Ice dancers Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius will not take part at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, as Reed’s application for Lithuanian citizenship was rejected.
This past October, President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda rejected Reed’s application to obtain Lithuanian citizenship by way of an exception in order to participate at the Olympics due to the recommendation of the country’s Commission of Citizenship Affairs. The application was later resubmitted; however, it was announced today that it has been rejected again.
Reed and Ambrulevicius have been competing together since the 2017-2018 season and earned a spot at the 2022 Winter Olympics with a fifteenth place result at the 2021 World Championships last March. Although they have been representing Lithuania throughout the years, citizenship is required to participate at the Olympics and the American-born Reed could not obtain it.
Both Reed and Ambrulevicius took to social media to announce the news with Reed stating, “It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce my Lithuanian citizenship was again rejected. Saulius and I will not be competing for Lithuania at the 2022 Winter Olympics. It was our dream to attend the Olympics in Beijing, and it hurts so much to not be able to live that dream.”
Ambrulevicius relayed a similar message in Lithuanian, also thanking the Lithuanian Figure Skating Federation and the National Olympic Committee of Lithuania for their support and efforts.
It is expected that the young Lithuanian ice dance duo of Paulina Ramanauskaite and Deividas Kizala will now take part at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Skating Times 