The Russian team was suspended from participation in the Olympics. Everyone is arguing whether athletes should go under a neutral flag. For the first time in history, a country was banned from the Olympics because of doping. How did Russia get to this point?

The International Olympic Committee announced that in 2018 Russian athletes will be able to compete at the Winter Olympics in South Korea only under. And if the representatives of the Russian authorities considered that this was unacceptable, then Russian celebrities turned to the athletes and asked them to go to the competitions.

The athletes themselves were divided into two camps. Some believe that years of preparation should not be wasted.

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“The national identity of our participants will be known to everyone, and we must defend the honor of the country even without the usual attributes,” hockey player Ilya Kovalchuk is sure.

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“I did not expect another decision, these are very harsh measures in relation to our team. I ask you not to condemn the guys who decide to act under a neutral flag. We know that they are Russians, and we need to support them, ”two-time Olympic champion, Russian biathlete Sergei Chepikov spoke out in support of the athletes.

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“Will I go to the Games? This will be further discussed, and it is very early to ask such questions. We've done our best. I am glad that I could be present here (at the meeting of the IOC Executive Committee - ed.) to say your little speech. I hope my speech had the desired effect. I hope that everything will be alright. Of course, I want to go to Korea, ”Evgenia Medvedeva, two-time world figure skating champion, told Russia 24 channel.

“I think that in this situation such a decision is natural. It was difficult to expect that we would be admitted according to all the rules. And it is important for us to perform at the Olympics. We will remain Russians, despite the color of the flag, ”commented Anton Babikov, biathlete and member of the Russian national team.

“The people represent the country. And they are the most valuable thing the country has. And not the flag, which has changed four times in a hundred years, and not the anthem - how many times? A piece of the finest fabric and the sounds of the very best music will not represent us as our people. Send athletes to the Olympics, ”commentator Vasily Utkin addressed the representatives of the Sports Federation.

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Other athletes do not want to go to Pyeongchang without the symbols of the country.

“I would like to play for our flag, but at the same time I understand that what happened is a great disrespect for our country. I would not go under a neutral flag, but I still have to think, ”snowboarder Nikolai Olyunin shared with TASS.

“I will be proud of those who will not go to the 2018 Olympics. From the position of the state, it is impossible to go to such Games. From the position of an athlete, again, one can understand some individual athlete who wants to go. We are all individuals. But I will be proud of those who do not go. You were raised by the Motherland," bobsledder Alexei Voevoda told Match TV.

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Irina Rodnina first expressed the opinion on Twitter that such a decision was made because the IOC was afraid of the participation of Russian athletes. And then she gave a detailed commentary to the Vzglyad publication. “Now our main task is to decide for ourselves: will the guys who will be allowed to go to the Olympic Games under a neutral flag, or will we be absent as a whole team,” said the three-time Olympic figure skating champion and State Duma deputy.

Despite the disagreement, all athletes are confident that the IOC decision is unfair to the athletes.

“This is just killing our national sport. Of course we will try. We will survive. They didn't experience that. The decision is, of course, completely unfair. It's one thing when you lived your life at the Olympics. Another thing is when you start and tear your guts every day for the sake of these Games, but they don’t let you in, ”said Tatyana Tarasova, figure skating coach and consultant for the Russian national team, in

The Olympic Assembly of the Russian Olympic Committee unanimously decided on the participation of "clean" Russian athletes under a neutral flag

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The meeting was attended by representatives of all-Russian sports federations, territorial Olympic councils, Olympic academies and other organizations - members of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). The meeting was held on Tuesday in the ROC building. The Olympic Assembly is the supreme governing body of the ROC.

On Monday, the ROC Athletes' Commission issued a unified statement on behalf of Russian winter sports athletes explaining their position on participation in the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang under a neutral flag.

