Time.news – Sport for the Soviet Union first and for Russia after, has always been one of the flagships and business card to be proudly exhibited outside one’s borders. In sport, but also in culture, in the space race and in arms, first the USSR and now the Russian Olympic Committee, passing through the Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia (suspended until December 16, 2022 for doping reasons), has always tried to excel. In the medal tables, people have always looked at where Russia and the United States are and, more recently, also China.
Only at the Olympics, between summer and winter editions, Russian sport has won 2,014 medals752 of them gold dominating in all sports, from cold to aquatic ones passing through athletics and combat disciplines.
Now that magic, that myth, that tradition, it has crumbled.
The Russia of sport is no more today, it is suspended, damned banned, disqualified until an unknown date. Russian athletes, if they can compete, will be able to do so as ‘neutral athletes’ and their medals will not be included in the medals. The example is that of the Winter Paralympics that are about to begin in Beijing, Russia (and Belarus) will not be there but their athletes will compete in ‘neutral’ form.
Various international federations, following the indications of the International Olympic Committee (CIO), have decided to ban Russian athletes and managers from the events of their competence. Dozens of demonstrations on Russian territory have been canceledtransferred to other nations because the invasion of the troops of President Vladimir Putin meant trampling, crushing, human rights and the sacred dictates of the Olympic Charter.
Russia, for reasons related to doping, a scourge with which Russian sport has always wanted to ‘play’, is suspended from the IOC until December 16, 2022 but the extension of the war attack on Ukraine risks extending the sport of Great Mother.
The recognition of Russian leaders in the various international systems has been canceled or frozen. To have violated the Olympic truce, Putin himself was withdrawn the gold collar of the Olympic Order. Also in Putin, the world taekwondo federation withdrew the honorary black belt of the IX dan, the judo federation suspended him from the office of honorary president.
With the acquired international prestige, Vladimir Putin in 2007 had contributed to the awarding of the 2014 Winter Games to Sochi and subsequently had brought the 2018 World Cup to Russia. Hundreds of international events assigned to Russian cities, from St. Petersburg to distant Buryatia.
The Kremlin today said it was surprised by the compactness of the sanctions by the world of sport and, through the Russian Foreign Minister, Serghei Lavrov, said: “we were ready for the sanctions, but we did not expect that they would hit athletes, intellectuals , actors and journalists “.
The International Olympic Committee just two days ago had recommended banning athletes from Russia and Belarus (Nation deemed co-responsible for war support) by all international sporting events and, if this is not possible, make them compete as ‘neutral athletes’.
Russian sports stars have called for peace, the ‘no to war’ on social media. Manchester United have revoked their sponsorship agreement with Russian airline Aeroflot. The war led to the transfer of the prestigious Uefa Champions League final in May from St. Petersburg to Paris and, remaining in the field, football the exclusion of Russia from the World Cup.
In tennis, Russia out of the Davis Cup, out of the ATP and WTA tournaments. Russian (and Belarusian) players will be able to continue to compete in individual World Tour tournaments but in a neutral form. Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev will play but not under the flag and name of ‘Russia’.
Sochi lost the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the men’s volleyball World Cup at the end of the summer will no longer take place in Moscow and the surrounding area.
In ice hockey, a sport that in Russia is religion and after every year the goal is the gold medal, the ‘Sbornaja’ will not be able to take part in all the World Championships from seniors to youth with a package of canceled events .
The International Cycling Union has decided to ban all Russian teams and sponsors and private the Nation to organize events already assigned. Russian cyclists will compete as neutral. The Uci team status has been revoked from the Gazprom-RusVelo team competing in the ProTour.
The International Biathlon Union (IBU), which has always been close to Russia, has Russian athletes and officials banned with immediate effect. There are also two stories from the biathlon, that of the 19-year-old former biathlete, Yevhen Malyshev, killed while serving in the Ukrainian armed forces, and of Dmytro Pidruchnyi who after the Beijing Olympics, instead of participating in the World Cup in Finland, has decided to join the army to defend his Ternopil.
The Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, a billionaire considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is resigned from the office of president of the International Federation of fencing.
The International Shooting Sport Federation, an international shooting federation chaired by Russian Vladimir Lisin, one of Russia’s richest men, has decided to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from all its events following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine . Russia has been deprived of the rights to organize the European Shooting Championships that were due to take place in August in the capital.
Meanwhile the Russian sports ministry is preparing an appeal to be presented to the Sports Arbitration Tribunal in Lausanne to challenge the decisions of several international federations to remove Russian athletes from their competitions following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Russian Deputy Minister of Sport, Andrei Fedorov, considering that several scheduled events in Russia have been canceled or transferred to other countries, “Russia should receive compensation”