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World Judo Championship bronze medalist Yelyzaveta Litvinenko has changed her sporting nationality. The 21-year-old athlete will no longer compete for Ukraine.
She announced this on her Instagram page.
Litvinenko has already joined the national team of the United Arab Emirates, for which she will compete in future tournaments. In particular, her plans include participating under the new flag at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The athlete has already published photos wearing the UAE national team uniform, with the flag of her new country on her judogi.
The reason for this decision may have been the Ukrainian Judo Federation’s boycott of international tournaments.
In 2025, for example, the Ukrainian team skipped the World Championships in Budapest due to the admission of Belarusian athletes competing under their own symbols.
The Federation explained this step as following an order from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which prohibits competing against Russians and Belarusians if they are not required to observe neutrality. As a result, Ukrainian judokas were deprived of the chance to participate in top-level events.
In addition, Litvinenko has admitted in interviews that the war has significantly complicated her training process. Because of constant air raid alerts and shelling, she could not properly prepare for competitions. This likely also contributed to her decision to change citizenship.
Litvinenko is a 21-year-old native of Pokrov in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
In 2021, she became European cadet champion (under 70 kg category) and that same year debuted at the senior European Championships.
In 2022, she moved up to the 78 kg category, winning gold at the European Junior Championships and the European Youth Olympic Festival.
In autumn 2022, she won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Tashkent, defeating Olympic champion Shori Hamada.
She also holds victories at Masters, Grand Slam, and Grand Prix tournaments.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, she came within one step of a medal, losing in the repechage final to China’s Ma Zhenzhao.
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