The absence of Russian athletes can be seen very concretely in cross-country skiing, writes Santtu Silvennoinen.
The backlash of Vladimir Putin’s arbitrary hostilities in top-level sports is that Russian athletes have been put on ice on almost every sport. AOP
“This shit for men’s skiing is this Olympics. Cod takes everything, Iivo’s punches for normal trips and a few coincidences for others in the sprint ”.
The annoyed message sent by the Finnish ski coach on March 12 came. Falun was the last personal start of the World Cup at that time, with the men 15 kilometers free, and the Norwegians took 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place.
A week earlier, on the Kollen’s 50-kilometer royal voyage, the Norwegians took a triple victory and got seven men in eleven fines, although Johannes Kläbo, among others, was absent from the corona.
The war of aggression launched by Russia’s authoritarian President Vladimir Putin at the end of February ended a period of about 30 years of top sport. The last decades of the last millennium are remembered for boycotts and various collective closures because of world politics, but in the 21st century, countries were thrown out of sporting events “only” for doping offenses.
Ski medals will be redistributed when the Russians are not involved. AOP
The setting aside of the Russians from all sports activities can be seen very concretely in cross-country skiing, when the result lists are very different from, say, the Beijing Winter Olympics in February.
The team at the Russian Olympic Committee was the number one cross-country team in cross-country skiing at China’s five-ring event with eleven medals: four gold, four silver and three bronze. Norway received eight (5–1–2) medals, Finland six (1–2–3) and Sweden four (1–2–1) medals.
– There will be a big difference in the competitions, because the contribution of Russian men in particular has been very significant. There is no denying that the absence of the Russians would be a competitively significant loss for cross-country skiing, says Reijo Jylhä, Iltalehti’s skiing expert.
The chances of success for Finland and many other countries are greater when the Russians are not involved. Kimmo Brandt / EPA / AOP
Even if Putin ends his war in Ukraine in the coming weeks, the cold for Russian athletes may well continue for a long time to come. Among other things, the International Athletics Federation has already announced that the Russians will in all cases have a ban on the Eugene World Championships in July and the European Championships in Munich in August.
Individual speeches by the decision-makers of the International Olympic Committee have highlighted the continuation of the ban on competition until the Summer Games of 2024 and the Winter Games of 2026.
The longer Putin continues his delusional attack, the more likely the Russians will be out in the cross-country skiing season of 2022-23.
It is very possible that the Russians will not be taken back into international sports until Putin is ousted.
Therese Johaug’s career ended this season. PASSI FLAME
If Beijing had been beaten without the Russians, Iivo Niskanen would have won the 30-kilometer combination race and fourth place finisher Kerttu Niskanen would have won four bronze medals instead of one: a 15-kilometer combined race, a double message and a 4×5-kilometer message.
When Therese Johaug ended her career and the Russians are likely to be on the sidelines next year, there is room at the top of women’s skiing. If success motivates Krista Pärmäkoski, who is still nutty, the skis should not be put in the bag after this season.
