Athletics
In Budapest, the starts of the World Championships in Athletics are in full swing — without the Russians, who are not at the tournament admitted. Moreover, the World Athletics Association (World Athletics) diligently cleans up any evidence that Russian athletes existed at all, exist and will exist — both in their materials dedicated to the world championship and in television broadcasts. Sport correspondent talks about who turned world athletics into a hotbed of Russophobia.
This man is British. He performed at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, in fact, in a neutral status — having won gold at them, he was forced to listen to the Olympic anthem and contemplate the flag with five rings. He went to the Olympics contrary to the opinion of his government, which advocated a boycott of the Moscow Games, and later even admitted that the athlete was very afraid that his passport would be taken away from him. He publicly spoke out against the boycott so loudly that his father was summoned to the Foreign Office and advised to persuade his son to keep his mouth shut.
We are talking, of course, about Sebastian Coe — the winner of the Moscow Olympics in the 1500 meters and the silver medalist in the 800 meters. Ten years ago, he returned to the Russian capital as vice president of the World Athletics Association — in those years it was called the IAAF, and now it is called World Athletics. Moscow was preparing to host the World Cup, which many later called the best in history. When in 2013 Coe entered the arena of his triumph — the Olympic stadium in Luzhniki — he was close to crying from surging feelings. Correspondents invited then to the event with the participation of the 1980 Olympic champion are witnesses of this — including the author of these lines.
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«I am convinced that your election to this post will help strengthen dialogue between all interested parties on the most pressing issues in sports on the basis of mutual respect and community of interests. From the bottom of my heart I wish you success in implementing your plans and undertakings in your responsible work. I look forward to further fruitful cooperation,» the telegram published on the website of the Ministry of Sports said.< br>
However, cooperation did not work out. Although Kou is really not a stranger to Russia. We can say, taking into account all the circumstances, almost your own. Since 2007, he has been the second most important figure in the IAAF — vice president under the head of the organization, Lamine Diaque. The All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) was friends with the Senegalese father of 15 children, who later received a sentence for corruption in a French court — this is understandable even from the accusations recognized by our side that were brought against the then leadership of the ARAF. It is extremely difficult to assume that Coe was not aware of the cases that were being resolved under his boss.
Moreover, no one officially spoke about this, but the following information circulates in athletics circles: in August 2015, when the VFLA was not yet deprived of full membership in the IAAF, Russia voted for Coe, and not for Bubka, in the presidential elections of the organization . We emphasize that there is no official confirmation of this information, and now no one will give it, given everything that is happening today. Although, of course, it is not a fact that it would have been better under Bubka.But just a few months after winning the IAAF presidential election, Coe will announce a temporary deprivation of ARAF status due to systematic doping scandals. And this despite the fact that at that moment the revelations of the ex-head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, had not yet come to light. There were enough films made with the help of dubious editing in places and in the absence of off-screen sound by the German television company ARD. And then — off we go. The IAAF rebranded itself as World Athletics, the ARAF changed four presidents, but Coe and company extended and extended sanctions against Russian athletics for seven long years and four equally long months.
During the period of the ARAF suspension, at least someone acted in a neutral status abroad. Sometimes very successfully. For example, Maria Lasitskene won two world champion titles out of three, as well as the title of Olympic champion, speaking without the Russian flag. But with the start of a special military operation, the Russians, and with them the Belarusians, were completely closed off the road to international tournaments. Now our athletes cannot compete on the world stage without a flag, without an anthem, without a name, or without a surname — no way.
And even in March 2023, when the ARAF, which had undergone a thorough and sometimes even humiliating procedure for clearing the doping heritage of its predecessors, was finally restored to its full status, Russian athletes still remained outside international competitions. The Council of World Athletics extended the suspension of Russians and Belarusians «for the foreseeable future» — and this issue has not even been discussed since that time. Although from the same March 2023 the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are valid to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete, subject to a number of conditions.
br>Moreover, World Athletics seems to have decided to cross out Russian athletes not only from the future, but also from the past. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the fact that in the material published on the organization’s website for the start of the 2023 World Cup in Budapest and dedicated to the 40 most influential women in the history of these competitions, neither Lasitskene nor Elena Isinbayeva is included. Although both won the world championships three times, while Isinbaeva is the current world record holder and the only one of the two women who pole vaulted above 5 meters. By the way, the second one — another Russian woman Anzhelika Sidorova, also a world champion, is, of course, not mentioned in the World Athletics material. Like any other Russian athlete.
But that is not all. In the articles devoted to the 40 most memorable moments in the history of the world championships, as you might guess, there is not a single one where athletes from Russia or the USSR would appear. Although in the total medal standings of all world championships, the Russian team ranks third, second only to teams from the USA and Kenya. True, the materials are accompanied by a preamble that this hit parade is the result of a vote by fans. But there is no complete list of all the episodes offered for selection. That is, there are more than enough grounds to assume that they decided to throw Russia out of the history of athletics manually here too.
One can also cite such a fact — the participants of the World Championship in Budapest enter the arena through a corridor with screens on which the brightest moments of the world championships in their disciplines are broadcast. Competitions in the pole vault and high for women are yet to come, so for now it is impossible to talk about the complete purity of the experiment. But during the presentation of applicants for awards at a distance of 110 meters with hurdles for men, the Russian Sergey Shubenkov was never shown. Although he is the owner of four world championship medals — gold, two silver and bronze.
Alas, it is difficult to disagree with the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who called the policy of the head of World Athletics Russophobic since his first election to the post of head of the organization. “Nothing changes in his behavior, only the motives, the factors with which he tries to cover up the Russophobia that he demonstrates are changing. Of course, such behavior is not inherent in the Olympic family, in which friendship, mutual respect, striving for excellence have always been ideals. Mr. Coe has forgotten these ideals,” Pozdnyakov said. Alas, we have to admit — and our own become strangers, if the situation requires it. In the part of the world Coe represents, unfortunately, there is a policy of «cancelling» Russia. And the champion of the Moscow Olympics in this mainstream, by his own or someone else's will, manages to fit in completely. Even if for this, as in the case of deleting the great Russian champions from the history, one has to look stupid.