According to the statement, the Olympic Assembly "calls for respect for every choice and support for the athletes who will go to the Games, those who refuse, and those who are not invited [to the Olympics]." The Olympic Assembly has only worked out the position of the ROC regarding the performance of Russian athletes at the Games in a neutral status, each athlete will make a decision regarding participation in the Olympics personally on the basis of an invitation to be received from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The Kremlin approves the decision of the Russian Olympic Committee to send Russian athletes to the 2018 Games under a neutral flag, said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He recalled that, according to Vladimir Putin, "no one should put obstacles" to Russians who want to participate in the 2018 Games in a neutral status. “Now the Olympic meeting has taken place, the decision has been made, so we can only talk about its support,” the Kremlin spokesman said in response to a question from Kommersant FM.

On December 8, the deputies of the State Duma adopted a statement in connection with the decision of the IOC. Parliamentarians did not focus on whether athletes should go to the Games under a neutral flag.

When discussing the statement, State Duma Vice Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy called the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympics under a neutral flag unacceptable. “They tell us: this is their life, you don’t interfere, but this is a cheap manipulation. At the moment when the country needs solidarity, they have no right to say: I am on my own. We have declared war. The decision of our athletes will determine what choice our children will then make: personal well-being and success, or the overall victory of Russia with the flag and the anthem, ”said Tolstoy.

State Duma Vice Speaker Igor Lebedev called for a change in Russian sports officials, and then wished patience to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko (former Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation) on his birthday. Igor Lebedev said that he "absolutely does not understand the apologies" of the President of the ROC Alexander Zhukov to the IOC Executive Committee. “Is this not regarded as an admission of guilt? Wouldn’t it have been better to apologize to our athletes and fans who were deprived of the joy of participating in the Olympics?” asked the parliamentarian. Zhukov recalled that the IOC Disciplinary Commission came to the conclusion that the Russian Anti-Doping Laboratory carried out systematic fraud with anti-doping procedures. “This laboratory did not exist on Mars, but in our country,” said the head of the ROC. - It caused colossal damage to our country and the entire Olympic movement. Unfortunately, her activities were not disclosed in time. But we apologized, and I think we did the right thing, because it is impossible to deny the harm that these people caused.”

On December 5, the IOC temporarily suspended the membership of the ROC in the organization, which led to a ban on the participation of the Russian team in the 2018 Olympics under the national flag. At the same time, the IOC retained the opportunity for clean athletes to compete in the Olympic Games, subject to the requirements of the special commission for doping control and in the absence of past penalties for doping violations. The IOC will independently form the list of athletes.

Russian athletes intend to participate in the Winter Olympics in South Korean Pyeongchang in 2018 under a neutral flag. This was announced to journalists by the chairman of the commission of athletes of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Sofya Velikaya on Monday, December 11, following a meeting in Moscow.

"We have prepared a statement from athletes about their readiness to participate in the Olympic Games. We will give it to the members of the Olympic Assembly, which will be held tomorrow," Velikaya said. "Athletes who refused the Games, at the moment, no," - she said.

Athletes ask IOC to reconsider disqualification decision

The Olympic fencing champion also said that the commission she leads will appeal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with a request to reconsider the decision to remove the Russian team from the Olympics in South Korea.

Context

The appeal also contains a request to reconsider the decision of the Oswald Commission on lifelong disqualification of athletes. “Some athletes have already been punished, served their disqualifications and have the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games in accordance with all the rules of the IOC regulations,” Velikaya explained.

Punishment for supporting doping

December 5, the IOC on the removal of the Russian team from participation in the Olympics in Pyeongchang. Russian athletes will only be able to compete under a neutral flag. In addition, the ROC was disqualified, its head Alexander Zhukov was expelled from the IOC, and the ex-Minister of Sports and the current Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko was suspended for life from performing any functions in the Olympic Movement. In addition, the IOC imposed a fine of $15 million on the ROC, which will be used to create an international doping testing agency.

The International Olympic Committee relied on the findings of two IOC commissions that were investigating alleged state support for doping in Russia. Thus, the commission, headed by Swiss lawyer Denis Oswald, investigated the substitution of doping samples of Russian athletes at the Olympic Games in Sochi. A commission led by Samuel Schmid found out what role Russian government agencies played in doping manipulations.

