On Friday, the winner of the Russian winter high jump championship Natalya Spiridonova won the Malaysian Open. At the same time, the athlete performed under the flag of Russia — which is almost never seen in world sports these days. Sports correspondent talks about how this became possible.
Banned everywhere possible. The news that Natalya Spiridonova was entered at the Malaysian Open, and not in a neutral status, but under her own flag, became a sensation. The World Athletics Association, as is known, has been “damaging” Russian athletics over the past ten years. First, it was the suspension of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) due to doping scandals and a humiliating procedure for obtaining neutral statuses for Russian athletes who were not involved in anything — and, by the way, not free. Moreover, the money was not returned in case of refusals — and there were a lot of them, unmotivated.
Then there was a long process of restoring the full status of ARAF, for which the state had to spend more than one million dollars. It ended in March 2023, and Russian track and field athletes finally had the theoretical opportunity to compete in international tournaments under their own flag. But World Athletics took away the practical opportunity back in March 2022 — after the start of the SVO, it suspended Russians from participating in competitions even in a neutral status. And it became one of the most rigid federations regarding the performance of our athletes in international tournaments: thus, the President of World Athletics, Briton Sebastian Coe, openly stated several times that, despite the recommendations of the IOC, there would be no Russians in any status at the Olympics in Paris. And, alas, he kept his word.
However, there is a nuance. Legally, World Athletics’ decision to exclude Russian track and field athletes applies to a fairly limited range of tournaments. This organization can prohibit the appearance of our athletes at its major competitions — world championships, junior world championships, as well as in a number of other competitions that it conducts directly. Even in the Diamond League, World Athletics cannot ban our athletes from competing — but the organizing committee of this series made its decision to “ban” the Russians. The same applies to the European Championships: the European Athletics Association banned us from participating there, clearly imitating the “elders”.
But at other competitions — even those included in the official World Athletics calendar — Russian athletes have the right to compete. But the issue of implementing this right already depends on the organizers. If they are not afraid to provoke Kou’s anger, then they may well invite our guys to their place.
The Malaysians were not afraid of anger. A logical question arises: why did none of the leading Russian track and field athletes travel abroad before Spiridonova? Well, actually, marathon runners regularly participate in races all over the world and even win — including our leaders. But it’s easier with an application: you buy a participant slot and you run. In addition, in this discipline, special attention is still focused on Africans, who make up the elite of marathon running. It is unlikely that anyone will be indignant that among the tens of thousands of participants in the race there are Russians.
But to invite a bright representative of Russian track and field to compete under their flag — which, of course, is Natalia Spiridonova, who in February of this year cleared a height of 2 meters for the first time — this, of course, in the current conditions, must be decided. And we can only thank the organizers of the Malaysian Open for not following the trend set by countries unfriendly to Russia. Judging by Natasha's impressions, which she shared with , everyone was happy to see her and the coach, they communicated very friendly, took photos.
In general, everything went great — as it should be at a sports festival. Which, unfortunately, not everyone wants to see and not everywhere. Due to the absurd actions of the International Olympic Committee, which got into politics, Russian representatives were selected for the Games in Paris in only seven sports — and there they will have to compete in a neutral status. If at all necessary: the IOC, for unknown reasons, is delaying the official announcement of the admission of the Russians who have qualified for the Olympics, which starts in a month and a half. And he doesn’t say anything specific in response to questions about what is causing the delay.
Spiridonova in Malaysia, unfortunately, did not manage to approach the level of her best jumps. She won with a score of 1.87 meters, which, of course, was affected by the heat, humidity, and the start at 4 a.m. Moscow time after a day on the road. But our athlete still has only positive emotions. “Many thanks to our federation for being able to send us to compete at the international start. I want to compete in other countries and further. Of course, an international tournament means new people in the sector, a special atmosphere. You miss it and want it,” admitted Natalya, leaving Malaysia.
It’s worth adding to this: of course, it’s just great that Spiridonova became such a first sign from Russian athletics to perform at an international start in the current conditions. But now we need both a second and a third sign to ensure that such trips become regular for our athletes. Along with the BRICS Games taking place in Kazan, the participation of our champion in a foreign competition is a vivid example of truly effective international cooperation. And ARAF needs to make every effort to continue work in this direction and make it systematic.