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Great decision by the IOC! Star Russian skiers were invited to the Olympics
Four Russian athletes immediately received approval from the IOC. And this list may grow.
The number of Russians at the Olympic Games in Milan continues to increase. Our skiers have already received official invitations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and along with them the speed skaters. So Russian fans will definitely have someone to cheer for in Italy, but this is not the final list yet.
Norwegian skiers, for example, should definitely be very worried.
The IOC is moving in the right direction
The gradual softening of rhetoric on the part of the IOC leadership with the arrival of new president Kirsty Coventry clearly contributed to the admission of Russians to winter sports. Of course, the work of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and the Russian Olympic Committee, headed by Mikhail Degtyarev, and the efforts of specific federations also played a role. All this together gave the effect that the whole country is now observing.
Following figure skaters Adelia Petrosyan and Petr Gumennik, as well as ski mountaineering representative Nikita Filippov, short track skaters Ivan Posashkov and Alena Krylova received coveted invitations from the IOC. Considering that 1.5 years ago even such situations seemed unrealistic, this was already a victory. Now four more have been added to these athletes.
Finally, star Russian skiers Savely Korostelev and Daria Nepryaeva received final admission to the Games. The specifics of the IOC system work in such a way that it is not enough just to have a neutral status, you must first qualify and then be thoroughly checked by the IOC for compliance with Olympic principles and neutrality. Saveliy and Daria qualified for the Games back in December last year at the World Cup in Davos, but they only received an invitation on January 21.
Russia has someone to root for
Without a doubt, Korostelev and Nepryaeva are among the leaders of Russian skiing. Saveliy has repeatedly won domestic competitions (four victories at Russian championships), and Daria is the current winner of the Russian Cup. The guys returned to the international level only a month ago, but have already made great progress, repeatedly placing in the top ten in the World Cup and Tour de Ski. The foreign press is confident that our skiers will compete for medals at the Olympics, so it’s time for our Norwegian rivals to start worrying.
On the same day, our speed skaters Ksenia Korzhova and Anastasia Semenova received the green light. The first is the Russian champion at distances of 3000 and 5000 meters. In fact, the 21-year-old athlete became the owner of an Olympic license to perform in Milan in precisely these types of programs. At the national championship, her peer Semenova took bronze in the 1500 m distance and in the mass start, in which she received the coveted license for the Olympics.
Many more Russians in various sports have received neutral status from international federations, which leaves them the opportunity to qualify for the Games in Milan. In some disciplines, unfortunately, the qualifying starts have already ended, but there is a chance that some of ours will still have time to get to Italy in one way or another. In any case, fans in Russia will definitely have someone to worry about. In addition, many of those who received invitations have very real chances to compete for a good result.
Source: Sportbox
Thomas Astudillo is a sports journalist and author who writes for Sportish. He has a deep love and knowledge of sports, and is known for his engaging and informative writing on the latest sports news and events.