See also:

• "Dirty" victory in Sochi?

  15 Russian athletes who won medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi were doping during the competition. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, spoke about this in an interview with The New York Times. According to him, the state doping program, approved at the highest level, was developed in the Russian Federation to win the overall medal standings of the Games.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

Deception mechanism

In total, dozens of Russian athletes ended up in the "doping program". According to Rodchenkov, they took a "cocktail" of three anabolic steroids mixed with alcohol. Men - with Chivas whiskey, women - with Martini Vermouth. So the doping was absorbed into the blood faster, and the detection window decreased. "Dirty" doping tests were secretly replaced with "clean" ones with the participation of Russian special services officers.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

The names of the "heroes": skier, ...

So far, The New York Times has named only three "heroes" of the new doping scandal according to Rodchenkov. Among them, for example, skier Alexander Legkov, who won gold in the 50 km race in Sochi.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

... skeletonist, ....

Another winner of the Sochi Winter Olympics, Alexander Tretyakov, a skeleton athlete, was also, according to Rodchenkov, among those who took doping during the competition.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

…and two veteran bobsledders

The NYT article refers to "two veteran bobsledders who won two golds." The name of one of them, Alexander Zubkov, is mentioned directly. It is not difficult to establish the name of the second. Probably, this is Alexei Voevoda, Zubkov's partner in bobsleigh "two" and "four". Together they won the Games in Sochi in both disciplines (two more teammates helped them in the "fours" competition).



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

Hockey players - without medals, but doped?

Not all athletes from the "doping program" managed to bring medals to Russia at the Games in Sochi. Thus, the Russian women's ice hockey team, which allegedly also took Rodchenkov's "cocktail", took only sixth place.



Winter doping: was the victory in Sochi "dirty"?

And skiers again

Games triumphant Alexander Legkov was not the only Russian skier to dope during competitions in Sochi in 2014. Rodchenkov claims that 14 members of the Russian ski team resorted to the use of illegal drugs. True, while the names of the other "dirty" skiers have not been made public.

Russian athletes who have decided to compete at the 2018 Olympics under a neutral flag have been given the green light. So decided the Olympic Assembly - the highest body of the Olympic movement in Russia.

Olympic bear in jail

Its meeting took place on December 12, and, perhaps, for the first time it took place in such a gloomy atmosphere. People with gloomy faces flocked to Luzhnetskaya embankment. They had to express their position, whether to support those athletes who decide to compete under a neutral flag at the Olympics. And let's be frank - they could not ban the athletes in any way. Now this is not a state, but a completely private matter for every dope-free Russian athlete.

There is a legend that the ROC building, built for the 1980 Olympics, was built according to the drawings of a Finnish prison. Therefore, it is made with compartments, which, in case of anything, are easy to block, and with courtyards closed on all sides. Now, in one of these "prison" yards, against the background of the Olympic rings, an Olympic bear is imprisoned - the very mascot of the Olympics-80, which became in the USSR, and then in Russia, a symbol of the entire Olympic movement. In the rain and snow, he got a little shabby, but through the dusty glass he looked deep into the ROC building with hope and a smile - after all, those people who gathered there were probably not going to break everything for which the bear was invented in the Olympic 1980 with stupid boycotts.

Tarasova: "Athletes are not afraid to go"

The hall of the Olympic Assembly was filled slowly but surely. The Russian national hockey team, led by Ilya Kovalchuk, entered almost in formation. Do you remember when our hockey players became the winners of the Olympics for the last time? In 1992, when we competed under the Olympic flag and under the name "Joint Team", and this did not stop us from worrying about our own. Here Tatyana Tarasova patiently explained to each television camera why the Olympics should not be refused: “You know, I have not yet seen a single athlete who would say that he refuses to go to Pyeongchang. Maybe they'll show up now? At the meeting? But it is unlikely - the athletes are brave people, there are no cowards among them, they are not afraid to go.

