MOSCOW (AP) — Two-time Olympic bobsled champion Alexander Zubkov was injured when unknown attackers smashed up the car he received for his gold medals at the Sochi Games.
Russian media said Zubkov was involved in a confrontation outside his home near Moscow on Thursday when attackers with bats smashed the lights and windshield of his Mercedes-Benz, one of the cars given by the Russian state to each of the country’s gold medalists in Sochi.
It was not immediately clear if Zubkov was in the car when the attack began.
Zubkov, who received hospital treatment, told the ITAR-Tass agency he sustained “small puncture wounds and a damaged wrist.”
“Maybe the attack was the result of someone ordering it,” he said.
Zubkov’s car bears large stickers identifying it as one of the vehicles presented to Sochi medalists.
Zubkov’s grandfather and his three-year-old son witnessed the attack. Police are investigating.
Zubkov won gold medals in both the two-man and four-man bob in Sochi. He’s the sixth pilot to sweep those events at an Olympics.
The 39-year-old Siberia-born athlete was Russia’s flagbearer at the opening ceremony in Sochi, where his achievements on the track made him a national hero as Russia topped the medals table at its first home Winter Games.
Zubkov had earlier won silver in the four-man at the 2006 Turin Games and bronze in the two-man at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
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