The woman who was chosen over Vladimir Putin’s alleged girlfriend to light the Olympic flame on Friday during the opening ceremony tweeted a photo of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama last year containing a banana that was photoshopped.
Irina Rodnina, who won gold medals in figure skating for Russia, deleted the photo but refused to apologize.
“Freedom of speech is freedom of speech, and you should answer for your own hang-ups,” she wrote then.
The Russian skater who just lit the Olympic flame tweeted this doctored, racist photo of the Obamas last September. pic.twitter.com/kQhIDqXwki
— Terry Moran (@TerryMoran) February 7, 2014
Rodnina is also a politician who is member of Putin’s political party. Putin named her to Russia’s public chamber in 2005.