Foreign swimmers don’t feel negative towards Russian athletes, Olympics silver medalist says Mikhail Vekovitchchev sharing his impressions of the last swimming world championships, which took place in Melbourne.
– If we talk about this year’s World Swimming Championships, which took place in Melbourne, I was very surprised by the results in general. I didn’t expect such a great performance from the Italians, they swam very fast. I was surprised that in all the relay races in this tournament, a world record was set everywhere. That is, the teams learned to rally and select line-ups in such a way that in every relay race we received world records. In the distance of four to two hundred meters, in which I participated, many times and won medals, including at the Olympics, a world record was also set, and for many, for three seconds. The Americans swam this distance very quickly. The level of results has increased considerably.
At this competition I rooted for my friends, there was no particular team I would sympathize with. He supported his friends and acquaintances that I know personally. I wrote them messages on social networks, followed the results, watched live broadcasts. I know a lot of the participants, including the leaders, because I participated in the ISL international league, where I managed to get to know and communicate with a lot of people. Many of the participants in the last World Championships are my peers and we have come a long way in this area – from junior competitions and much more. I keep in touch with everyone, I mean there is no negative attitude towards our country and our athletes from them,” Vekovishchev told Metaratings.ru.
In February, the IOC Executive Board recommended to international federations not to allow Russians and Belarusians to participate in international competitions. Many federations have followed these recommendations and suspended athletes from both countries. At the next meeting in December, the IOC Executive Committee maintained sanctions and protective measures against Russians and Belarusians.
Metaratings.ru
Source : MatchTV
