Moscow (AP) – According to scientists, athletes play a crucial role in the system of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“To the outside world, but even more importantly to its own population, the sporting successes supposedly prove the performance or even superiority of their own state and thus also its head,” said political scientist Till Müller-Schoell from the German Sport University in Cologne.
The advantages of athletes are “their popularity, their positive image and their tendency to dependency,” added Müller-Schoell. “Popularity and image are exactly the qualities that will be transferred to Vladimir Putin in the best-case scenario. Dependence reduces the risk that criticism will be leveled,” said the expert. Many are likely to be even more connected to the state now that many sponsors have distanced themselves.
From the point of view of the population, “athletes are often ‘some of us’ and represent the country,” said sports sociologist Jan Haut from the University of Wuppertal: “When politicians show up with athletes, it’s always a staging of people close.” Most recently, Putin had several athletes such as swimmer Yevgeny Rylov and figure skater Viktoria Sinizina perform at a propaganda show in Moscow and celebrated the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea in 2014. At the same time, the current war in Ukraine should be legitimized.