On May 24, the FIS should finally say something intelligible about us, Russian skiers, in terms of admission to international competitions. Specifically, inadmissibility. I have no illusions. As well as a particular dissatisfaction. I’ll try to convince you that there’s nothing to get upset about.
Here, the other day, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) did not allow our athletes to compete in Cuba, because “any Russian athlete who applies for neutral status must complete an individual declaration, in which the main thing is to indicate that he is not related to the armed forces, state security agencies or other structures providing support to the NWO And that’s not all – then a commission will find out if the athlete there wrote the truth.
This in itself is already unacceptable. I would like to see a national team skier who would be okay with that. But there is another side. Why rush into a cracked house?
Here, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) said that there was nothing to say in terms of the participation of Russian athletes. Unlike the “native” FIS, I have no knowledge there. I do not know by what they are guided. I suspect they look at their TV rights deals with the European Broadcasting Union, look at the German sponsors and rejoice in their financial success. Whether or not there are Russian biathletes at the competitions, this does not greatly affect their income. Let’s see how they sing when German biathlon is about the same as German cross-country skiing – but so far the biathlon bosses are happy with everything.
We, in the world of cross-country skiing, everything is different. With anyone, everyone knows that we are going somewhere in the wrong direction. I count my international career from January 2019, from the first world junior championship. And all the time I hear moans and complaints from foreign friends and partners (without quotes, they always remain). It’s all about the money – everyone in Europe and the USA has less: the federations, the teams, the skiers themselves, the equipment manufacturers.
Do you want examples ? I know you like examples. Please, just without details: in a European youth team that I know well, there were 10 people, and now there are 6. They used to have 5-6 training camps per year, and now they have 2-3. Everyone knows perfectly well that it is impossible to win with such an approach, but there is no way. They used to be, but now they aren’t.
Or here’s a story: Five years ago, a Finnish company – a stock manufacturer – paid its ambassadors (top ten, but not champions) as much as no one pays today. Even Klebo. There is no money, the goods are not for sale. And it’s not for sale because Europeans are less interested in ski racing. And they themselves do not run and watch less.
It didn’t start a year ago, that’s the trend. You can’t say that FIS and everyone who builds their business around it hasn’t noticed.
One of the responses was such a heated interest across “Europe versus Russia.” And I was included in it as much as my modest merits and talents permitted. Do you think Petter Northug has nothing to do with how to walk the film crew through two passes with me shooting stories? This is part of the promotion, of building the image for all participants – I understood this very well and participated in all the processes, realizing that it was in the interest of future evaluations. There were also grander media plans – just based on this East versus West showdown.
I speak of myself, because I have the right to speak. Our leaders in this sense are much cooler. But these are their stories, and they should be shared. Although the numbers say a lot.
The men’s 50km race at Holmenkollen this year in Norway was watched by 403,000 spectators on NRK. In 2019, the same Holmenkollen male was watched by 626,000! Remember who won in 2019? True, Alexander Alexandrovich Bolshunov won, and ours occupied the entire pedestal. Not from us – no notes!
Therefore, now many people in the cross-country world are frankly upset. All their efforts, their ideas were covered without the participation of Russian athletes. If it was their will, they would invite us to come back tomorrow without any preconditions. But they don’t decide, that’s obvious to everyone.
Instead, the FIS started completely unnecessary changes to the duration of the competition. I have already criticized the idea of the 50 km for women. Watching Holmenkollen this year only convinced me that it was kind of absurd, especially towards the end of the season. Well, okay, they called it a “ski marathon”, compared to a running marathon – we can say that gender equality has been achieved. But why change the duration of the two relay races? I read somewhere that the men’s 4x10k is the most attractive aspect of the whole program for cross-country announcers. Now there will be a quarter less time to show it. Maybe you shouldn’t experiment like that? Why?
However, it is clear why. The FIS tries to accompany it and to formally equalize everything possible between men and women. Only this “stream” is predominantly Western, and there are a lot of malcontents there. There is such a wonderful race (not for me, but for the public) – Lysebotn Uphill as part of BLINK. There, men and women travel the same distance on the same roller skis. It’s easy to compare. Last year, women’s winner Sophia Laukli, with her winning time, would have been only 50th in the men’s category. Sofia is one of the strongest Pitmen in the world, this distance is 100% less than her – and she always loses to sprinters and veteran skiers. What is the gender equality in results in cyclical sports? Why?!
All in all, what the FIS will announce on May 24 should not be seen as an “abandoned house” but as an inevitable, although not painless, divorce. Due to the “lack of mutual understanding; different views on living together and the loss of feelings of mutual respect and love.
Yes, such a divorce will leave us with a high probability without the next Olympics, but there are more important things than even the most important competitions.
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.
