The Liu brothers are ready to pay the cost requested by the federation

– How did you two and we get here...?
Shaolin Sándor Liu:    – When we found out that the Hungarian Skating Federation was not going to keep the coaching staff together, we were worried. Our situation became more and more precarious, and we were not happy about that.
Shaoang Liu:    – And after we learned that the staff would not remain the same, we sat down several times with the Hungarian federation, we wanted them to keep the coaches. We've achieved our success with them: if we look at the Olympics alone, we won a gold medal in Pyeongchang, another gold and two bronze medals in Beijing four years later. These results prove perfectly that we've been successful.

– Yet the coaching trio did not stay together.
Shaolin:   – We had several discussions with the federation, we wanted them not to let the coaches go, we wanted to continue to work together, but it became more and more clear that our problem was not going to be solved. In fact, the federation still does not have a professional plan for this Olympic cycle, the management of the team is not resolved - or at least not to the same standard as in previous years – and there is no professionally based long-term training plan and competition calendar. We are also sad that the federation has concealed the fact that it has only signed a short-term contract with Chun Jae-su, one that will not last until the next Olympics. Our confidence in the federation has been shaken, our future is uncertain, and we have reason to wonder how we can achieve further success and plan for Milan.

– So, was it the uncertain future that made you two decide to change countries?
Shaoang:    – At the moment, we put the sport before everything else. We needed a stable coaching staff and to see how the federation envisioned and planned for the next four years. We believe that we did our best in the past to succeed and bring glory to the country, which is why we want our parting to be without problems.
Shaolin:   – We want to continue to be the best in the world, but in the current situation, we felt that the conditions to achieve our goals were no longer provided here. We always want to be the best we can be, and we thought that the only way to do that in the future was to change countries.

Shaoang:    – We are going to a new country with the idea that we are somebody, that we will try to win our place in the selection competitions. Even if we have results from before, we are starting from scratch.
Shaolin:    – And really from scratch! We give up everything.

– The Hungarian Skating Federation, however, has not yet waived their obligations under your former athlete contracts.
Shaoang:   – Our contract with the association expired on March 31, and we have not charged anything to its budget since then. The mentioned costs were incurred when we were fighting to win as many medals as possible for Hungary in the world competitions.
Shaolin:   – We don't know yet where we are going, meaning no country or federation will cover these costs. As mentioned, we decided to change countries because of the loss of confidence and uncertainty – we decided with Ádó that if the Hungarian Federation insists we pay the costs, we will pay ourselves. Even if we don't agree with it, and even if there is no such precedent in the international history of short-track speed skating.

– So, are you now waiting for an answer from the federation?
Shaolin:   – Yes, we hope that they will make a decision on our case as soon as possible. Then we will go our separate ways. We know that many people love us in Hungary, which we can feel, so we suspected that there would be a lot of sadness about our decision. At the same time, it is a pleasure to see and experience that there are still a lot of them who support us.
Shaoang:    – We are not abandoning them; our sports careers are important to us! That is why we sacrifice, that is why we leave our families, loved ones, and friends here.
Shaolin:   – We did everything we could to make Hungarian short-track speed skating as successful as possible, and we will never forget these years, we will always look back on this period with good feelings. That is why we will undertake to reimburse the costs raised by the federation if this is their final decision but because it is not a small amount of money, we need time to do it in full.