Head coach of the Russian speed skating team Dmitry Dorofeev told that he had already experienced the Olympic admission issue before the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang and now sees something similar with the Paris Games.
Russian athletes can only participate in the Paris Olympics in neutral status; their candidacies are subject to approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) commission. On Saturday, the Russian Wrestling Federation refused to participate in the Games in Paris, among other reasons, because many leaders of the country’s national team were not on the list of those admitted. In addition, all Russian judokas refused to participate in the Olympics.
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“Everything is selective and in many cases it is not the best who go there, but those who were simply admitted. We experienced this when the guys were killed before the 2018 Games. I am in favor of now, first of all, working in a consolidated manner on what we have inside the country. We know what seconds we need to show, we need to look for talented guys. I understand that the issue of mass participation is important, but we also need to support people at the grassroots level. There is nothing wrong with that when you single out promising athletes from the general mass. Otherwise, it just creates the appearance of activity. Once again, mass participation is important, but targeted support for talent is also important,” Dorofeev said in an interview with .
World record holder Pavel Kulizhnikov and world champion Ruslan Murashov were not invited to the Pyeongchang Games.
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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.
