Russian Olympic flag bearer and secretary general flees country

Anastasia Davydova (L) and Anastasia Ermakova celebrate gold in the Synchronised Swimming Duet Free Routine at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Photo / Getty

A Russian synchronised swimming champion who carried the flag at the London Olympics has become the most prominent athlete to flee the country since the start of the war, writes Nataliya Vasilyeva, the Daily Telegraph's Russia correspondent.

Anastasia Davydova, a 13-times world champion who won Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 who was feted by Vladimir Putin, said in a letter that she had left the country for good as hundreds of thousands fled military draft.

The departure of the 39-year old athlete, who also serves as secretary general of Russia's Olympic Committee, was reported by state-controlled Match TV. Several Russian lawmakers immediately condemned her as a traitor.

The day after the announcement of the country's mobilisation of an estimated 300,000 troops, the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, former fencer Stanislav Pozdnyakov, was asked about the impact of such a decision on Russian athletes.

Anastasia Davydova escorts Vladimir Putin on a tour around her Olympic Synchronised Olympic Centre in 2019. Photo / Getty

The Olympic leader's response was blunt: "The ROC trains the Olympic team, the current members of the national teams are under the jurisdiction of the National Sports Training Centre and the Ministry of Sport, so the question should be addressed to them.

"But from the ROC's point of view, we consider that service to the fatherland is an honourable duty, the honourable duty of every citizen, including members of the national teams."

Russia's Synchronised Swimming Federation said it was unaware of the Ms Davydova's whereabouts, while Russia's Olympic Committee said it did not get a letter of resignation from the athlete, who only three years ago hosted President Putin at her own synchronised swimming school in Moscow.

Several prominent athletes have publicly spoken out against the invasion of Ukraine and cut their ties with the Kremlin, but Ms Davydova who was decorated with an Order of Merit by Mr Putin is by far the biggest Russian sporting star to have broken with the regime.

Davydova's haul of five Olympic gold medals puts her joint-second on the sport's all-time list.