OREANDA-NEWS. Natalia Kuzmina, head of the technical committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), has become its honorary vice-president. This was reported by the FIG press service.

"Natalia Kuzmina has become Honorary Vice-President for her many years of activity in gymnastics,"- the statement reads.

Kuzmina has chaired the FIG Technical Committee for Rhythmic Gymnastics since 2013. Her current term expires at the end of December. The Russian was due to run in the next election for head of the committee but, at the request of All-Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation head Irina Viner-Usmanova, her candidacy was withdrawn.

Kuzmina later filed a complaint with the independent Gymnastics Ethics Foundation (GEF) and succeeded in getting back into the running. However, the independent FIG Ethics Commission upheld the withdrawal.

Viner-Usmanova criticised Kuzmina after Russia's Dina Averina lost the gold medal to Israel's Lina Ashram in the individual all-around at the Tokyo Olympics. The Russian side challenged the judging scores, but the technical committee headed by Kuzmina found no errors or signs of bias in the judging at the Games.

Viner-Usmanova claimed that Kuzmina at the Tokyo Olympics wanted to show her disqualification from Russia and that she would not forgive her tears of Russian gymnasts.