The door was closed in front of the skiers Bolshunov and Ustyugov: disaster, slap in the face and Carlson with jam

The Council of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) has extended the suspension of our athletes. The IOC may have long ago recommended that all federations allow Russia and Belarus to participate in competitions with all sorts of criteria and restrictions. But Norway, Sweden, Finland – those who are at the helm of the ski slopes, will fight to prevent Bolshunov, Ustyugov, Terentyevs and all our leaders from entering to the last. And, even if there had been even a verbal turn towards a green light for Russian athletes, promises of boycotts and refusals to issue visas would have poured in right in the first hour after the decision was made.

The news about the extension of the suspension was predictable and understandably did not go down well. The President of the Russian Snowboard Federation Denis Tikhomirov even said that no one is particularly interested in news from FIS anymore. And on the sidelines, no one is wondering whether there will be a season or not. There won’t be an international one, but all efforts are thrown into the internal one, “we are preparing for our season, for our competitions.”

The coach of the Russian national cross-country skiing team, Yuri Borodavko, agrees with this. He says that we see the FIS policy, it has not changed over the past two years, so there are no expectations. There is a calendar, everyone is set on racing within Russia, so “we calmly make any decision.”

This calmness is, of course, forced, but worked out last year. Therefore, no one intends to aggravate the situation with sobs.

Doors for the “chosen ones”

Well, yes – the same foreign skiers lack competition. But they don’t seem to want to admit it. Last season, Norwegian skiers practically beat everyone to the punch, finding themselves ahead of their opponents by the dozen. On the women’s track, the Norwegians were not so at ease; at least the Swedes resisted there. During the last season, the FIS itself announced losses of both audience and money. But it’s a sticky trend: pretending that everyone around you is an ideological fighter, as long as it wins. And whoever speaks loudest about how you can’t compete with the Russians is a good guy.

Before the council of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation again threw our athletes off the ski slopes and slopes, Swedish skiers were zealous. And before that there were Norwegians who had a death grip on Bolshunov. Alexander said that someone wrote to him from Norway: “come to us, we miss you.” Something completely harmless and humane was immediately subjected to investigation: who could it be who said “such a thing”? Bolshunov was completely accused of lying: “if we take those who are now on the team, I dare say that this is not true,” said one of the team members.

And the Swedes then directly competed to see who could speak out the coolest. One of the world championships medalists said that Russia’s return “would be a disaster.” No, “at some point in the future, I think they should be allowed to return, but not right now.” Why? Because the athlete does not have “full information”, but he “assumes” that Russian skiers were not regularly tested for doping. “And if they were at home and training without WADA control, then it would be wrong if they were allowed to return now.” Someone called Russia’s return, even in theory, to the competitions a “slap in the face,” someone noted that the FIS decision on admission would be “politically unpopular,” and in general it would be necessary to boycott the competition.

Lynn Swan, in her usual sprinting spirit, tried to get around the obstacles in answering the last tricky question. She said it was “tragic” to punish individual athletes, but she didn’t think “we should open the door to the Russians.” And she repeated again, referring to her loud statement last year: “I don’t want to perform with the Russians.” But I decided not to rush into the boycott. Today, they say, it’s easy to say this about the future – there are no consequences. But what happens if suddenly you need to do this, and she is in great shape and wants to participate in competitions? “Then I hope I will have as much composure as I have now.”

Swedes without a flag

We, of course, react painfully to attacks directed at us. And this is understandable, because every time such statements – not even by some officials with their political rights, but by responsibilities, but by fellow athletes – are like a stab in the back. Two-time Olympic champion in biathlon Dmitry Vasiliev said, for example, that the IOC should suspend the Swedish skiers themselves for their words against Russia. He also suggested that if you ask the question why they don’t want to compete with our athletes, then the answer is unlikely to be received. And you can only expect primitive reasoning at Carlson’s level: “a good person is the one who has a jar of jam.”

