Valeria Vasnetsova

ByJames Hilsum

Updated 06/02/2022 at 12:57 GMT

Valeria Vasnetsova is in quarantine in Beijing and posted photos on Instragram complaining about the quality of food she is receiving at her hotel. Tikhonov responded to the comments on 'Sport24' and said: "I would cut off Vasnetsova's tongue for such complaints. At the 1980 Olympics, we lived in America like in a prison and nobody complained."

Former Olympic biathlon relay champion Alexander Tikhonov launched a stinging attack on Russian compatriot Valeria Vasnetsova and said he “would cut off Vasnetsova's tongue” for complaining about her quarantine conditions at Beijing 2022.

The 24-year-old Vasnetsova is recovering from Covid-19 and made a number of scathing comments about the food she is receiving during isolation, with reports from Russia claiming that she could miss the biathlon competition altogether and return home.

She has taken to Instagram to post about her bland food choices while in quarantine, posting images of the potatoes, pasta and meat on the social media platform’s story function.

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“I've been getting this for breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days now. I've lost a lot of weight and my bones are sticking out. I can't eat anything else, I don't know anything about my corona tests."

"I only sleep all day because I don't even have the strength to get out of bed. I only eat three handfuls of pasta a day because it's just impossible to eat the rest of the food."

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However, there is no sign of any sympathy from the 75-year-old Tikhonov, who criticised Vasnetsova for the complaints and accused her of damaging the morale within the Russia team in a shocking tirade.

Valeria Vasnetsova

Image credit: Getty Images

He responded to the comments on 'Sport24' and said: "I would cut off Vasnetsova's tongue for such complaints. At the 1980 Olympics, we lived in America like in a prison and nobody complained.

"She causes unrest in the team with her complaints! You have to solve these problems in the team and not complain on the internet. Because of you, the mood in the team is at its lowest point!"

The Russian Olympic Committee claimed the bronze medal in the 4X5km mixed relay on Saturday, and the next event in the sport takes place on Monday with the women’s 15km individual race.

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