In Russia, after some growth, stagnation and decline set in in all areas. Now we are reaping the fruits of the vertical power structure and the lack of healthy competition at the local level. The principle of selecting employees not based on professional qualities prevails. Sport cannot live separately from the country according to its own rules, and it has been affected by general stagnation and the tendency to wishful thinking. I won’t list his specific illnesses, but the scandal with fake disabled people in the Paralympic teams, the use of doping at the state level (it’s ridiculous to talk about the lack of evidence - of course no one gave written orders to use doping) fit well into the overall picture. Our sport lags behind the world primarily in the training system and in the creative search for coaches. It is not for nothing that more and more of our athletes become champions after training in foreign centers, which are not as rich and packed as ours (swimmers train in the USA, speed skaters in Italy, etc.). Only figure skaters, “artists” and synchronized swimmers retain their positions thanks to tradition and a strong coaching school. But this didn’t help in gymnastics - we’re falling behind. As for the Olympic Games, we must not forget that it is not easy sport competitions. They were revived by Pierre de Coubertin as a Games free from politics and the spirit of commerce, emphasizing the equality of participants regardless of race, social status or sporting qualifications. For a long time Professionals were not admitted, and at first even athletes who did not come at their own expense were not admitted. Integrity in wrestling is the most important principle of the Olympic Games. Russia violated it at the state level, thereby showing an example of the successful use of bribery and fraud, lowering its prestige Olympic medals. The IOC had to wash off this shame; all its actions were forced and had nothing to do with Russophobia or political games.
Sorry, but you are wrong about honesty. Not only that Olympic Games have long become a political event, and athletes from, perhaps, almost all countries were also caught doping. Only the approaches are different. For example, the States rely on advanced drugs, as well as legal doping due to the “illness” of athletes. In order to put Russia in its place, they also imitated a legal process, basing the accusation almost entirely on the words of one person, who is currently completely dependent on the US authorities (what they say is what they write). Russia cannot act like this, so they decided to do it like a hacker: replace the samples. It turned out well, but now I have to answer. And so on. It is clearly noticeable that the one who is richer and politically stronger takes the clearing.
Answer
I’m not mistaken about honesty; this is the official position enshrined in the IOC documents and in the oath taken by athletes and judges before the start of the Games. How these principles are observed is the second question, but in answering it we must not forget about the first. Still, words and deeds in the West differ less than is customary in our country. Thank you for the link to the article, in which the author somehow very vaguely mentions the McLaren report, excerpts from which I read and, I assure you, they sound more convincing than Poroshin’s article. There are things there that cannot be made up, they are logical, consistent and have not been refuted by anyone. I think Poroshin understands this, because he wrote another large article, where he no longer hesitates (the blog is after all) mentions state participation in fraud with samples: https://snob.ru/selected/entry/112663
Answer
It may be enshrined in documents, but what kind of honesty can remain where big politics interferes? Yes, once upon a time these were Games with a capital G, for fun, but this has not been the case for a long time. Now this is a sport of high achievements, and countries need these achievements at any cost. The fact that almost all countries were involved means that the approach is fundamentally the same everywhere. The stakes are too high and the man is too weak. I don’t deny our machinations, but frankly, I get the feeling that there is essentially no difference between “us” and “them”; ours simply work rougher and traditionally do not know how to brand everything correctly. This arrogant face from the West, they say, “how dare they fall so low morally,” despite the fact that they themselves have their heads in the cannon, alas, suggests that, in terms of cynicism, the West is also ahead.
They do not shine with results, but still become heroes of the Games.
The Olympics are an event that brings together some of the strongest athletes in the world who have dedicated their lives to the dream of winning a gold medal. However, at almost every Games stories appear about athletes who came to the competition rather for the sake of the “Olympic spirit”: they perform poorly, but are remembered by the audience. The latest example was the Mexican skier German Madrazo - he came last, but finished with the flag of his country, like a winner.
How are such athletes selected for the Games?
Previously, national teams could recruit any athletes to their teams: it was enough to show at least some results in local tournaments. Because of this, athletes appeared at the Games who could not compete with anyone.
