Putin supported the “revolution” in the world of sports: a new order is needed

Returning from China, Vladimir Putin flew to Perm to attend the “Russia – a Sports Power” forum. Speaking at the plenary session of this event, the president said that the Russian sports family “is being tested for cohesion and loyalty to the true principles of sport.”

Vladimir Putin recalled that Russia stood at the origins of the modern Olympic movement and developed its principles. “Playing sports is, of course, one of the human rights, the pinnacle of true unity of the countries and peoples of the planet,” he said. However, according to Putin, “thanks to some leaders of the modern IOC, we learned that an invitation to the Olympic Games is not an unconditional right of the best athletes,” but a privilege. “And you can earn it not by sports results, but by some political gestures that have nothing to do with sports at all. And that the Games themselves can be used as a tool of political pressure against people who have nothing to do with politics,” he said. Putin also said that IOC officials had declared the Olympic Charter obsolete and “arrogated to themselves the right to determine to whom it applies and to whom it does not.”

However, according to the president, Russia is confident that “there are values ​​that cannot be canceled, and one of them is sport.” He emphasized that for the Russian authorities, the support and development of sports is an absolute state priority and one of the national development goals.

President of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics Irina Viner, speaking at the Council on Physical Education and Sports, said that the conditions for the participation of Russian athletes in the 2024 Olympics, put forward by international sports officials, are unacceptable. According to her, Russian athletes are “bent over all the time” and put forward numerous complaints: “we do one thing wrong, then another.” “The mayor of Paris said that we should play as a refugee team,” Wiener said indignantly.

“My children will not go to the games in this status. It’s a shame,” she emphasized. Wiener noted that Russian gymnasts are accustomed to the fact that fans at competitions chant the Russian anthem and raise our flags and do not intend to obey the demands of sports officials.

Russia itself will host several important sporting events in 2024, so Putin agreed with the proposal to declare 2024 the Year of Sports. It was also decided to resume the tradition of holding sports parades on Red Square. Such a parade, the president was reminded, was held, in particular, as part of the Goodwill Games in Moscow.

“It’s a good idea,” Putin said in response.

Let us remember that the Goodwill Games are a Cold War event. They were created as an alternative to the Olympic Games following the boycott by the United States and other Western countries of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 due to the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan and the retaliatory Soviet boycott of the Olympics in Los Angeles, USA, in 1984. Moscow hosted the Goodwill Games in 1986.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, speaking at the council, asked Vladimir Putin to facilitate the speedy adoption by the State Duma of special legislative norms for the successful holding of the Games of the Future.

“This applies, for example, to paying prize money to winners in cryptocurrency, including in order to avoid sanctions consequences for participants,” he explained. According to Chernyshenko, the relevant bills must be adopted in the autumn session, since the Future Games will take place in February 2024 in Kazan.

But the problems Russian athletes have are not only international.

Council members told Vladimir Putin that the problem of training and preparing Russian national teams for competitions, which arose after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, has still not been resolved. Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin recalled that when athletes had to return from foreign training bases to Russia in 2020 due to Covid, an “imbalance” was discovered. The existing capabilities do not meet the needs: there are only 6 federal training centers for national teams in the country, where training can be organized at the level necessary for the required result.

According to the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, Evgeny Kuyvashev, a draft program for the development of a network of federal training centers has been prepared, but it has not been adopted “due to a lack of funds in the current budget cycle.” Kuyvashev and Matytsin spoke in favor of a phased implementation of the program from 2025 using federal and regional funds, as well as for attracting business to the implementation of individual projects. According to officials, one of the sources of financing for high-performance sports could be another increase in excise taxes. “There is potential for increasing tax rates, especially for tobacco,” Kuyvashev is sure.

As for sports equipment, the dependence of elite sports on imports is still 90%. Russian analogues of foreign inventory and equipment, “capable of ensuring athletes perform at a high level,” according to Matytsin, are available in limited quantities. The main supplier of such goods is currently China: the dependence of Russian athletes on supplies from unfriendly countries, officials assured Putin, is not critical. In addition, Belarus, where the production of sports equipment is currently actively developing, can offer a brotherly shoulder to Russian athletes.