The departure of Russia from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro can turn into a “disgrace to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, willing to use sports for political purposes,” the article says browser the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung Frank Nienhuysen.
Cheering athletes is a temptation can not resist a policy: the winners in tights colors of the national flag always throw the spotlight on politicians like Merkel, Hollande, or Obama. “But Vladimir Putin is a bit different – he loves to create these beams by myself, says the author: – in recent years, no other world politician had made so many efforts in order to stake a claim for his country’s many major sporting events, and hardly anyone else was as successful as he is. Here and the Olympic games in Sochi and the world hockey championship and the world Cup”.
His thirst for action mind-blowing, and, nevertheless, “it can hardly be explained only by the fact that the President himself likes to play sports and shows it, whether that be judo, hockey or horse riding”. According to Nienhuysen, “in contrast: a healthy body is a symbol of a healthy state, as opposed to the Yeltsin reign, when he was ill and the President, and the country”. “Since then, politics and sports in Russia, made a close Alliance. They help and serve each other, – the author continues. – Under Putin, the sport has become a pillar of his political power, a metaphor for the new international showdowns, first with the Americans.” But now on this success story, it seems, were in danger.
In the end, the fact that the Russian government helped the athletes to improve their results, threaten to “slow down Putin’s ambitions to make Russia a sporting nation”, said the author. The head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, is under heavy pressure, sports organizations and athletes around the world are demanding the excommunication of the entire Russian Olympic team from the Olympics.
“A lack of Russian athletes, flags and medals in Rio will be a worse disgrace than the knockout until the final game of the home world Cup of hockey, and even an early departure from the championship of Europe on football,” concludes Nienhuysen.
