Olympic gold medalists short track speed skaters Shaolin Sandor Liu and Shaoang Liu spoke to Nemzeti Sport about why they decided to change their Hungarian nationality: They want to keep winning in the future but the Hungarian National Skating Association (MOKSZ) is not doing their job in preparing for the new Olympic cycle.

The Lius applied to change their nationality but didn't name a country, MOKSZ announced in early November. The two brothers, with Viktor Knoch and Csaba Burjan, won the first Winter Olympic gold medal for Hungary in the men's short track speed skating 5000-meter relay at PyeongChang 2018 and set a new record of the event.

Four years later at Beijing 2022, Shaoang Liu won the first individual gold for Hungary in the men's 500-meter event in addition to two bronze medals.

Shaolin Liu and Shaoang Liu, at 26 and 24 years old respectively, have every good reason to want to keep their great performance and to do even better in the future. However, MOKSZ decided not to keep the coaching staff together. According to Hungarian news website Index, the association has not made an overall plan to prepare for the new Olympic cycle for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

That explains the Lius' worries. "We want to continue to be the world's No. 1," they said. "But the current situation cannot support us to do that. The only way for us to realize this goal is to change our nationalities."

The brothers revealed that they will have to start over completely when they join a new country and build everything from scratch. Moreover, the two will have to pay MOKSZ about 100 to 150 million Hungarian Forint (about $254,000 to 381,000) per person as compensation. The Lius said no association will pay for them, but they are willing to spend their own money on it.

Shaolin Liu and Shaoang Liu know their decision will hurt many of their fans in Hungary, but it's a very difficult call for them to make as well.

"We know there are a lot people who love us in Hungary. We can feel it every day. We guess they will be unhappy with our decision. But meanwhile, we are glad to see a lot of out fans stand with us," the Lius said. "We tried out best to achieve success for Hungarian short track speed skating. We will never forget those years and we will always call them to mind and ponder them over with a happy mood."

Lajos Kosa, president of MOKSZ, told Index that they will not stand in the brothers' way of chasing more Olympic medals.