Key conclusions
The Olympic family is no more
“To say that nothing happened would be wrong. The world is changing, logistic chains are changing, everything is changing. Unfortunately, changes are happening in sport too. We just need to get used to it and understand that there is no return [of the concepts – Ed.] Olympic family, equality. <...> The leadership of the Olympic Committee, the International Federation crossed out all these achievements, which were initiated by Pierre De Coubertin [the father of the modern Olympic Games – Ed.],” Igor Levitin, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation.
World sport is incomplete without Russia
“The realization that the world of sports cannot develop without Russia, will come, it is already there. Another thing is that people are afraid to admit it. <...> We know an example when the tennis community reacted in no uncertain terms to the ban of our athletes from Wimbledon. <...> The voice of the real sports community did not sound in defence of Russia, it sounded in defence of the integrity of the sports world. Not only Russian and Belarusian athletes are suffering, the entire sports world is suffering,” Oleg Matytsin, Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation.
“They tried to humiliate, fence off, and cause impediments to our athletes in every possible way, but, in fact, they shot themselves in the foot, because the world of sport without us is inferior. Not to mention the principles and values of sport that have been violated,” Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
Russian sport should focus on Asia, Africa and South America
“We are currently conducting talks with the ambassadors in Asia, the Arab world, the African continent, Latin America,” Oleg Matytsin, Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation.
While we are strengthening the sovereignty of national sports, we need to be open to friendly countries. We need new formats of cooperation. <...> This is Asia, the whole East, Africa, the SCO, BRICS, our good friends from the CIS. A large number of competitions are planned. Even this year there will be a number of open competitions with the participation of a SCO country. <...> We need to promote our system of alternative competitions on the basis of the new alliances that we are now building,” Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
“As for Russian-Chinese relations, it is certainly a matter of time before Russian-Chinese competitions are integrated. Because both we and Chinese athletes are leaders in the world of sports. And I am sure that such joint competitions will be popular with our spectators, will meet all international standards, and will compete with European and American leagues and tournaments,” Alexander Tashchin, General Producer, Match TV channel.
PROBLEMS
The sports world needs diplomacy, while federations and athletes need the support of lawyers
“Our President Vladimir Putin communicates with the presidents of other countries. And there is no diplomacy in sports at all. Who is the figure in sports today who can say ‘let's meet and talk about what happened and why’?” Igor Levitin, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation.
“We have an intermediate victory in restoring the rights of our bobsleigh federation. This is very good news. We need to work with lawyers, we need to work with our international colleagues to resolve this issue. Nothing can be done here without the support of the Ministry of Sport,” Dmitry Svischev, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation on Sport and Physical Culture; President, Curling Federation of Russia.
Russian sport is 90% dependent on imported equipment and gear
“Ninety percent of dependence on imported equipment in our country is a terrifying figure. <...> We analyzed more than 500 different items that were imported according to the commodity list of foreign economic activity in past years. Import has stopped now. We want to phase out imports as soon as possible,” Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
Russia has lost camps for training athletes with the closure of foreign countries
“The question of camps was raised. Indeed, we really need camps now. There are some sports that do not have a single stadium, not a single sports ground for their sport. Therefore, we have to go abroad, and now this is impossible to do. We are in such a vacuum in preparation,” Dmitry Svischev, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation on Sport and Physical Culture; President, Curling Federation of Russia.
“The situation we are now experiencing <…> is new for our audience. The Russian audience is often interested in international competitions, where our athletes compete against foreign athletes. Our audience has always enjoyed watching the Olympic Games and World Cups. Now, for the sake of political games and sanctions, we are deprived of everything. World sport, unfortunately, cuts off not only us, as broadcasters, but cuts off the audience of millions,” Alexander Tashchin, General Producer, Match TV channel.
SOLUTIONS
It is necessary to create a department of legal support for athletes and federations in the Ministry of Sport
“Now legal support is needed not only for athletes, but, experience has shown that unfortunately our federations at the international level also need legal support. Here is one of the ideas of our deputies – the creation of a permanently functioning department of legal support in the Ministry of Sport. Because today almost no federation, except for the most powerful ones, can have a staff of lawyers. A good lawyer is expensive, especially a sports lawyer. We appeal to the Ministry of Sport and our colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we need such support for our sports federations and athletes,” Dmitry Svischev, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation on Sport and Physical Culture; President, Curling Federation of Russia.
Russian manufacturers should master the production of sports equipment and enter the foreign market with it
“Technological sovereignty dictates that we must possess these technologies, be able to produce them in Russia, and of course, we should be guided by the principles of expediency. No one says that we should close everything on ourselves, because this is the path to degradation. <...> We cannot remain isolated. The Russian market for sports equipment and sports technologies is not enough to pay for [production. – Ed.]. We will definitely need to find ways to enter the foreign market with our goods. Sports export in every sense is a trend as well,” Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
Russia will provide athletes with training camps in all climatic zones as soon as possible
“Yes, we have lost the training camps that we had in the Soviet Union in our republics, but we have been analyzing the camps in the highlands, middle mountains, Siberia, the Far East for the past two months and we can see that we are able to provide our athletes with a training process for a full preparation. We had an incredible experience preparing for the Olympic Games in the Far East, and it was a success,” Oleg Matytsin, Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation.
“We are urgently creating these camps here, in Russia. At the same time, we are further improving our existing camps in Novogorsk, the Krasnodar Territory. We need camps in different climatic zones. The most important thing is that business is involved in this process, because it sees interest and a payback horizon,” Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
“We had a meeting with the Ministry of Sport and with all Russian federations two months ago. A document is being prepared, amendments are being made to the budget. I really hope that next year the issue [of camps – Ed.], will be resolved, with consideration of the interests of federations,” Dmitry Svischev, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation on Sport and Physical Culture; President, Curling Federation of Russia.
Russian competitions in a new quality will replace international and foreign tournaments for spectators
“Practice shows that if Russian competitions are packaged correctly, they are of interest to our audience. A few weeks ago, we showed the final of the Russian Football Cup, and we followed all international standards the way we were planning to cover the Champions League. And the coverage figures in all our media (television, digital, and social networks) exceeded the figures of the Champions League final broadcast by us a day before,” Alexander Tashchin, General Producer, Match TV channel.
“We turned the sanctions that are looming over us into something good. We have created a new progressive programme. <...> It’s a programme where young and adult gymnasts can compete according to the same rules. No one is limited in anything,” Irina Viner-Usmanova, Chairman of the Commission on Physical Training and Promotion of Healthy Lifestyle, Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation; President, Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation.
“As a national sports channel, our main goal is to popularize Russian sports. We are increasing the volume of Russian sports we show. Over the past three months, the number of live sports broadcasts of Russian competitions has increased by 500 hours compared to last year. We will continue to do so,” Alexander Tashchin, General Producer, Match TV channel.
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