Over the years, dissatisfaction grew on the part of athletes who trained for years, but could not get to the Olympics - unlike such “amateurs”. Therefore, in 1988, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) adopted the “Eddie Eagle Rule”: Olympic hopefuls must prove themselves in international competition. To qualify, you now need to be in the top 50 or in the top 30% of results in the pre-Olympic season. However, not all international competitions collect best athletes, which gives the “underdogs” a chance.
Another way to get to the Games is “wildcard”, special “invitations” from the IOC and international federations. They are often given to countries where some sport is just beginning to develop. For example, this is how African athletes qualify in atypical conditions. winter species sports.
Michael "Eddie the Eagle" Edwards
Michael Edwards is the same person because of whom the IOC now allows only athletes who have achieved something at the professional level to participate in the Olympics. Before the 1988 Calgary Games, Team GB had not competed in ski jumping for several decades. At the age of 25, plasterer Edwards, who had previously only worked alpine skiing, I decided to fix it.
The Briton did not look like an Olympic athlete: he wore glasses with thick frames, weighed several kilograms more than necessary for his sport, trained for less than two years, and showed at the World Championships worst results. But he was the best ski jumper in Great Britain - because he competed there alone.
In Calgary, Edwards became a hero and was given the name "Eddie the Eagle" for his low flights. In all disciplines, he took last place with a significant gap from his competitors, but went down in the history of the Olympic Games.
Eric Musambani
At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the IOC issued a wildcard to swimmer Eric Moussambani from Equatorial Guinea. Although it was difficult to call him a swimmer: the athlete learned to swim eight months before the Games and trained in small pool at the hotel. Fishermen taught him the technique.
At 22, Moussambani was in Australia and saw a 50-meter pool for the first time, which terrified him. Representatives of delegations from other countries helped the athlete train. The Olympics were not only his first international tournament, but also my first trip abroad.
In qualifying, Moussambani was supposed to compete with a Tajik and a Nigerian, but both were disqualified for a false start. The swimmer was left alone with the pool. He swam the first half of the distance in 41 seconds, with a world record of 48 seconds for the entire 100 meters. But in the second part of the swim, he practically began to drown, because his “legs were giving out.” Moussambani still completed the 100-meter race in almost two minutes.
Khabte Department
Another swimmer is Ethiopian Robel Habte, who qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio. He performed much better in the 100m than Moussambani, covering the distance in one minute and five seconds. But the athlete was remembered primarily for his non-Olympic sports uniform. It later turned out that Robel Habte is the son of the president of the national federation aquatic species sports.
Philip Boyt
Kenyan Philip Boit is one of the main legends of the “white” Games. He attended three Olympics, but most of all he remembered the first one - in Nagano in 1998. The athlete had been running for a long time, but saw snow only in 1995 in Finland. Boit recalled: “It was difficult to cope with the weather, it was -17 in Helsinki, and I fell while putting on my skis.”
After several training sessions, he qualified for the Games in Japan: there were legends that for a place on the team he competed with another Kenyan, with whom he earned money for equipment. In Nagano, Boyt competed in a 10-kilometer race and came last. Gold medal received the Norwegian Bjorn Daly, but he stood at the finish line for another 20 minutes to personally congratulate the Kenyan.
This Olympics was the beginning of the friendship between the African and the Norwegian. Philip's first child is named Daly Boyt. Former athletes They still ride together sometimes.
Pita Taufatofua
Even at the Rio Olympics, the famous “Tongan in Oil” participated in taekwondo competitions. However, in 2017, he abruptly changed his sport and started skiing. According to the athlete, he trained for only 12 weeks before the Games, but on the last day qualifying competitions he was able to get to South Korea.
The Tongan's debut in the 15-kilometer ski race ended in 114th place out of 116. Only the Colombian and Mexican, with whom Taufatofua trained, performed worse. Afterwards he did not lose heart and said that he had completed two main tasks - he finished the race before the stadium closed and did not crash into a tree.
At the 2020 Games, the athlete wants to try his hand at swimming. So he will participate in three Olympics in three different types sports.
Non-professional skier from the United States Elizabeth Swaney competed for Hungary on February 19 in the women's ski halfpipe competition at the Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Halfpipe skiing involves complex jumps that must be performed on a curved structure. The athlete who scores for tricks wins greatest number points. However, Swaney does not know how to ski jump and therefore, trying not to accelerate too much, she simply skied along the halfpipe (a special design that resembles half a pipe). She took last place in the competition, scoring 30 points. At the same time, the athlete who took penultimate place fell during her performance.
