Two-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Lidia Ivanova, in an interview with , called the non-inclusion of Soviet and Russian athletes in the IOC video dedicated to the development of artistic gymnastics a political decision.
Earlier, the press service of the International Olympic Committee published a video “The Evolution of Women’s Artistic Gymnastics”, in which Russian and Soviet athletes were ignored.
– Well, the IOC today is no longer surprised. Soviet gymnastics, which later switched to Russian, was the strongest in the world. Of course, the International Olympic Committee is not comfortable talking about it today. They don’t want it. But that’s the same as skipping the Bolshunov name in today’s skiing.
Sport is a social layer that adorns the life of any country. And the tasks of sport should be out of politics. On the contrary, it promotes friendship between the peoples of the world. Yes, we always had a tough fight in competitions, there was very serious competition, but as soon as those starts ended, we were friends. And there was just international friendship, friendship with foreign athletes. We must therefore preserve sport and glorify it. I am always for sport outside of politics. You can’t hang on to him with political photos. And here, unfortunately, we are faced with political decisions.
You can’t miss this huge block – the performances of our athletes. From the very beginning, the Soviet Union was ahead of the others in gymnastics. And it’s not for nothing that he has been called a trendsetter. How could it be missed? It’s not fair, it’s just not fair! We are for truth in sport,” Ivanova told .
Source : MatchTV
