Olympic volleyball champion Sergei Tetiukhin on the air of the program “There is a theme!” on , he shared how he felt about competing in the Olympics without a flag or anthem, and also answered questions about what homeland and victory meant to him.
Tetyukhin will turn 48 on September 23. He is an Olympic champion in 2012, silver medalist at the 2000 Olympics, double Olympic bronze medalist, medalist at the World Championships and multiple medalist at the European Championships.
Tetyukhin is the general director of the Russian men’s team, director of the Belogorye volleyball club.
— You were born in Fergana, but in 1992 you moved to Belgorod. How are things in the city now, how are things in Belogorye?
“Now there is a certain lull. The city lives. Family and friends are all there. We handle a difficult situation with understanding. Sporting events take place, but not in such large numbers. There is a danger. The club “Belogorye” is now at the training camp, we have been training in Belgorod for a month.
– Did the events affect the team? And then here Norman escaped after the story with the drone in the city of Moscow.
“We don’t have anything like that. We have a Moroccan legionnaire, he said that in Morocco this is almost always the case, so he is calm. Some volleyball players brought their families. The fans are sensitive to the fact that we played 90% of the matches in Tula. At the beginning of the new year, the federation banned playing in Belgorod. We treat this with understanding. We love our city and the fans love us. It was a bit broken. We are waiting for the next season, we hope to come back to Belgorod and turn things around.
We are living people. When something explodes above your head, it’s scary. But we can’t leave for several reasons, we can’t leave our parents, we have obligations towards the team. In any situation, we probably would have stayed in Belgorod.
We have many friends in Shebekino. I played hockey there. At some point people lost their homes and shelters. Organized humanitarian aid, resettled people. We tried to be as human as possible.
– The Russian national volleyball team will not participate in the Olympics?
I cannot give a 100% guarantee. There is a chance, there is hope. So far, no final decision has been made by the IOC and the international federation. We will prepare for the team to be at its peak. There is hope, because several teams are classified, including our team. We have such an opportunity if the situation returns to normal.
What is your opinion on the flag and the anthem?
– I am not in favor of not going to the Olympics. We were recently in Tokyo without a flag or an anthem. And for our fans, we haven’t become less Russian. It is clear that it is important for the country and for each person. But we are nevertheless primarily involved in sport. Anyway, I will. If there is such an opportunity to go to the Olympics without a flag or an anthem, I will definitely support this idea!
– Don’t you think the IOC has become obsolete because of its absurd behavior?
– It’s not the first year. And in front of the SVO, because of the Rodchenkov list, they began to deprive us of awards for no reason, without evidence. The sport has become very politicized lately. It has become a lever of pressure on the state. If they can’t win honestly, they try to do it behind the scenes. I don’t know how to beat that, maybe alternative competitions. But they must be carried out on a large scale and with the maximum participation of those who are loyal to a just situation in the world.
– Our volleyball is not hung?
– I haven’t noticed much yet. There are not enough international competitions. We understand there may be a catch. Bullets should have learned to make their own. The best foreigners come to us. The championship is not weakening. But international competition is a great loss. It’s a big loss, not just for us. Watching club competitions without us is a whole different level.
– Have you had a reassessment of values in the last year and a half?
– Hard to say. We now look at the whole world differently. We have seen how we are actually treated in the world. The so-called friends might not be friends. These moments are open. It helps to understand who is who.
But there are practically no people, athletes, with whom I would stop communicating. There are acquaintances in Ukraine, there are people in different parts of the world. When communicating, we do not talk about uncomfortable topics.
What is victory for you?
– A difficult question. Not so easy to answer. It is the result of a long journey, of some work, of dreams, of hopes, of patience, of overcoming certain difficulties. You have to go for a big victory, sometimes you have to go longer than expected. And you are haunted by wounds, wounds, uncomfortable moments that must be overcome. And by work thanks to friends, comrades, colleagues. The harder and longer the path, the grander and more significant the victory you have achieved. At least for me.
– What is homeland?
“It’s my country, my family, my friends. You know, as they say, the birches. All mine. It’s the nature, the people, the atmosphere, our mentality. It is a set of components that probably do not exist in many other states and nationalities, such as the great multinational Russian people. And maybe that’s why we are very loved somewhere, and somewhere they are very afraid. We are a great, powerful and wonderful country! – said Tetyukhin on the air of .
The Russian national team has been suspended from international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. In June, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) extended the suspension of teams and athletes from Russia and Belarus from international competitions. On August 29 and 30, the national teams of Russia and Belarus played two friendly matches in Moscow, won by the Russian volleyball players by the same score 3-0.
On Monday in Italy, Bulgaria, Israel and North Macedonia started the European Championship without the Russians.
Source : MatchTV
I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.