It’s even a pity for everyone’s beloved Carlson in this context, although he was still an egoist, of course. It is difficult to say how much of Svan’s same composure will suffice in the position of today’s opponents of Russia’s return to the world circuit. But the members of the Swedish national team themselves will soon experience the consequences of political madness. Athletes received recommendations to travel around the world without national symbols. This happened after a terrorist attack before the game between the football teams of Belgium and Sweden in Brussels, as a result of which two Swedish fans were killed.

Olympic bronze medalist in cross-country skiing Frida Karlsson spoke about precautionary measures in the form and civilian clothing, and not the uniform of the Swedish national team. And, talking about this, she noticed that the risks for skiers are lower than for football players, since their competitions take place in places like Ruca and Livigno, thoughtlessly calling them a garbage dump (or a shitty place).

Finland did not ignore the insults. Karlsson responded by saying that she didn’t think Ruka was a shitty place, but wanted to say that it was a small city compared to Brussels. Admitting that she had expressed herself incorrectly and apologizing, the skier said: “I have once again proven that I am an athlete, not a politician.” And this is exactly what many of the athletes who put forward boycotts and talk about who should open the doors to the track and who should not, do not remember.

Are governors listening?

Our athletes are systematically training in preparation for the season. Life doesn’t stop. And this phrase is true, even if the “search for motivation” column sometimes scores low. True, this concerns the same skiers, probably less than some sports, due to internal competition. Finally, there is time to voice – and this means that some progress is also possible – on very serious topics that are directly related to the development of the reserve. If you don’t think about him now, then there will simply be no one to fully return to international competitions with.

Just during the round table “Projects for the development and popularization of winter sports” within the framework of the forum “Russia – a sports power” in Perm, FLGR President Elena Vyalbe said that in Russia there are few governors who are interested in the development of sports. Ski Russia lacks infrastructure, there are practically no illuminated slopes, the material and technical part, from skis to bases, is very outdated. Vyalbe remembered that in her childhood every school had ski lessons, but now this is rare. “Plus the skis themselves are expensive, about 90 thousand rubles, and parents are often put off by this.”

Vyalbe also emphasized that no one will build anything, “in the near future that’s for sure, we are still on self-survival.” And if there are people in the region who want to develop ski racing, then something is being done there. “There’s no other way yet.”

Tolerate behind the leaders

But in the sport itself – whether it is international or domestic, whether the tracks are illuminated or not, the tasks do not change. The leaders have a double load. There are leaders, and others follow them. This is how competition is born. Even after the end of last season, our skiers tried to understand what next year might look like. Nobody had any illusions about a full-fledged international season. Looking into the opponents’ season, they noted that when there is no World Cup, the year becomes empty. And our domestic season has been busy and may become even more inventive.

For example, Olympic champion Denis Spitsov expressed hope that new racing formats would be tested: mixed team sprint, mixed big relay. “If this is available at the World Cup, it can be implemented in Russia.” He said that he would like to see more contact races from a general start, the same tags, twenties. “It is in such races that you understand the speed of others, you can realize yourself differently tactically, look at those who are in a higher class and endure behind them.”

In response to the latest decision of the FIS to extend the suspension of our athletes, Olympic champion Alexander Legkov admitted that he did not expect anything else: “We’ll stir up our cool competitions, and everything will be fine.” And he explained his words: there is an incentive to compete with each other, and young people grow up watching our top athletes.

And Elena Vyalbe believes that “our athletes have no time to rest in the winter.” Even so: there is no time “not just to relax, but to train; for us, training is rest.” And in the 2023/24 season, the Russian Ski Federation has “stirred up” the following competitions, in addition to the competitions that have already taken place in roller skis:

Russian Cup, 1st stage

Top of Thea, November 22 – 27

Russian Cup, 2nd stage

Tyumen, November 30 – December 4

Russian Cup, 3rd stage

Chusovoy, December 8 – 13

Russian Cup, 4th stage

Chepetskoye, December 19–25

Russian Cup, 5th stage

Mirny, January 10–15

Russian Cup, 6th stage

Tyumen, February 2–5

Spartakiad of Russia’s strongest

Tyumen, February 9–19

Russian championship

Malinovka, March 15–25

Russian Cup, 7th stage. The final.

Kirovsk, April 2–7

Russian championship

Monchegorsk and Apatity, April 12–15