Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshenko believes that Russian athletes should not refuse to participate in the Olympics

Russia, it seems, has finally abandoned the idea of ​​ignoring the Summer Olympics in Paris, even against the backdrop of ultra-strict restrictions associated with the criteria established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its representatives to obtain neutral status. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, speaking about their Olympic prospects, said that “if there is an opportunity to take part, then we probably should go.” These words look like a signal, albeit not too clear yet, for domestic athletes to still prepare to perform in the capital of France, although the Russian presence in it, even under the most favorable circumstances, will definitely be limited to just a few sports and a few dozen athletes.

On Thursday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, who oversees the sports industry, made a statement on the most pressing topic for it. It concerns the upcoming Summer Olympics, which opens on July 26 in Paris, and came two days after the International Olympic Committee created a special commission to deal with the admission of Russian athletes who have received neutral status (AIN), while warning that those will be admitted, they will still be deprived of the rights due to others. We are talking, for example, about a ban on the use of national symbols and on participants attending the parade at the official opening ceremony (see. “Kommersant” from March 20).

Admitting that “the IOC has created such conditions that practically none of the Russian athletes can go and qualify,” Dmitry Chernyshenko added, meanwhile, that “if there is an opportunity to take part, then you probably should go.”

This is an extremely important note. The fact is that for several months there was uncertainty about what the general line of the Russian authorities regarding the Olympics would be. Moreover, various sports officials have made it clear that they do not rule out something like an almost complete boycott of it by Russia, which is still in a regime of at least partial international isolation in the field of sports. In winter, it became known from Igor Levitin, aide to the President of the Russian Federation, that Vladimir Putin instructed the two leading structures in the sports field to “formulate proposals” for the participation of Russians in the Olympic Games – the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). Dmitry Chernyshenko’s words can be interpreted as a rejection of the idea of ​​ignoring the Olympics, although it seems that this is not entirely final.

The fact is that the relevant departments on Thursday were still in no hurry to announce the Russian team’s trip to Paris. Deputy Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Odes Baysultanov said “RIA News”, commenting on Dmitry Chernyshenko’s statements that it is necessary “to begin with, understand the general concept” and wait until the IOC “voices all decisions” related to the format of Russian participation in the Olympics, and the final decision on it will be made “in the near future.” And the president of the ROC, which was deprived of recognition by the head sports structure last year, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, published in his Telegram channel a text in which he once again used extremely harsh rhetoric in relation to her, which did not fit with her readiness to go to Paris. Mr. Pozdnyakov, after the IOC Executive Committee dedicated to the “Russian issue,” “has a strong feeling” that his leadership “has plunged into a deep looking glass, where cause-and-effect relationships are reversed, black is seen as white, and some kind of parallel world is presented as reality.” . He called “restrictive” measures against Russian athletes applying for participation in the Olympics “illegitimate and inhumane,” as well as “contrary to the very essence of Olympism.” Stanislav Pozdnyakov is confident that the IOC has “lost its autonomy and independence.”

Sports manager Andrei Mitkov also believes that Dmitry Chernyshenko’s statement is “rather than a clear signal to Russian athletes, but a testing of the waters regarding their reaction to recent events, framed in the form of a personal opinion.”

At the same time, Mr. Mitkov noted in a conversation with Kommersant that he has no doubt that in any case, no matter how the signal is perceived, it is addressed only to a “tiny in number” group of Russian athletes who have a chance to compete in Paris.

However, this is fair indicated and the IOC itself after the executive committee. His document outlined the range of composition of the Russian AIN delegation – from the “most likely” of 36 people to the maximum (but “unlikely”) of 55. At the same time, according to IOC Director James MacLeod, only 12 Russian athletes have currently qualified for the Olympics (apparently, this means both personal and “non-personal” quotas, for example, for weight categories in wrestling).

It is actually not difficult to guess who is and who exactly is not the addressee of Dmitry Chernyshenko’s appeal. In a number of key events, Russia has already either abandoned attempts to get into the Olympics for ideological reasons, or has simply been deprived of such an opportunity by international federations that do not renounce sanctions or harsh “filters” of admission. These, along with team sports (the IOC “unhooked” them all in advance), include, say, artistic gymnastics, swimming, track and field and weightlifting, boxing, fencing, and shooting. The federations that control tennis, wrestling, taekwondo, judo, and cycling show high or at least relative loyalty to the Russians. In them, domestic athletes, including leaders, actively compete at the top level.

However, not everything is simple with them. Thus, the President of the Russian Wrestling Federation (FSBR) Mikhail Mamiashvili, explaining “RIA News” the position of the structure he heads in connection with the March decisions of the IOC Executive Committee and the statements of Dmitry Chernyshenko, noted that it has always been that athletes “if possible” be selected for the Olympics. However, Mr. Mamiashvili emphasized: “Winning licenses and participating in the Olympic Games are two different things, and at the next executive committee of the FSBR we will touch on this issue.”

Alexey Dospehov