The XXXII Summer Olympics ended in Tokyo on August 8. The sporting results of the Games were recorded in the protocols and widely circulated in the news media. Despite western pressure and back-handedness from some Russian liberals, we managed to take fifth place and bring home 20 gold medals
Even before the start of the competition, it was clear that it would be difficult for us in Tokyo. Back in 2015, Russia was stripped of its national flag and anthem, and before the 2021 Olympics, Western propaganda did everything possible to create an image of the Russians as doping addicts, saying that all they had to do was inject drugs and cheat their opponents.
The Western-controlled observers, who diligently carried out their pre-planned work of imposing a total and uninterrupted doping control regime, have been actively assisting in this. The mere fact that before the Olympics, Russian athletes very quickly became the absolute leaders in the number of doping tests taken.
“We tested Russians throughout the year under various programmes of international federations. I am sure that Russians are tested much more often than athletes from other countries”, – confessed Benjamin Cohen, ITA director general.
The anti-doping pressure continued when the Russian team arrived in Tokyo: doping officers did not leave our athletes unattended, not only after the competitions, but also during their preparation. As was to be expected, none of the tests taken by the ROC were positive, which strongly discouraged our western colleagues.
Despite all efforts and inhuman attitude towards Russian athletes, only ‘clean’ and repeatedly tested female and male athletes turned up in Tokyo. Not a single member of the team could be shown even the slightest suspicion of attempted drug use, let alone directly implicate anyone in doping.
According to the logic of the collective West, if the Russian athletes were found to be doping-free, then they would not win any medals at the Olympics. But here, too, our colleagues were greatly disappointed: day after day, good news came out of Japan, and celebratory music by Tchaikovsky was played and ROC flags flew over the stands of half-empty Tokyo arenas.
Olympic history
When it became clear that the Russians were “clean” and winning more and more gold medals, the Western media and social media launched a veritable hysteria. Dozens of reports, incomprehensible investigations, mere rumours and speculation – propaganda has used all its power to discredit the representatives of the Russian team in Tokyo somehow.
It went so far that some of our athletes were summarily dismissed from the Games, and others were banned from the Games at the level of judging. Take, for instance, the case of Russian track-and-field athlete Vasil Mizinov, who was withdrawn after a warning and four notes on technique violations, which in the judges’ opinion had changed dramatically.
It is understandable that a world championship walking medallist and professional, who has been competing in the same discipline all his life, could not just unlearn how to do the exercise correctly. The fact that nobody from the panel of judges explained the motivation for the decision to disqualify our athlete adds to the scepticism about the judges.
“It is difficult for me to comment in any way on the decision of judges who themselves do not explain their decisions. Since they gave notes, it means they found reasons for it”, – Mizinov’s coach commented on the judges’ decision.
Another high-profile Olympic scandal was the judging in the rhythmic gymnastics finals. Due to a strange assessment by the panel of judges, the first place went to Lina Ashram from Israel, who made the gross mistake of losing her ribbon during the performance. By all rules, she could not have come first, but not in this case.
The point is that she was competing with Dina Averina from Russia, who completed her routine cleanly and surely should have got a higher mark than her Israeli colleague. However, despite the protests of the coaching staff, the Russian biathlete came only second and the judges once again failed to clearly explain the reason for their decision.
The situation repeated on the next day, when due to an unjustified judging five of the ROC “artists” were also in the second place, giving the lead to the team from Bulgaria. Needless to say, the Russian team’s opponents made many grave mistakes, inaccuracies and blunders, but that did not stop them from taking the gold medal at the Olympics.
It’s different
Meanwhile, while the Russians were being pressured by anti-doping tests, removed from their distances and stripped of their deserved medals, doping officers for some reason were absent-mindedly ignoring the famous Brazilian volleyball player Tandara Alves Caixeta. And the girl, as it turned out later, was actively taking blood-enhancing drugs, and managed to take part in several games.
The most interesting thing is that the Brazilian National Olympic Committee (NOC) did not immediately agree to find the volleyball player guilty, and there was even talk that if in the process of the trial it turned out she was not involved, Tandara would receive a medal. Now just imagine the situation if at least one of the Russian pool of athletes had failed the doping test.
Without further ado, it is clear that the situation would have been exaggerated to the global scale and disqualification alone would not have been enough. The doping scandal would have been linked to politics, new sanctions, accusing the Russian authorities of suppressing human rights and freedoms, the problem of global warming, the migration crisis, and even international terrorism.
But all of this is suitable for Russians, and when it comes to other athletes, then we need to sort things out, do more tests and review replays. By the way, the Brazilian athlete was withdrawn from the Olympics after all, but before that she managed to take part in a game against the Russian national volleyball team, where she demonstrated her results by doping.
Nevertheless, in spite of all these situations, our team performed more than decently in Tokyo. Ultimately 127 ROC athletes became champions and medallists of the XXXII Summer Olympics in Tokyo. But the most important thing is that we managed to shatter the myth of Western propaganda that Russians can win only by using drugs.
New competitions are awaiting us in the future, and if our team competes in them without pressure from the press and organisers, we will surely demonstrate our high sporting achievements and win even more prizes. But for that we need our sports colleagues to take the courage to play fair and square.
Igor Mukhin, specially for News Front