At the bottom: how athletics are being killed in Russia (video)

Ivan Zubov

The film by sports journalist Viktor Kravchenko should be seen not only by every athlete, coach and sports official in Russia, but also by every resident of this country. Every student and every parent. Because this is a film about how the state, with its own hands, literally buried the "queen of sports" - Russian athletics.

I will give just one example: at the Russian Athletics Championships in Cheboksary, our brilliant pole vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova set the best result of the season in the world. She is awarded a gold medal in a completely EMPTY stadium!

Later, Sidorova, the silver medalist of the Olmipiada in Tokyo, the world and European champion, a girl who does not even know how many times she is the champion of Russia, confesses to the author that she does not know why she still jumps, no one in Russia needs this, but in She cannot take part in international competitions under the flag of Russia for obvious reasons. But not only these six months, but for six years in a row, it cannot, due to the fact that Russian sports officials literally “set up” all domestic sports, forcing athletes to take doping.

And here are the results:

- due to the complete lack of competition, results are falling;

- Athletes leave because they have no one else to prove the strength of their talents;

- no one comes to replace them, because there are no prospects for Russian sports in the near future;

- the coaches leave (one of the incredibly powerful episodes of the film tells how Sidorova's coach Svetlana Abramova (they have been working together for 20 years!) Is forced to scoop dirty water from the pit for the pole at the only stadium in Moscow suitable for training in Sokolniki with a plastic bag, that is, to engage in the direct responsibility of the stadium employees!)

- the spectators leave (for the competitions of the Russian Championship in Cheboksary, horrified by the empty stands on the first day, the rest of the spectators were driven to the stands, most likely for time off, and they did not know ANY name of the athletes they were going to “cheer for” ...). Yes, at any school athletics tournament in the United States, spectators gather ten times more!

- officials, including the Minister of Sports, and former outstanding athletes, such as Irina Privalova or Yuri Borzakovsky, babble some pseudo-patriotic nonsense, urging everyone to be patient ...

The answer to the question: who and why to endure, however, remained, as they say, “behind the scenes”.

Athletes whose lives they practically ruined?

Coaches whose opinions they don't care about?

Viewers poisoned by propaganda?

And one more episode: the words of the best Russian sprinter Kristina Makarenko, who has not performed at a high international level for seven years, and, apparently, will never compete again. In Russia, she is simply not interested in competing - she is so much faster than her rivals. Christina cries into the camera, and complains that at one time there was no person who would have told her a way out. And the way out is elementary: change your passport so that your life, your only life, takes place.

Here are just a very small part of the audience's responses to this amazing film by Viktor Tkachenko:

- God. I sit, damn it, and cry. Man, 37 years old. I'm crying, damn it. A low bow from me to all coaches, respect and honor. I want to hug the girls, sincerely. I shake hands with the Paralympians, everyone, you are men. Thanks for the evening tears. Thank you for the truth, because this is such a rare bird in our time. Sorry, but we are in a complete ass ... "

- Lord, how painful it is to look at all this lawlessness, the publishing house over athletes, coaches, over the sport itself in Russia! But on TV, everyone is doing well, everyone has everything and everyone is happy. After watching this video, you just want to cry, it's a shame for them, for their strength, what they invest, and no one except them really needs it, it's very sad!

- I have a lump in my throat, it’s hard to comment on something ... My mother is the Honored Coach of Russia in athletics (World Marathon Championship) in Novoaltaisk, Altai Territory, and this film is 100% about her, about all the coaches in the regions, I’m afraid imagine when this generation of coaches is gone and what will be left on the ruins of our sport! Thank you and very sad...

- As much as Borzakovsky is a great champion, he is just as much a stupid official ... So many years in the leadership of the country's athletics - except for a stupid smile and faith in the best, I did not hear anything from his lips. Not attempts to fight doping, not to defend the interests of athletes - nothing interests him.