Four-time Olympic medalist Evgeni Plushenko once slammed athletes who ‘turn their back’ on Russia. Now his teenage son will skate for Azerbaijan.

Thirteen-year-old figure skater Alexander Plushenko is changing his sporting citizenship and will now compete for Azerbaijan. This is a common practice among figure skaters who feel they have little chance of making the Russian national team — they switch to countries where figure skating is less developed, hoping to qualify for world championships and the Olympics in a less competitive field.