And next to each of those who live in sports, and do not remember it only when it is too tightly intertwined with politics, they said that it was impossible not to go to the Games.

From the side of the athletes, this whole situation generally looks extremely simple: at first you stirred up something there, then those whom you hired betrayed and framed us, and then they could not defend us in the courts. And now you want us to remain extreme?

Who will be invited?

So, when the Olympic Assembly unanimously voted "Go!", It did not become a sensation. But now there are even more questions. Who will go? What can they do there and what can't they do? In what form? There are only two months before the Olympics. It will have to be resolved very quickly, but too much depends on the IOC. The President of the ROC Alexander Zhukov spoke about this.

So who's riding? they asked him. And Zhukov answered with the utmost honesty:

More than two hundred athletes have licenses, but which of them will receive an invitation from the IOC is not yet clear. We can only hope that the IOC will invite the leaders of our team, and not the 5th or 6th numbers.

Here it is worth clarifying: we are not declaring our athletes for the 2018 Olympics. They are invited by the IOC - this is a special commission that chooses who it wants to see at the Olympics, who does not. It appeared that the IOC, for obvious reasons alone, might not take Evgenia Medvedev or Anton Shipulin. And we will not be able to challenge this decision in any courts.

Honorary President of the ROC Vitaly Smirnov tried to calm everyone down. The patriarch of the Russian Olympic movement is already 82 years old, he led the Soviet sport during the crisis Olympics in 1984, which we did not go to because of the boycott. But it seems that he was our main negotiator with the IOC. And a good negotiator, if he didn’t let politics finally crush everything sporting.

“I understand that Alexander Dmitrievich is worried, but I don’t think that the IOC will specially unhook our leaders,” Smirnov slowly convinced everyone. And if he extinguishes hotheads in the IOC with the same confident bulldozer, we have really good chances.

Is it possible to take dolls with you?

But there are other questions as well. Let's say, can our athletes cling to the form of "St. George's ribbon?". Or wear nesting dolls. And in general, what will be our shape at the Olympics? After all, now the Russian team is called "Olympic athlete from Russia". And after all, on the form of the word "Olympic athlete from" we can write in small, small letters, and "RUSSIA" in huge ones.

“This will be decided by the IOC ethics committee,” said Vitaly Smirnov. And it looks like this committee will have a lot of work to do.

In the meantime, everyone was interested in what we have with ethics. And the head of the ROC Alexander Zhukov was asked who he considers Grigory Rodchenkov - a traitor or a hero?

Rodchenkov and his team did not exist in a vacuum. But these are double-dealers, they were double-dealers. They were put in defense of the ideals of Olympism and clean sports, and they were doing exactly the opposite, - Zhukov said this with such barely restrained emotions that it seems that at that moment he represented Rodchenkov himself.

What did you apologize to the IOC for then? they asked him.

The ROC was not involved in this system and these frauds in any way, but the Russian anti-doping laboratory was supposed to fight doping, but instead they violated the rules. For this I apologized. Yes, we took this blow on ourselves so that our athletes could compete.

But here's the main thing now: by agreeing to compete under a neutral flag, Russian athletes have taken on a very big responsibility. They no longer have the right not to fight. Otherwise, all these apologies were in vain. Ilya Kovalchuk, and the entire hockey team - this also applies to you. You promised us.

OPINIONS

Heroes still with our names

Andrey VDOVIN

There is a yard next to our office. An ordinary Moscow courtyard among brick five-story buildings. It has a box on it. An ordinary sports box with a good surface, and football goals - there are a lot of them in Moscow now. I walk past this box almost every day to and from work. ()

Morok "Olympiadobesia"

Dmitry STESHIN

So, in 2017, we were kicked out in disgrace from the system of the Olympic Games: again, the one who looks after us from heaven gave Russia a unique, historical chance. Not everyone understood this. Vladimir Vladimirovich, for example, understood - with a sad smile, sending the figures of the "sport of high achievements" to independent Olympic swimming. ()

MEANWHILE

What awaits our athletes who are going to go to the 2018 Olympics under the white flag

