“When Americans or Australians constantly win in swimming, it’s normal. But when Russia wins gold medals year after year, it seems abnormal, so they decided to put us down. Apparently, it wasn’t enough and they decided to exclude us completely.
Already in February, I said that we could not play, humiliating ourselves, without an anthem and a flag. Previously, instead of the anthem, we played at least the first concert of Tchaikovsky – this is brilliant music. And now, for Russia, they have chosen something that sounds like a funeral march. We have no right to speak like that. Previously, the Russian anthem was the most popular melody at the World and European Championships. We won eight gold medals out of nine, the stands were filled with Russian flags and we heard “Go, Russia” … But now these are not the same medals, because you have to sign certain documents to participate in the competitions. The modern Olympic Games no longer live up to the slogan “Faster. Higher. Stronger”, because the strongest athletes do not participate.
We did not participate in the Olympic qualifications because there was no point. There was only one place left for Europe, for which athletes from Belarus and Russia were to compete. However, Europe voted against our participation. They tried to push us out, but in doing so they dealt a heavy blow to rhythmic gymnastics as a sport. Today, in Russia, we are complicating the programs and returning to what they were when I was vice-president of the technical committee for rhythmic gymnastics of the International Federation. Our programs were very strong then, but now everything is going downhill… We cannot accept this, so we are focusing on internal development. The BRICS Games and the Friendship Games are becoming very important for us,” Wiener was quoted as saying by Match TV.
Source: Sport
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
