Russian gymnastics’ recent decision to withdraw its neutral
athletes from international competition, as a protest over some offence or
other, is highly uncharacteristic. Only a
few weeks ago, Russia was welcoming FIG President Watanabe into its gymnastics
homes, with smiles and hugs exchanged at the highest level. The gymnasts, including especially Angelina
Melnikova, have been training assiduously for a return to the international
arena. There have been excited announcements
of the names of those returning to our world of gymnastics.
Russian gymnastics has always been friendly, international
and diplomatic. Good sportsmanship is
required of athletes and is generally shown, with a few notable exceptions. During the depths of the Cold War, Russia’s
teams toured the world, staging friendship displays and offering workshops and
training. Russian officials have been at
the heart of the sport’s governance since the early 1990s and recently many
were re-elected to senior positions within the FIG.
Recently, changes have been made to the running of the sport. A new umbrella Russian Gymnastics Federation,
covering all the different forms of the sport in Russia, has been established,
with a new President, Oleg Belyozhorov, a former Deputy Minister of Transport
and CEO of Russian Railways. Artistic
Gymnastics has its own discrete Federation, led by mostly the same people as
before – Titov and the Rodionenkos. It
is unclear exactly who does the decision making, but it has so far seemed that
Artistic Gymnastics has retained its independence and managed its athletes pretty
much as before. I repeat, it has SEEMED
this way.
Thus we have had a great deal to look forward to now that
Titov and the team have got together with Watanabe and formed opportunities for
the gymnasts to compete, subject to clearance as neutral athletes. The coaches have looked as inspired as the
gymnasts at this result. It’s a real
diplomatic coup.
Perhaps rather too much of a coup for our friends at the
Russian Gymnastics Federation (the ‘Bolshoi’ one). While I’m
pretty sure that the Rodionenkos were involved in negotiations with Watunabe, I’m
almost equally sure that they are NOT behind the current decision to withdraw
neutral athletes from international competition. The old family do care about their athletes
and coaches, and it would hurt their gymnasts and their organisation to rob
them of competition.
So, while Valentina Rodionenko has a reputation for making –
ahem – unusual decisions in the past, those decisions haven’t been overtly
political and have usually been motivated for the good of the sport. Andrei Rodionenko and the other senior
coaches are models of tact and diplomacy.
And this withdrawal IS a political decision. It mirrors the alienation of the West that is
typical of Putin’s Russia at the moment, is high profile and matters to a lot
of people. I believe the decision to
have been made by the new RGF President, Oleg Belyozhorov. His organisation is bragging about the
withdrawal of the gymnasts as if they had mined some gold. Belyozhorov is hugely rich, has no background in sport. He won’t care about the future of a few 16 year olds, and would probably rather see them in battle dress.
Gymnastics, the most watched Olympic sport, is the poorer
for Belyozhorov’s deliberate wastage of his country’s national talent. For, it seems to me, this is the final stage
for Russian gymnastics. It is a tragedy.