The decision could have been even tougher. The IOC Executive Board - all 15 people, including President Thomas Bach - studied the report of Samuel Schmid before making a verdict. He was supposed to answer the question of whether there was a state doping program in Russia. “It wasn’t,” said Schmid, and this is perhaps our main victory in this story ()

The International Olympic Committee has decided to remove the Russian team from the 2018 Olympics due to a doping scandal. Former sports minister Vitaly Mutko and his former deputy Yuri Nagornykh have been banned for life from the Olympics. Our compatriots will be able to take part in the competitions under a neutral flag - white with Olympic rings, and instead of the Russian anthem, the common anthem of the games will be played. Who will be able to play at the games will be decided by a special commission. Coaches, doctors, executives and athletes suspected of involvement in doping will definitely not go to South Korea. Russia will pay $15 million to the Independent Doping Testing Organization to cover the cost of investigations.

Have there been similar disqualifications in the history of the Olympics?

No, because of doping, there were no such large-scale punishments in the history of the Olympics. Previously, the reasons for disqualifications were exclusively political: in the 1920s, Germany was removed due to the outbreak of the First World War, in 1948 - Germany and Japan because of the Second World War, from 1964 to 1988 did not participate in the South African games due to racial segregation , and in 2000 - Afghanistan because of the Taliban regime.

Has anyone already competed under a neutral flag?

Yes. Under it are people who have received the official status of a UN refugee. In 2014, Indians competed under it, and in 2016, Kuwaitis competed because of state interference in the work of local Olympic committees. It was used by athletes in 1980, when 65 countries decided to boycott the Moscow Olympics, including the USA, Canada, Japan and Germany.

What do athletes think?

People who are preparing for these games now speak carefully or refuse to comment. On December 12, a meeting will be held at which, according to the head of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, Mikhail Degtyarev, the Olympians will be able to decide on their own participation or non-participation. The skater has already declared his desire to go to Pyeongchang anyway Viktor An and forward of the St. Petersburg SKA and the Russian national hockey team Ilya Kovalchuk. 18 year old figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva, a two-time world and European champion, said that she "didn't want to compete at the Olympics without the Russian flag."

Who is for a trip under a neutral flag?

“Athletes who go to the Olympics, and we know who they are, will have uniforms with white, red and blue colors. And in any case, we know that they will represent Russia. Therefore, they should go,” said Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

In a comment to our site, the 2002 Olympic champion in figure skating Elena Berezhnaya said: “Athletes who are going to the Olympics have given their whole lives to this, and I believe that the main thing is to protect them. Let the bosses solve their own problems, they had enough time for this, but they could not agree. This is their problem, this should not concern athletes, they should perform at these games, and not in four or eight years. In sports, there is only here and now.”

Also, the legendary sports commentator told us about the support of athletes who decided, contrary to the IOC conclusion, to go to South Korea. Kirill Nabutov: “Of course, it is necessary to go to the Olympics. It doesn't matter what the deputies say, it's like paying attention to the opinion of circus animals. Why listen to creatures that have nothing to do with sports? If they knew what kind of blood rewards are awarded, they would never say anything like that. No one has the right to prevent athletes from performing. And the athlete himself has no right to refuse: he owes it to his teachers, coaches, family, who put a lot of effort into him. After all, he owes his country. Because everyone understands that even if Ivan Ivanov takes the medal under a neutral flag, it will still be recorded in the history of sports that the Russian athlete won. Strictly speaking, they have no choice now. To refuse is the highest stupidity, which a person who is friends with his head will not agree to, and there are most of them in the team.

Vladimir Putin assured that the authorities "will not announce any blockade, will not prevent the Olympians from taking part if any of them want to take part in their personal capacity."

Who is against?

The need to boycott the Olympics was announced by State Duma Vice Speaker Igor Lebedev, First Deputy Head of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Franz Klintsevich, and State Duma Vice Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy. In his Telegram channel, Ramzan Kadyrov wrote that "not a single athlete with a Chechen residence permit will compete under a neutral flag."