Privalova – about athletics in Russia: “If tens of thousands of people run now, then hundreds of thousands will run”

First Vice-President of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) Irina Privalova told that the bill amending the Federal Law “On Physical Culture and Sport in the Russian Federation” is being adopted for amateurs, noting that at the professional level there is no no problem with changing sporting citizenship.

On Friday, a meeting of the working group “Legislative support for the development of athletics in the Russian Federation” was held in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The meeting discussed the results of the athletics season and plans for next year, including the preparation of athletes for the BRICS Games and the first World Friendship Games.

— In athletics, there is no practice allowing athletes to change their sporting citizenship en masse. In recent years – and we have been suspended since 2015 – we can count those who have left on the fingers of one hand. One moved to Belarus with his parents, the other got married and moved to Kyrgyzstan. That’s all.

The new law will focus more on what already exists in athletics. Indeed, our country has been fleeing in droves, and the law will further motivate those already doing so and attract even more attention. If tens of thousands of people flee now, then hundreds of thousands will also flee,” Privalova told the correspondent.

In March, it was announced that ARAF was once again a member of World Athletics after seven years, but that the Russians’ suspension from international competitions had been extended due to the situation in Ukraine.