Asia calls, but is silent: the 2024 Olympics are getting closer, Russia’s quotas are in question

Time passes, there is no certainty. Back in December, at the Olympic summit, a proposal was made by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in Asian competitions. And through them, to provide an opportunity for qualification for the 2024 Games in Paris. The summit supported the idea.

That is, the IOC thought and thought about how to get rid of “protective measures” (the suspension of our athletes, which in fact, and it already had to admit it, is obvious discrimination), and came up with it. The sanctions are formally preserved, no one returns the flag of Russia and the anthem, but Paris 2024 seems to be opening a little for Russia and Belarus.

At the end of January, the OCA already officially invited us to perform at the Asian Games in the autumn. They will be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8. In fact, the Asian Games were supposed to take place last year, but the covid, as in the case of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, postponed it for a year.

The Asian Games are not a hoax in the sports world. And the second largest event after the Olympics. Moreover, even more medals are played here – in Tokyo 2020 there were 339 sets of awards, and at the last Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta – 465. The Olympic Council of Asia includes 45 national Olympic committees. The six gold leaders at the last Games included China, which ran far from everyone – 132 medals, Japan -75, South Korea – 49, then – Indonesia, Iran and Uzbekistan are approximately on the same level. In total, different medals were won by athletes from 37 countries.

The program of the Asian Games is different from what we are used to. There is an exotic, which is understandable. There is sepak-takraw, that is, volleyball with legs – three by three. Or playing cards – bridge. Dragon boat rowing is probably charming (these are such large boats for 10 and 20 seats with the head and tail of a dragon, in front – the drummer sets the rhythm of rowing), it complements the usual Olympic disciplines. There are e-sports: Dota 2, Hearthstone, League of Legends, FIFA… Once upon a time we looked at the Asian Games bowling with bodybuilding and snooker.

But our interest is clearly not yet buried in these disciplines. So: OCA invited Russia and Belarus. What is called, all at once. And… so far nothing more. No federation has invitations with clearly defined conditions for participation in international competitions. Not for the Games, not just for competitions.

And from the very beginning, the conditions for the participation of our athletes in the starts were not attached to the wholesale invitation to the Asian Games. And this is the most important issue that has not yet been resolved. No, with a neutral status, everything is clear – the IOC is not going to change its decision. And the status imposed on Russia will be neutral in Asia as well. And with the rest of the criteria, and even the quotas themselves, everything is rather vague.

The same hospitable OCA Acting President Randhir Singh, from whom the invitation followed, said that our athletes would not be able to enter the main standings of awards at the Asian Games. And they will have different medals, not like everyone else at the Games, and quotas also need to be sorted out – the IOC is doing this – so that there is no encroachment on Asian quotas.

Immediately, the imagination painted some strange picture: Games within Games. Separate platforms, separate pedestals, separate roads.

And, according to the OCA, Asia is promoting a philosophy: athletes from Russia and Belarus will be able to compete for quotas in those sports where quantitative indicators can be set. If, they say, a fighter from an Asian country is knocked out in the first round, then the country misses the chance to qualify. But if there is a system of points, as in athletics, shooting, then they will be able to compete in such sports …

In general, from the very first mention of Asia as the savior of the honor of the IOC and its supporting hand for our athletes, there was a point about consultations on all issues with international federations. “The OCA remains on standby as the IOC continues to explore with IFs ways to bring Russian and Belarusian athletes back to competition under strict conditions,” is from the organization’s first statement.

And the international federations are clearly set differently. There are those who do not want to see us so far, there are those who will do it, like everyone else. There are sane people, but they won’t hurry either. And someone has already considered that that knockout from philosophy can be virtual. And it is not at all necessary to lay down a fighter during a duel in the literal sense of the word.

For example, the executive board of the World Archery Federation (World Archery) opposed the participation of our athletes in the qualification for the 2024 Summer Olympics. They say we want to keep the current balance of continental quotas in qualifying in Asia. Therefore, due to the “potential impact on Asian athletes”, considering the knockout system in archery and that balance, the executive board decided that the admission of athletes from Russia and Belarus should not be used as a “potential route” for their qualification to Paris.

And the Asian Modern Pentathlon Confederation is not yet ready to allow athletes to compete. Here they say that they are looking for an optimal solution that would suit all parties. Looking for together with the International Union of Modern Pentathlon.

Has Asia called anyone yet? So that the invitation to the table of leaders is already officially laid down? After all, some Russian federations sent requests for participation in Asian competitions last year. For example, federations associated with aquatic species. There is an answer – it was received by our diving federation. The Asian Swimming Federation sent them an official letter inviting them to apply for participation in the Asian Games. And our jumpers have received an invitation to participate in competitions under the auspices of the Asian Swimming Federation – the Asian Championship by age. To a greater extent, this applies to athletes of younger ages.

The application for participation in the Asian Games, of course, will be sent in the near future. The fact that young people get the opportunity to start is also good, practice is always needed. However, the AASF said that it would contact the federation for the details of participation. All this is, of course, better than nothing. The main thing is to somehow start moving.

The All-Russian Swimming Federation has not yet received an invitation to participate in the Asian Games. They are waiting for information from the Asian Federation on tournaments that can be offered for performance. A decision is expected to be made in March, the WFTU said in response to an inquiry that was made from all water sports federations.

Many of our federations are interested in Asian starts, although not all of them. Those sports in which there is high competition, of course, can bring our athletes out of a motivational pause at the starts (no matter how much we value domestic starts), and from some oblivion on the international field. From the radar of international platforms, our leaders were forced to disappear today. Diving, artistic gymnastics, trampolining, table tennis, badminton, wrestling, taekwondo, weightlifting… To put it mildly, there is someone to compete in Asia.

But our winter sports are not so intensely peering into the prospects of the Asian Games. Although the winter program does not differ from the Olympic one. The last Games in 2017 were won by Japan, but the next ones are somewhere far ahead. The OSA, frankly, has an out-of-the-box thinking. Well, the wallet is thick. For example, the Asian Winter Games are scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia in six years.

The competitions will be held at a mountain resort, which has yet to be built. Outdoor ski slopes, an artificial freshwater lake and a nature reserve. The project, called NEOM, will cost $500 billion, according to media reports. Finance – from the government of the country. The high-tech complex with an area of ​​26.5 thousand square kilometers on the shores of the Red Sea will include the city of The Line with zero carbon emissions, and industrial and logistics zones.

The idea is pretty damn good. How to make friends now at the summer Asian games, and there it’s not far from the winter ones. It draws you into dreams: who knows, maybe the forced arrival in Asia will leave us there in some capacity in the future? Not for the sake of today’s attempt to get out of this situation, but for the sake of additional beauty and power of sports rivalry?

Competitors, for example, for skaters or short track skaters will be enough. With skiing and biathlon – not really, yes. And, as Dmitry Dubrovsky, president of the Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Federation of Russia, says, “fortunately or unfortunately, we don’t have any Asian confederation or union or organization that unites the countries of Asia.” So all international competitions are held under the auspices of the FIS. In short, the dream to perform both there and there needs to be finalized.

… But we are not about the future, of course, to worry about, but about the present, which will either give the opportunity to start or not, and even deprive the quotas for the Olympic Games in Paris. So far, Asia has not opened its calendar of competitions to us. And it seems unlikely that it will open until the end of March, when the IOC will discuss the issue of admitting our athletes at a meeting of the executive committee. So we are waiting for the first drummer of the Olympic dragon boat to set the pace for moving forward with his beats.