Olympic ski relay champion Veronica Stepanova wrote in her column on the website that she remains optimistic about the admission of Russian athletes to the 2026 Olympic Games, but at the same time expects a scandalous reaction to this decision from the representatives of hostile countries.
The 2026 Winter Olympics will take place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in February.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in December 2023 that it would allow Russian athletes who successfully qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics to have individual neutral status. Russian athletes can only perform in Paris without a flag, anthem and other national symbols. The IOC banned the participation of athletes associated with security forces or who have expressed support for the CBO.
— I think the idea of the Future Games is clear to everyone, but I will try to formulate it in my own words: we need an alternative. The International Olympic Committee and virtually all major international sports federations are commercial enterprises, regardless of their name. The main revenues come from the sale of television rights in the United States and Europe, where most of the commercial partners also come. I had the illusion that world affairs would not allow our sport to be excluded, because in competitions with the participation of Russian athletes, much more can be won than without us. Unfortunately, not everyone has the rational thinking of UFC boss Dana White. It has now been two years since international competitions in Olympic sports have been closed to us.
My forecast does not change: in two (incomplete) years, circumstances will change so much that we will still participate in the Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, but there will be a lot of hysteria about this from various enemies. The atmosphere of endless scandal is bad.
We need something completely new, where the sport can really come together. At the same time, for the public to actually watch, it would make sense for companies to invest in such a sport,” Stepanova wrote.
Source : MatchTV
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