After the triumph of Kazakh figure skater Mikhail Shaidorov at the Olympics in Milan, the country's Ministry of Sports faced accusations of insufficient funding for the athlete. In response to the criticism, officials presented data indicating that over half a million dollars had been allocated for Shaidorov's training over the year. However, this only sparked a new scandal, as reported by Azattyk Asia.
Upon returning home, Olympic champion Mikhail Shaidorov was welcomed as a national hero. In his first speech, he expressed sincere gratitude to the fans who shared the joy of victory with him.
“I cannot find the words to express my gratitude for the support. This is incredible motivation for me to continue developing and to glorify our country. Thank you all,” the athlete said.
The path to this victory was long and difficult. His father and first coach, Stanislav Shaidorov, recounted in an interview a year ago how, after an injury in 2021, Mikhail had to recover on his own, as the Kazakh federation deprived him of his salary and excluded him from the national team.
“In the Olympic season, nothing was allocated for his training. I know that figure skating was funded by the National Olympic Committee. If I were a businessman, I might have stayed out of it. But maintaining a figure skater of such a level requires significant expenses — training camps, training, competitions, skates, costumes. It is wrong to abandon an injured first-string athlete,” Stanislav Shaidorov shared in an interview with the newspaper "Karavan".
These and other episodes from the figure skater's career resurfaced after his Olympic victory. To justify themselves, the Ministry of Sports stated that over half a million dollars had been spent on Shaidorov's training in 2025 and released data about his salary, indicating that he earned about 65 thousand dollars in a year.
The athlete noted that the publication of this data came as a surprise to him.
“I consider it disrespectful towards me as an athlete and a person. I do not understand why this step was taken, as I was simply doing my job — training and striving for results. Now it seems that the ministry has sent me a bill for the medal? This should not be the case,” Mikhail Shaidorov commented to the publication Tengrinews.
The officials' responses, on the contrary, damaged their reputation. They were accused of disclosing confidential information about the figure skater and of hiding their expenses, including costs for the trip to Milan.
When journalists who met Shaidorov at the airport asked the minister about the budget of the Kazakh delegation for the Games in Italy, he suggested sending a written request.
“I cannot currently disclose how much was spent on transportation, accommodation, and meals. We will respond in writing,” said Yerbol Myrzabosynov.
The minister added that the trips of officials abroad had their justifications, and each had a specific work task.
The chosen communication strategy by the ministry was criticized in the Kazakh internet, being labeled a failure.
“It creates the impression that the athletes sent to competitions have no control whatsoever. If we want, we will publish all the information about you, and if not, we won’t, especially if the figures are unimpressive. In the end, someone rushed — wrote lawyer Yerzhan Yesimkhanov on Facebook. — This led to another reputational scandal, as the interests of the athlete were sidelined. It’s good that Shaidorov himself remained composed and did not attach much importance to it.”
“Sports Minister Myrzabosynov could not clearly answer journalists why officials disclosed the budgetary expenses for Mikhail Shaidorov's training in 2025,” journalist Nikolai Enelane believes. “Now everyone is calculating how much the minister is being paid. This is also a failure.”
The difficulties faced by Kazakh athletes are well known to their families. Behind every champion stand devoted parents.
“Parents don’t sleep, they take them to training at six in the morning, spend money on camps and tournaments. The state only supports at the finish line when it becomes clear that a medal might be possible. Then they say, ‘Okay, we will allocate money,’ so they can later report that they raised a champion,” says journalist Tamara Vaal, editor-in-chief of the capital's bureau of the magazine "Vlast" and mother of a girl who practices rhythmic gymnastics.
Now Mikhail Shaidorov, who won the first Olympic gold in figure skating for Kazakhstan, is showered with gifts — apartments and cars. However, there remains doubt that after his success, active construction of professional rinks will begin in the country, where new talents capable of repeating his achievements can be developed.
Mass sports, especially winter sports, are not well developed in Kazakhstan. Mikhail began his training on a small rink in a shopping center in Almaty, just like Denis Ten, another star of Kazakh figure skating. Ten won bronze in men's singles skating at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but his life was tragically cut short four years later. He was fatally stabbed while trying to stop thieves who were attempting to steal mirrors from his car in Almaty. He was only 25 years old.
After the Olympic victory in Italy, Mikhail Shaidorov noted that Denis Ten influenced not only him but the entire figure skating sphere in Kazakhstan. “He opened the door for many figure skaters. This is incredibly important,” emphasized the champion.
In the early stages of Ten's career, the expenses for training, trips, and costumes also fell on his parents. Figure skating requires significant investment in equipment, ice rental, coaching services, choreography, and participation in competitions.
