from Moscow
No knowledge, no anthem, but strength. This is the summary of Russia’s participation in the Tokyo Olympics. Or to be more precise, the Russian Olympic Committee.
During the conflict in Japan, the delegation of 333 athletes, winning 20 gold, 28 silver and 23 bronze medals.
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The total number of medals 71 was the best performance since the 2000 Sydney Games.
Five years ago, there were 56 medals in Rio – 19 gold, 17 silver and 20 bronze.
With gold medals in mind, the Russians took fifth place after the United States, China, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee, considered the performance very positive.
“I am very satisfied with the performance of our athletes. They fought heroically with competitors, sometimes with judges. However, everyone on our team are champions who did their job in these Olympics. The team will come home with honor,” he said.
“The overall results surpassed those of Rio de Janeiro and London. We could have competed for third place overall, but it was not due to a series of circumstances.”
After all the initial indignation at WADA’s punishment – reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport from four to two years – for a state doping scheme, the Russians enjoyed the games and even made waves.
The abbreviation ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) has been used in many actions.
On television, a commercial was released with the hashtag #WewillROCyou, referring to the group’s famous song Queen.
During the matches, whenever there was a dispute over the medal between the Russians, the committee posted on its Telegram channel that the match would be a final for Roc’n Roll.
It was as if it happened, for example, in mixed doubles in tennis, swordplay and fencing.
Naturally, the winning athletes lamented that they could not sing the Russian anthem at the top of the podium. But Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 has also moved.
However, President Vladimir Putin criticized the whole situation throughout the country.
“As for the national anthem, the flag, and so on, I think the CAS decision is still, to some extent, political. Why? Because when we talk about doping, then always – this has been the world practice up to now – we refer to an athletic position. A particular person, or his coach, is towards her and his degree has been determined. The blame is always individual. Here they have decided for some reason not to.”
On Sunday, hours after the closing ceremony, an event was held in Red Square with most of the athletes who had returned from Tokyo.
The tribute, called “From Russia with Love”, was at its height the performance of the Russian anthem and the melody of Tchaikovsky. And of course, the song “We Will Rock You” couldn’t be missing.
After 3 years, in Paris, everything will be as before. Russia will indeed be Russia at the Olympics.
But first, she still has to show her full role at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The competition will begin on February 7, when the sanction remains in effect.
