General
The gravedigger of Russian sports rushed to save us. And not afraid of US sanctions
Sudden transformation of consciousness.
The terribly long period of all sorts of hardships of Russian athletes is closely connected with the name of Richard McLaren. It was the Canadian lawyer who investigated the anti-doping violations, which, according to the former head of the Russian Anti-Doping Center, Grigory Rodchenkov, took place between 2012 and 2014.
As a result, since 2016 we have been constantly suffering from the consequences of the so-called “McLaren report”: the cancellation of the Biathlon World Cup stages, suspension from international sports competitions and, key, the inextricable negative connection between Russia and doping, which was actively built by McLaren and his associates.
Surprisingly, now that the culture of canceling our sport has entered a new orbit, the Canadian has dramatically changed his position. McLaren calls to allow Russian athletes to international starts.
Richard decided to go against the whole world or just wants to hype?
Canadian duo
Richard McLaren is a person whose fateful role in the fate of our athletes is a vivid example of chance, not a natural sequence. Until 2000, the Canadian had absolutely nothing to do with sports. He has taught at the University of Western Ontario and developed his own firm while immersed in mortgage law, commercial arbitration and data security. As you can see, the word “sport” does not appear anywhere.
But in 1998, at the age of 53, he became a member of the CAS Special Unit for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and two years later, Richard was asked to investigate possible steroid use in American sports. From that moment on, he begins to gradually immerse himself in the legal intricacies of a new world for himself, but at the same time he does not forget to do more familiar things – the university and business.
In general, McLaren was in no hurry to completely immerse himself in the problems of doping in sports, but his acquaintance with his namesake and compatriot Richard Pound played the same role, as a result of which many of our athletes ended up on the sidelines of world tournaments.
Pound, being the first president of WADA, invited McLaren to work on an investigation into possible doping in the camp of the Russian national team. So, since 2015, two Canadians have been working hard, the results of which are known to everyone.
As the investigation progressed, Pound openly called on the IOC to remove Russia from the Rio 2016 Summer Games. But Thomas Bach at that time was more loyal to our Olympians, so only representatives of the Paralympic team suffered, which in essence looked like an even more stupid decision of the international community.
McLaren, of course, could not avoid the Russophobic influence that literally hovered around the team that conducted the investigation. As a result – his two independent reports, based on the testimony of Grigory Rodchenkov and not supported by factual explanations of how our country replaced the samples of athletes. However, this was enough to convince the world of the dishonesty of Russian athletes.
Hype or real opinion?
In 2015, McLaren was 70 years old – a pretty impressive age for the serious pressure that Richard certainly faced. His older comrade Pound is three years older. A tandem of age, but not a timid one, and coped with the load.
However, after those events, the Canadian lawyer left the stage, so it seemed that his time was gone. Perhaps McLaren himself felt the same, because in the midst of Russophobic sentiments throughout world sports, he decided to prove himself by unexpectedly taking the side of our athletes:
“The way they are treated is unfair. Athletes are not related to events in politics. I think these are strong arguments for returning them to the competition. If the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides in favor of the athletes, the associations will be forced to allow them to compete on the world stage, Sportschau quotes Richard McLaren as saying about Russian and Belarusian athletes.
Positive words in the context of Russia from the lips of McLaren naturally resonate:
– I did not expect such statements from McLaren. The thesis “Sport is out of politics” still did not lose its relevance, although, of course, it has been violated lately. Now we can agree with McLaren’s statement. Obviously, Russian athletes should be allowed to participate in international competitions. Now we are waiting for Bach to say such words. I hope that the IOC will change its position,” Alexander Zhukov told Match TV.
The emotions of the honorary head of the ROC were also supported by Irina Rodnina, who wonders if Richard really decided to rehabilitate himself?
But it seems that in this story, the 77-year-old lawyer may have a more prosaic reason to go out to the public: Richard just wanted attention, and there is no better way to get it than to go against the whole world. And in this case, he, apparently, is not at all afraid of condemnation and sanctions from the United States. In the end, McLaren now risks nothing, because he has already played his role in the Russophobic campaigns.
Source: Sportbox
I have been working as a sports journalist for about 6 years now. I currently work as an author at Sportish, which is a sports news website. I mainly cover sports news and I love writing about all aspects of the sport. I also have experience working as a broadcast journalist, so I have some great insights into how sport is reported and presented.
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.
General
The head of the IOC about the 2026 World Cup: “If I hadn’t seen the warm relationship between Trump and Infantino, I would have been a little wary”
Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump / Photo: © Chip Somodevilla / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry said she was pleased to see warm relations between US President Donald Trump and FIFA chief Gianni Infantino ahead of the World Cup.
In December, Infantino awarded Trump the peace prize, which FIFA established in 2025. This happened during the draw for the group stage of the 2026 World Cup.
“If I hadn’t seen such a relationship, I would have been a little wary.” This is fine. And I am also confident that the closer the 2028 Games get, the closer and closer the relationship between the United States and the IOC will be,” Coventry said during a conversation with reporters.
Match TV will exclusively show all matches of the final stage of the World Cup, which will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026 in the USA, Mexico and Canada. The tournament games will be shown live on Match TV, on thematic channels and digital platforms of the holding.
The Olympic Games in Los Angeles will be held from July 14 to July 30, 2028.
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.
General
“There are 1,600 people working on site.” The IOC assured that the hockey arena will be ready for the 2026 Olympics
The Santa Giulia hockey arena, where matches of the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy are to be held, will be completed before the start of the competition, said Christophe Dubi, executive director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Earlier in January, a test match at the arena was stopped due to serious problems with the ice. The meeting, in which the Kaltern and Varese teams took part, had to be interrupted when a hole appeared in the ice. The arena staff doused her with water.
— Is there anything to work on? Yes, a lot. I’m not a construction expert, but this is not a difficult job, so everything regarding the systems, especially cooling, power supply, timing, scoring, is all in order. Cameras, I saw them. We have excellent lighting. There are still a lot of finishing touches left, right?
Some preparatory work is needed. They employ a lot of people. Everything will be ready, no doubt. Half of the locker rooms are ready, the other half will be completed in the coming days. When the competition starts, everything will be fine, no problem.
I take my hat off to everyone who was able to create such an object in such a short time. As you know, this has always been a difficult project. It started late, but this is where we talk about the goals of creating the best conditions for the Games for athletes. This means everything is assembled. 1,600 workers a day work at the site to prepare it. We held a test event, which the NHL also liked in terms of ice quality, which is a priority for us. As for everything else, we’ll go there on Friday. We will be ready to host the best athletes,” Dubey said while talking to reporters.
The women’s Olympic hockey tournament starts on February 5, the men’s on February 11.
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.
-
Ligue 13 years agoRenato Sanchez signed in Paris for five years
-
Europa League4 years agoIn transfer alert at Olympiakos for additions and concessions
-
Europa League4 years agoFenerbahce – Eintracht 1: 1: The Germans took 1st place in the Olympiacos group
-
Europa League4 years agoWithout Nainggolan and Samata, the 11th team from Antwerp
-
Europa League4 years agoEuropa League
-
Europa League4 years agoAtalanta announced the acquisition of Boga
-
Europa League4 years agoFears that Zapata will be out for 4 months
-
Premier League4 years agoExcept for the rest of January, Sean was injured