Western hopes of a mass exodus of athletes from the country did not materialize, Oleg Matytsin said
Russian athletes have shown unity in the face of bans imposed on national sports over the conflict in Ukraine, with most of them taking “the right and patriotic stance,” Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin has said.
The decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Russia from the Games in Paris next summer “was not guided by the Olympic Charter,” Matytsin said on Friday, as cited by Tass news agency.
The West targeted Russian sports stars in an attempt to hurt the country’s leadership, “hoping that now there would be an internal split, and that many athletes would flee abroad” to compete in international events, the minister noted. He was addressing athletes and representatives of sports federations in the Siberian city of Tomsk.
“I am proud of our athletes, coaches, federations. I can say that no one fled anywhere,” the minister stressed.
Matytsin acknowledged that “a few” sport stars did make the decision to compete for other countries, but the majority “took the right and patriotic stance,” and stayed in Russia.
The ministry has developed a special “anti-sanctions plan” in order to assure the development of the country’s sports in the face of international bans, he said.
It is aimed “at creating a competitive environment within the country by increasing the number of tournaments, holding training camps, and creating new competition formats… to involve the maximum number of athletes.”
According to Matytsin, Russian sports may actually benefit from the sanctions, as previously the country’s best athletes trained mainly abroad, but their return home has led to “rejuvenation and the creation of a competitive environment” in Russia.
Earlier this month, the IOC ruled that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to take part in the Paris Games, but only as “Individual Neutral Athletes.” Such a status bars them from displaying flags, colors, and other identifying marks connected to their countries. Athletes with links to the Russian armed forces and security agencies, as well as those who participate in team sports, will remain banned from the Olympics.
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Matytsin previously described the terms imposed by the IOC as “absolutely discriminatory and going against the basic Olympic principles.”