Russian minister calls for dialogue with the International Olympic Committee
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Russia's Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev attends a meeting of the presidential council for the development of physical culture and sports in Ufa on Oct 17.
PHOTO: AFP
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MOSCOW – Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev, tipped to fill the vacant position of the country’s Olympic chief, called for improved ties and an end to polemics with the International Olympic Committee on Oct 17.
Degtyarev spoke at a top-level sport meeting, attended by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, days after the surprise resignation of the head of the national Olympic committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who cited the need for change in view of the “geopolitical challenges” facing Russian sport.
“Returning to the Olympic movement in accordance with the contributions of Russian and Soviet sport.
“And restoring the rights of our athletes – this is the policy we will stick to,” Russian news agencies quoted Degtyarev as telling reporters.
“There is every reason to say there is readiness for dialogue, including, unofficially, with IOC members.
“We need to maintain dialogue without insulting each other or shaking our fists.”
Russia, and the Soviet Union before it, were top medal contenders at Summer and Winter Olympics for decades.
Russia, however, was banned from competing as a team at the 2024 Paris Games because of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Only a handful of athletes took part as neutrals, subject to vetting by the IOC to ensure they had not supported the invasion or maintained links with the military.
Russian officials denounced as discriminatory the ban, which also applied to athletes from Belarus, a close ally of Moscow which allowed the Kremlin to use its territory in the invasion.
Tass news agency said Degtyarev was nominated for the post by Russian Tennis Federation head Shamil Tarpishchev at a meeting in the central city of Ufa.
It said Mr Putin noted that his candidature “deserved the most careful consideration”.
A professional fencer, Pozdnyakov was elected as the committee chief in 2018 as Russia faced a string of doping scandals that saw it barred the following year from a number of Olympic sports for four years.
Pozdnyakov condemned the IOC ruling that Russian athletes could compete at Paris 2024 only as neutrals and urged Russian athletes not to take part.
After Russia announced a mobilisation of men to fight in Ukraine, Pozdnyakov said athletes should consider “serving the motherland” as an “honourable duty”.
His daughter Sofia Pozdniakova, who won two Olympic fencing gold medals in Tokyo, was one of those athletes who did not compete in Paris.
In the end, 15 Russian athletes participated under the neutral flag, returning with a solitary silver medal in the women’s tennis doubles.
Moscow slammed the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics as a “massive failure” and has promised to host its own “Friendship Games”, although when this will happen is not clear. REUTERS, AFP
