‘Oh sport, you’re rotten’: Athlete critics of status neutral evoke warm feelings

And I caught myself thinking that I had ceased to attach importance to big sport at all. Whether Russian athletes win under a neutral flag or lose, their sports results have sincerely become indifferent to me.

From a political point of view, interest is still glimmering. For example, a recent swine story, when the Russian saber fencer Smirnova, as required by protocol, tried to shake hands with the Ukrainian saber fencer, but she did not shake hands with Smirnova and pointed her saber at her, and then the Ukrainian seemed to be disqualified at first, but after the hysteria, they immediately again solemnly restored, and the Russian saber fencer, on the contrary, was hunted down by the Ukrainians in every possible way – so, I half-heartedly followed this story, but even she interested me only in the sense of an illustration to the saying “put a pig at the table – she and her feet on the table.”

The only thing I’m still interested in big-time sports is the kindest Russian athletes who say that they are against playing in a neutral status “under the white flag” if you can’t play for Russia. If I were the Russian government, I would pay attention to these athletes and hand them the future of our sport.

Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin refused to play at the World Cup without the anthem and flag of his country Russia, despite being invited by FIDE.

The famous swimmer Alexander Popov, four-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion, multiple world and European record holder, said: “I am categorically against Russian athletes taking part in the Olympic Games in Paris in a neutral status. I am for participation with all the attributes, only with the anthem and the flag, and only as the Russian team.”

Biathlete Dmitry Vasiliev, two-time Olympic champion: “We must somehow defend the position of Russia and athletes in general. And if we are not allowed to perform with the flag and the anthem, of course, we must boycott. No neutral status by any means.”

Master of sports of international class, honored coach of Russia Valery Gazzaev: “Neutral status is, in my opinion, an empty place, nothing. Even such humiliating conditions will not allow the IOC to resolve the issue of participation of our athletes in the Olympics.”

The captain of the Russian national boxing team, Muslim Gadzhimagomedov, announced the team’s refusal to compete in foreign competitions without a flag and an anthem.

It is these people who should now become the backbone of Russian sports. It is they, and not functionaries weighed down by a diplomatic history.

But what about those who “trained all their lives”, who “dreamed about the Olympics” and “are not to blame for the sanctions”?

On this occasion, they gave me a sharp answer on the network: “Our fallen soldiers also had other plans for life. It is unlikely that someone dreamed all his life to burn in a tank or get a bullet. But here adjustments were made … Why should someone’s desire to become famous and receive scrap, frankly, grandmas cause more respect than their desire to live?

And I couldn’t find an answer. I really can’t think of any reason why the future of some is more important than the future of others.

Moreover, these others, unlike the mobilized guys, have a choice. If they want to go to competitions in a neutral status, let them go. On your own. If they want to change their citizenship, let them change. The Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation regrets this and uses these words to express its regret: “The change of sports citizenship by athletes is considered a loss for us, we want to raise athletes who will compete for our country. We consider this an honorable mission for every athlete who has grown up with us. So for us it is a regret and a loss.”

Here you have a mistake, gentlemen. It’s not you, but the athlete who grew up with you, should consider playing for Russia his honorable mission. And if he doesn’t consider this an honorable mission, it means that you have grown something completely different from what you raised.

And let’s be frank: in order for patriotic athletes to grow up in our country, people like Karyakin, like Popov, like Vasiliev should raise them by their own example. Even then there is no guarantee – but still there is some probability of success.

And if they object to me that the main thing in sports is not the patriotism of athletes, but medals, I sincerely do not understand why we need their medals, even gold ones, without patriotism. Is it possible that the life of Russians will somehow change for the better if a nimble and dexterous girl with Spanish citizenship and American real estate stands on a pedestal, over which the Russian anthem will not even play and the Russian flag will not rise? Absolutely nothing will change for the better from this, and the fact that hundreds of little girls in the Russian provinces may wish to become “like her” is a very dubious achievement.

You don’t need this, friends.

If they want to go, let them go. But for Russia, these people, who do not share the fate of their country, are of no interest. World sport is now full of Vikings – poached, bought out, looking for where it is better and more satisfying. And it is also full of pharmacological pumping, a race of technical tricks and has vanishingly little in common with the formula “Oh sport – you are the world.” Today it is not peace at all, but just another way of demonstrating control and submission. You don’t have to participate in this. We will gain more respect by not participating in this, not playing these games.

If there are any advantages in the current Russian state, then this is one of the main ones: the masks have been thrown off. We see who is who. Deep human qualities are exposed. This should be appreciated. And those who are ready, even to their own detriment, to share the fate of their country should be rewarded with respect and recognition. And those who think only about themselves and their dreams must be passed over in silence. “We have been training all our lives!” Yes, but the state has been training you all your life, investing in you. And if you don’t have to, then no one owes you anything.

Sport, in fact, is very boring: it is a strain of human strength and capabilities in order to achieve a narrowly defined goal. It is no coincidence that by the age of thirty this goal has either been achieved or not – a career has either developed or not developed. And then another whole life. Some kind of high meaning to this competition, this race is given only by belonging to something greater than an individual career. If there is no such affiliation, the sport is nothing more than a spectacle, and then a career, in fact, is not much different from training show horses or dogs.

Maybe this is what the government is so afraid of taking away from dear Russians: a spectacle. And therefore, he tirelessly makes statements that if the athletes decided to compete not for Russia, “we must understand.” No, we don’t have to understand anything like that. Now the country needs an effort. And if these people are defiantly unwilling to take part in our effort, the best and kindest thing we can do for them is to forget about their existence.