Thursday July 22, 2021
State briefing for interviews?
Forbidden “Russia” wants to shape the Olympics
A team from Russia may compete in the Olympic Games. The team is not called “Russia” and the anthem is excluded. Even the clothing causes a sensation – which should obviously be avoided during interviews on critical topics.
You can recognize them – without their hymn, the country name or the flag. Even if their country has been the bad boy of world sport since the doping scandal in the wake of the Sochi Winter Games, Russia’s athletes in Tokyo show their (national) colors in the best possible way. The clothing of the 329 athletes shines in white, blue and red, and some recognize the flag of the gigantic empire, which is currently forbidden in sport. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved the design, however, it seems like a concession.
The name Russia is also banned due to the ban by the world anti-doping agency WADA until December 2022. The athletes compete for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), the five Olympic rings can be seen on their flag, above them three flames in the national colors. Even the proud hymn will not sound, but the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Peter Tchaikovsky when a Russian athlete wins gold – and that should happen as often as possible at the 32nd Summer Olympics.
Kenya, Russia, Switzerland – but the Russian flag had to be replaced by that of the ROC.
(Photo: imago images / ITAR-TASS)
“We expect to win 40 to 50 medals,” said ROC President Stanislav Posdnyakov of the French news agency AFP. That is a handsome number. According to the four-time Olympic fencing champion, much more would be possible under normal circumstances, because “the national flag and the anthem are additional motivating factors for every athlete”. Posdnyakov generally has a clear understanding of the sanctions. The new generation has “nothing to do with the allegations from 2015,” said the 47-year-old.
Big disappointment for winter sports fans
The ambition of the sporting nation Russia to show everyone again remains unbroken. “The subject of the politicization of sport is unfortunately still relevant and has not been removed from the agenda,” said President Vladimir Putin last and warned: “The rights and interests of our athletes must be protected from any arbitrariness.” Government-loyal influencers subsequently called for posts in the social networks in connection with the games to be tagged with the hashtag “WeWillROCyou”.
Russian media recently revealed that the ROC had provided its athletes around the flag bearers Sofia Velikaya (fencing) and Maxim Michailow (volleyball) with cheat sheets in which they gave bite-sized and meaningless answers to sensitive topics such as sexual harassment and the annexation of Crimea , Black Lives Matter or doping were served.
Doping in general: Because the athletics federation RUSAF is still suspended from the world federation, only ten athletes are at the start in the former Russian domain in Tokyo, including high jumper Maria Lassizkene and hurdle sprinter Sergei Schubenkow, who was recently acquitted of suspicion of doping. Posdnyakov asserts that the doping fight is on the right track. They sincerely hope that there will be no doping problems at these games. We advocate zero tolerance for doping.
However, some sports fans in Russia will be disappointed. After all, eight percent said in a survey by the Center for the Study of Public Opinion that they were particularly looking forward to the figure skating competitions. Three percent don’t want to miss out on biathlon …
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