Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

From Match TV via VK.com.  Google translate Russian gymnast Daniil Marinov said on Match TV that he felt the willingness of the President of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Morinari Watanabe to return Russian athletes to international competitions. On Monday, Watanabe is in Novogorsk with members of the Russian national artistic and rhythmic gymnastics teams. The head of FIG is also a candidate for the post of President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 📅 We talked about the prospects for 2028, about the Olympics. What are the chances of Russia competing in them as its own country and power without any neutral flags. To which he replied that this will happen when everything calms down. It will happen without any problems. Unfortunately, there are no specifics. ⛔At the meeting with Watanabe, the conversation was about neutral statuses and how to obtain them, about refusals. Why, for example, was our star Vika Listunova refused. She was refused because of a...

Sport is the low hanging fruit of world politics. The IOC ban on Russian athletes has kept Russian soft influence to a minimum over past years. I understand the emotion.    For example, how could Nagorny (a Russian World and Olympic champion) compete alongside Ukrainian rivals when he has openly endorsed the war, and even encouraged his Russian team mates to join up and take part in the military action? In this video  FIG President Watanabe is welcomed to Round Lake, Russia’s national training centre for gymnastics, by Russian head coach Andrei Rodionenko and the aforementioned Nikita Nagorny.    Rodionenko is a long-serving member of the international gymnastics community.    He has been head coach of Soviet, Australian, Canadian and, now, the Russian teams. Watanabe is campaigning for votes in his quest to be voted IOC President.    That’s like the Prime Minister of the UK putting himself forward as Head of NATO - it’s a big step.  ...