Photos from open sources
Breaking through to the games in Pyeongchang “be it as a carcass or as a stuffed animal,” our sports officials promised to “show everyone” and, to spite the whole world, to shower the Motherland with the rain of Olympic “gold,” thereby proving their ability Russian athletes win no matter what. Everything turned out exactly the opposite - our performances at the 2018 Olympics play into the hands of those who prove with foam at the mouth that “Russians can’t do anything without doping.”...
The Olympics have always been a magnet, an anticipation of the spectacle, a source of excitement - there are ours: figure skaters, skiers, hockey players! And here - it’s crazy - I’m not drawn to the TV, for the life of me. You'll catch a glimpse of one broadcast, then another. And that’s it – I’m fed up. Almost entirely sadness...
What was to be expected: medals (there are still no gold medals, a week after the opening!) are given to us with great difficulty. The Russian team is already in 13th place in the team competition! We are behind France, Italy, Korea, Switzerland and just today we are ahead of Australia! I imagine the faces Russian stars past Olympics, honored and titled, veterans...
And earlier it was clear that from Russian team- exsanguinated, nervous, sometimes even convulsing - it is difficult to expect outstanding results. Until the last day, many athletes did not know whether they would go to Pyeongchang or not. And those who knew may have simply burned out...
But we still hoped and believed. For example, the famous Elena Isinbayeva promised on Instagram that Russia will show itself well in Pyeongchang, because “Russians become invincible when angry.” Alas, failures follow one after another, even where ours should have won. Let's say in figure skating, where the chances of the pair Evgeniy Tarasov - Vladimir Morozov were highly rated. But no, instead of the jubilant sounds of a victorious march, we heard the dull sobs of our partner...
Even the hockey players we hoped for the most are not impressive yet. And that's putting it mildly. The Russians did not lose, but lost in the first match of the tournament against Slovakia. Oleg Znarok, Main coach The “red car” (if so, then it is pretty loose) looked like an angry lion at the post-match press conference.
The defeat of the hockey players looked not only natural. But it didn’t seem all that unexpected. True, in the second game we defeated Slovenia. However, this is not the kind of opponent who, after defeating, should raise glasses of champagne. Let's see - of course, with hope of what the days ahead have in store for us.
Maybe Stalin will help? The question was taken not out of thin air, but from life. A banner depicting the Father of Nations was seen on the stands during the match between the Russians and the Slovenians...
By the way, there are quite a lot of tourists from our country in Korea. And their mood is quite optimistic. Fans, despite IOC bans, unfurl national flags and banners in the stands and chant at the top of their lungs: “Russia, forward!” These people came from far away, covering huge distances, spending a lot of money to support our team. Thanks to them for this...
Let's return to the Olympic tournament and evaluate the future chances of the Russian team. Alas, apart from male hockey players and female figure skaters, we have nothing to hope for. This is what I mean olympic gold, damn him...
It seems there is no need to talk about biathlon. We just lick our lips carnivorously while watching other people's victories. The Russians are flickering somewhere over the horizon, in the second ten... German Wolfgang Pichler recently trained Russian biathletes. But against him, although he was famous and titled, they started a real war - they say, so-and-so is of no use. TV commentator Dmitry Guberniev especially tried. Pichler endured and endured, but then he became offended and left Russia.
At the Olympics in Pyeongchang, Guberniev came up to take a photo with the German, but Pichler angrily waved him off: “No, damned Guberniev! I won’t take pictures with you, because you bullied me for three years, and I could have won gold medals with Olga Zaitseva and other Russian athletes.” Now Pichler is preparing the Swedish national team. And I achieved very good results with them. The Scandinavians won gold and silver medals at the Olympics. Maybe they will have other awards. But for ours, there is hardly anything shining.
That's it, everything is as always - there is no prophet in our Fatherland. As sad as it is to admit, our athletes are in the unenviable role of extras not only in skiing, biathlon, but also in snowboarding, skating... The situation is no better for Russian hockey players, who played three matches at Olympic tournament and lost in the same number of matches with a total score of 1:15. Things are no better for the lugers. But at least they entertained with a scandal - Semyon Pavlichenko's mentor Eduard Burmistrov quarreled with head coach Albert Demchenko. As the old Russian proverb says, don’t get into the wrong sleigh. But here it’s the other way around - Demchenko wanted Pavlichenko to ride his sleigh. But the athlete and his coach were against it. Like, ours are no worse.
