Elena Anikina, vice-president of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation, Sergey Parkhomenko, general secretary of the Federation, and Dirk Matshenz, coach of the Russian skeleton team, were elected to the committees and groups of the International Bobsleigh Federation and skeleton (IBSF), Elena Anikina told .
In March, the IBSF executive committee temporarily suspended the membership of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation, guided by recommendations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Russian side appealed this decision to the IBSF Appeal Tribunal, which overturned the suspension of the Russian organization. The suspension of Russian athletes from international competitions is still in effect.
– Initially, the international federation completely excluded our federation and all our representatives from the IBSF committees. That is to say, we were deprived of all rights. Then we won the arbitration, it was a precedent and the biggest victory. However, our athletes still do not have access to international competitions. But this is not an initiative of the International Bobsleigh Federation, but an instruction received from the IOC, which has been sent to all the international federations. There was no way to resist it. But, of course, all these decisions to exclude our athletes are contrary to the IOC charter and, in general, to all moral and ethical standards.
Our task was to maintain a positive and fruitful relationship with the international federation, as it is the IBSF who will decide when exactly to send our athletes back to international departures. We completed this task at the IBSF congress. We have tried to behave as positively, fruitfully and constructively as possible. During the congress, we had talks with the president of the IBSF, Ivo Ferriani, and with the new members of the executive committee. During the congress, which was attended by the president of our federation Anatoly Pegov, myself and general secretary Parkhomenko, we actively communicated with representatives of all countries. Mr. Pegov spoke a lot with Ivo Ferriani, and even then we laid the groundwork for as many other positive decisions as possible.
We have submitted lists for the inclusion of representatives of our federation in the working bodies of the IBSF. We submitted three people. Sergey Parkhomenko, Secretary General of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation, at the Paralympic Sports Committee, where he worked for many years. At the same time, in our country, as such, there are no Paralympic representatives in bobsleigh and skeleton, but we have it in our plans. We believe that we have athletes who could participate in these competitions and we could show good results there.
My application was submitted to the Gender Issues Working Group. I have a similar experience, I worked in the IOC Commission “Women in Sport”. This is the commission that deals with gender issues. I was very surprised that there is not a single woman in the executive committee of the IBSF, it is very strange. I was extremely surprised, and it is worth talking about.
In addition, our trainer Dirk Matschenz has been included in the material and technical committee. To be honest, I didn’t expect the three Russian candidates to be approved, but they approved them all. At the same time, during all this time, we negotiated with Ivo Ferriani, explaining to him that we will work in the interest of our sport everywhere in the world. When we received the decision to include our three representatives in the working bodies of the IBSF, we were very happy. This, of course, is a great victory in the context of what is currently happening in the world of sport. It’s a very good trend. At the same time, it was not Ferriani himself who elected us, but the executive committee, in which different countries are represented.
We hope that through participation in the working bodies, we can continue to protect the interests of our athletes, our federation. All this must be done calmly, wisely, competently. This is the moment when the people of all our federations, who have good relations with the international federations and the IOC, must put themselves forward. This is where the main work will now be done.
– Do you have any idea when Russian bobsledders and skeleton athletes will return to international competitions?
– Ivo Ferriani did not give direct answers, although he treats our country very well, to us personally. He loves our athletes very much and has always supported them. This was not said directly, but I understand that the International Federations fully follow the recommendations of the IOC. In general, we have good relations with the international federation, but Ivo Ferriani is a member of the IOC executive committee, and we cannot demand that he go against the decisions of the head of the IOC, Anikina told .
Source : MatchTV
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