In recent weeks, people who want to boycott us have suddenly appeared. And not among abstract, unknown athletes for me, but among fairly familiar Scandinavian skiers, with whom I trained and competed together more than once at the World Cup, World Championships and Olympics.
Cross-country skiing at the international level is a rather closed club. Specifically, a traveling circus. With the junior team, from 17-18 years old, we constantly meet the same Norwegians, Swedes, Germans and other foreign sportsmen, not only on the ski slopes, but also in canteens, hotels, airports.
We greet someone with a short “hello” or a nod. With someone we communicate online, with someone we become friends. Someone is more closed, someone is more sociable, but in general relations have always been smooth, friendly. There have never been any clashes, abuses, let alone insults. At least not in front of my eyes and certainly not with my participation.
And now October is coming, and I read that some of yesterday’s rivals are suddenly not only ready to boycott competitions with the participation of Russian skiers – they call it outright!
I fully admit that someone does not like my position. Let me repeat on this subject “not a chervonets to please everyone”. But here it is proposed once again to “cancel” everyone at once on a national basis.
I almost do not accept the idea that some western skiers hope that it will be much easier for them to win and collect prize money for victories without our participation. The key word is “almost”.
But even if such thoughts cross someone, it seems to me that this is far from the main thing. The point is different.
You don’t have to be particularly shrewd in politics, in media work, to see that the appearance of such remarks out of nowhere is a last-minute attempt to put pressure on the International Ski Federation before the Deadline for Admission or Non-Admission of Russian Skiers to International Competitions.
As we know, the FIS will announce the final decision on October 22.
As an interested person, since the end of February I have been closely following the statements of people related to cross-country skiing. And that’s what I see.
All the while, it has mainly been various Western sports officials who have been calling for the Russians to pull out. The exception is a couple of skiers from the men’s team from Norway and another couple from Sweden. Quite proactively called, I must say. I disagree with them, we’ve repeatedly traded barbs on social media and in the Scandinavian media – but, at least, that’s their long-standing and directly expressed position.
Relatively recently, some pageant sponsors have joined them. And now, with the FIS decision expected to be announced very soon, as many active athletes as possible have started tuning into the issue. First a few Norwegians showed up against us for the first time, then a few Swedes. This is how media noise is created – then it will be possible to write, they say, that the international ski community is overwhelmingly against the participation of Russians.
Is it really against?
You are trying to put the issue to a secret ballot among the World Cup participants. Such a survey is not very difficult to organize. At the same time, check with the contest sponsors. Especially those who promote ski racing equipment through our victories. And then publish the results. There will surely be those who will be against our participation. But, I am absolutely sure that the majority will always be in favor.
For my part, such attempts at pressure do not cause much surprise or bitterness. What causes is a surge of sporting anger and a desire to train. I think sooner or later we will meet again on the track. And then I will give absolutely everything to beat all those who boycott and condemn. And so I think I’m not the only one in our team. So thank you for the motivation!
Well, and those who came up with the idea of dividing us have partly achieved their goal – from the “races of girlfriends”, the competition will to some extent become “races of opponents”. We will long remember this attitude towards us from some colleagues.
There is another version of the development of events. You should have seen:
Saudi Arabia has won the bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games in Neom. This city, which remains to be built, is part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 national development plan. The cost of the project is estimated to be around $500,000,000,000 (yes, that’s $500 billion). It seems to me that this is more than enough to create ultra-modern ski slopes in the desert, even on artificial snow, even on natural snow (as in Kontiolahti, for example, only more powerful and modern).
Personally, it will be much more interesting for me to compete there, outside of politics. And I don’t care at all that it will seem to someone like a “fake ski race”. In the past, hockey was played on the street and without a helmet. And let the Swedes and Norwegians go head-to-head through their forests and call it at least an “intergalactic cup”.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
