Armenian skier Mikael Mikaelyan was fined for covering the word Azerbaijan on his ski suit while competing in Italy’s Tour de Ski in late December. Armenia’s Ski Federation has defended Mikaelyan and offered to cover his fine.
Mikaelyan was fined for covering the word Azerbaijan on his suit on 31 December.
‘I cannot view [sports] separately from politics and go out and compete without covering that country’s name, [which] is aggressively inclined toward my homeland’, Mikaelyan told RFE/RL.
While Mikaelyan expressed his hope that fighting would no longer break out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, he added that the situation is ‘unclear’ at this stage in the peace talks between the two countries, and vowed to act similarly in future competitions.
‘For me, my dignity and my homeland are above all’, Mikaelyan said.
Nate Ostiller
He elaborated that he received his ski suit roughly two hours before the competition and that he decided to cover the word Azerbaijan upon seeing the suit.
Mikaelyan was the only athlete representing Armenia at the tournament.
Following the competition, the jury called Mikaelyan in for a meeting and presented the grounds for their sanction.
The amount of the fine is yet to be disclosed, however both the athlete and the Ski Federation of Armenia expressed their readiness to pay it.
Mikaelyan told RFE/RL, that those who want to share the burden of the penalty could instead support the development of skiing in Ashotsk in the Shirak region — his hometown.
Separately, on Monday, Gagik Sargsyan, the president of the Ski Federation of Armenia, came to Mikaelyan’s during a Facebook live and said the federation would pay his fine.
‘Naturally, nothing else could have been expected except for Mikael’s move, because Mikael is a dignified Armenian’, Sargsyan said.
Sargsyan added that during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020, some of Mikaelyan’s friends were killed in action and their graves are visible from the skiing centre in Ashotsk.
Azerbaijan sponsored the tournament as part of a five-year partnership signed between the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and the country’s State Tourism Agency in May 2025.
Shortly after the deal was signed, the Azerbaijan Winter Sports Federation was granted full membership in FIS in June 2025, and the organisation approved Azerbaijan’s request to host the Moguls World Cup finals in 2026.
The partnership made Azerbaijan the first FIS Global Partner, however the sum of the sponsorship has not been disclosed.
The beginning of the 2025–2026 season saw Azerbaijan becoming a ‘premium partner of the FIS World Championships across all disciplines, as well as a titular partner of the FIS World Cup.