The fact that the Russian team has few medals is bad. This is the very poverty that, contrary to another well-known proverb, is a vice. Firstly, domestic sports have never fallen so low. Secondly, he is so discredited that it will take many years to rehabilitate him. "The word 'Russia' is something of a dirty word here after the country was suspended from the game as punishment for its widespread, state-sponsored doping program," writes USA Today reporter Nancy Armor.
And the poor performance of domestic athletes only plays into the hands of our enemies. They say that as soon as the Russians lost their leaders involved in doping scandals, not a trace remained of their former sporting power, and even at the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Russian team won with the help of forgery and manipulation. But... Before the 2018 Games, the Russian team, based on the results of the decision of the Sports arbitration court(CAS) regained first place in the team medal standings at the Olympic Games in Sochi. Our athletes got their medals back in skeleton, ski racing, luge, ice skating. So, they were recognized as “clean” and their exclusion from the Pyeongchang Games was unlawful?
However, the IOC did not even think about backing down. And many in the West continue to stick to their line - Russia is to blame, and it was in vain that it was allowed into the Olympics.
There is a little more than a week left before the closing of the Olympics in PyeongChang. The results of the Russian team can be briefly described: not a failure yet, but close. This has never happened before. I would like to believe that it will not happen.
Warm greetings to those who destroyed and betrayed domestic sports...
In light of the upcoming Olympics in Brazil, we found out which other Games were distinguished by the worst organization.
The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, even before they began, were overgrown with scandals and incidents, such as an outbreak of the Zika virus epidemic on the eve of the Games, contaminated water, a fire in Olympic Village, an unstable political situation in the country and a number of other types of problems.
But as history shows, these are not the only Games in Olympic movement, with problems in the organization.
1. Paris, France, 1900
These Games are considered the worst Olympic Games, calling them, like the 1904 Games, “Fair Games”. The organization was so poor and chaotic that many athletes did not even suspect that they were participating in the Olympics.
2. Mexico City, Mexico, 1968
From the moment the IOC chose Mexico to host the Olympic Games, heated discussions and debates began. Doctors and national team coaches sounded the alarm, believing that at an altitude of 2240 meters above sea level physical exercise can be dangerous for the human body accustomed to life at sea level. To which the Mexicans themselves, laughing, replied that those who want to justify their defeat in advance can say this.
As a result, what was feared happened: many athletes, due to oxygen deficiency, experienced serious health problems and some were literally carried away on stretchers after the competition.
And 10 days before the opening of the Olympics, there was an uprising of students in the country demanding a revolution. The authorities, without ceremony, brought troops into the capital and, using force, brutally dispersed the crowd. According to unofficial data, hundreds of protesters were killed.
3. Atlanta, USA, 1996
The organization of the Games in Atlanta was subject to serious criticism. There was criticism from all sides: officials, athletes and journalists. There were problems with the organization traffic, as a result of which the city was mired in traffic jams, failures in the operation of information systems, and incompetence of volunteers.
The opening ceremony was extremely strange and dull.
In the midst of the Games, in Olympic Park, during the celebrations, an explosion occurred that killed two people and injured 111. The organizers nevertheless decided to continue the Olympics, strengthening security measures.
The mascot of the 1996 Olympics, named Izzy, is considered the worst in the history of the Games.
At the closing ceremony of the Olympics, Juan Antonio Samaranch, the president of the IOC, for the only time during his entire presidency did not utter the phrase that has become traditional, “These Games were the best in history.”
4. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2016
The Rio Olympics have only just begun, but they already have every chance of winning gold for the worst organization of the Olympic Games.
Threats of terrorist attacks, the Zika epidemic, a polluted environment, political and economic crisis - this is an incomplete list of problems for the 2016 Olympics. Without waiting for the Games to begin, the mayor of Rio referred to the Olympics as a “lost opportunity.”
And we will wait until the end of the Olympic Games and draw our final conclusions.
