At the end of last week, the head of the Russian Fencing Federation, Ilgar Mammadov, said that the organization would not prohibit admitted before international tournaments for athletes to participate in them. The Minister of Sports of Russia, Oleg Matytsin, spoke in a similar vein the other day, noting that the Russians should not boycott international competitions. But who should pay for speeches in a neutral status, if the state no longer has anything to do with them? Correspondent Sport understands.
Since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in March its recommendation to allow Russian athletes to compete in status neutral but only meet certain criteria, the Russian sports community has been debating whether to agree to compete in the proposed – or, more accurately, , dictated by conditions. Two points in them are very fundamental: the IOC recommends that those athletes who actively supported the special military operation in Ukraine, as well as athletes who have a contract with the armed forces or security agencies, be excluded from international tournaments. The latter, as you know, include everyone who represents the clubs CSKA, Dynamo or the National Guard.
The specifics about who exactly will be able to compete in international tournaments appeared most quickly in fencing. It became known that those who represent CSKA, for example, Olympic champions Sofia Velikaya, Yana Egoryan and Sofia Pozdnyakova, were not included in the list of those admitted. «All the strongest athletes were not allowed,» Mammadov said, after which he answered with a short «no, they won't» to the question of whether the athletes who are allowed to compete are planning to participate in them.
However in recent days, the rhetoric of Mammadov, as well as other main speakers on this topic, has softened.
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«We do not in any way prohibit admitted athletes from participating in tournaments if they have such a desire,» the head of the Russian Fencing Federation said. «It is never necessary to boycott anything, it is necessary to continue the dialogue with international sports organizations with the obligatory condition of protecting the interests of our athletes,» said Oleg Matytsin.
Of course, many athletes will have a desire to support their teammates, who, according to completely artificial and discriminatory criteria, are denied participation in tournaments by international federations. Surely there will be those who will agree to go to international competitions, because not all sports federations require Russian athletes to make any political statements. For example, the Russians have already competed in a neutral status at the World Judo Championships, and there have been no problems in this regard.
However, there is one rather logical question: at whose expense should neutral athletes travel to competitions? Of course, the theses are true that everyone already knows where our athletes came from, but formally they do not represent Russia at international tournaments. So should Russia bear the cost of their trips abroad? And who should pay for their preparation for speeches in a neutral status?
For our sport, these topics are generally quite new, with one exception. The All-Russian Federation of Athletics (VFLA) has experience of working with Russian athletes performing in a neutral status, which from the fall of 2015 to the spring of 2023 was deprived of full membership in the World Athletics Association (World Athletics). The Russians could compete in international tournaments only after receiving the appropriate permission from World Athletics. And neutral statuses, by the way, were also not given to everyone — mostly they were denied to athletes with a doping past, but there were cases when it was not possible to give a reasonable explanation for not issuing a permit.
So, Russian athletes went to international competitions in a neutral status at their own expense. There could be exceptions only if it was about eminent athletes. Thus, the inviting party could compensate for part of the costs. But this applies to commercial tournaments. Performances at the European and World Championships were paid for by the Ministry of Sports — after all, the Russian athletics team continued to exist all these years, albeit for internal use.
It would be logical to do the same in the current situation. There are no questions about the official major competitions, the athlete goes to them purposefully, and even if the flag is not indicated next to the surname for reasons beyond his control, this does not change the essence: our foreign partners are also well aware that a neutral status is from the evil one. And at the world championships in the same track and field athletics, the word «Russia» still sounded when the announcer at the stadium talked about where the athlete lives and trains. So, if a delegation of Russians goes to world and European championships, there is no reason not to finance its trip.
But commercial starts with beautiful names like Grand Prix are another matter. Athletes go there to earn money. And here it would be reasonable to lay the costs on them. And the preparation for such competitions should also be taken care of by the athlete himself and his personal trainer. Unless, of course, a commercial start is a qualifying stage for some major official tournament.
On Thursday, the Russian Olympic Committee is expected to make its recommendations to athletes about participating in international tournaments in a neutral status. It is unlikely that there will be a call to refuse those opportunities to compete abroad that our athletes now have. It is clear that a sports career, like life, a person has one and he has the right to make decisions on its development at his own discretion. But in the current situation, the state has the right to review a number of principles for the training of professional athletes. After all, while Russia is under the most severe economic sanctions, the question «At whose expense is this banquet?» one cannot be idle.