Russian female athletes defend their purely friendly, not gay, kiss

AP photo

Russian female athletes Yulia Gushchina and Ksenia Ryzhova denied Western media reports that said that their kiss at the award ceremony of the 2013 Athletics World Championships in Moscow was an action to support sexual minorities.

"I did what everyone does on a pedestal," said Gushchina, having learned about the response of Western journalists to the photograph, on which the two athletes are shown kissing on a pedestal at Luzhniki stadium. According to her, the kiss was an expression of joy for the gold medal and nothing more.

The Western media were highly active in their comments about the kiss, holding it up as a challenge to the law prohibiting gay propaganda among minors.