At these very moments the opening ceremony is taking place in Pyeongchang Olympic Games— 2018. And just a few minutes ago, during the traditional parade of athletes, the Russian national team walked in front of an audience of thousands. Under a neutral (Olympic) flag.
At the ceremony opening XXII I Winter Games in the Republic of Korea Russian athletes appeared led by a volunteer who carried a neutral flag (previously, the standard bearer was always one of the athletes, a representative of the Russian team).
It must be said that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not only deprived our athletes of the opportunity to march under their native flag, but also carried out a “cleansing” of Russian national symbols at the Pyeongchang Games on all other fronts - in Korea now there is practically not a single image with the flag Russia.
At the same time, the media note that there is a possibility that the Russian flag will appear at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Olympics. This can happen if the Russian Olympic Committee is restored by the IOC by that time.
What is a neutral (Olympic) flag
The neutral (Olympic) flag is a white canvas with a olympic symbol in the form of five intertwined rings (blue, yellow, black, green and red), symbolizing the unity of the five continents.
Athletes from countries that have been temporarily deprived of IOC recognition or are in the process of formation compete under this flag. A number of other circumstances are provided for. Thus, in 2014, the Indian team competed under a neutral flag due to the suspension of the membership of their Olympic committees, and in 2016, the Kuwait team.
There have been cases when athletes at will(usually due to political reasons) tried to participate in the Olympics under a neutral flag, but the IOC rejected their requests.
Why Russia passed under a neutral flag
ABOUT doping scandal and, perhaps, everyone has already heard about Russia, which found itself in its center.
In early December last year, the International Olympic Committee decided to disqualify the Russian Olympic Committee and admit only “clean” Russian athletes to the Games.
Russians' opinion
The majority of Russians, 48 percent, supported the participation of the Russian team in the Olympics in Pyeongchang under a neutral flag. In particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin shares this opinion.
We, without any doubt, will not declare any blockade, we will not prevent our Olympians from taking part if any of them wants to take part in a personal capacity,
Putin said, noting that the athletes “have been moving toward this competition throughout their entire lives.”
However, 34 percent of respondents still said that the Games should be boycotted.
Photo Gettyimages.ru
TASS DOSSIER. Neutral flag, under which on February 9, 2018 at the opening ceremony X XIII winter The Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (Republic of Korea) will include a team of Olympic athletes from Russia, carried by a volunteer appointed by the organizing committee of the competition. The editors of TASS-DOSSIER have prepared a certificate about who were the standard bearers of the USSR and Russian national teams, as well as the Unified Team during the opening ceremonies of the previous Winter Olympics.
Soviet athletes made their debut at the Winter Olympic Games in 1956. The standard bearer of the USSR national team at the opening ceremony of the VII Winter Olympic Games (Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy) on January 26, 1956 was multiple champion world by speed skating Oleg Goncharenko. At the 1956 Games he won bronze awards at distances of 5000 m and 10000 m.
18 February 1960 Soviet flag during the opening ceremony of VIII Winter Olympics(Squaw Valley, California, USA) was carried by Olympic champion (1956) in hockey Nikolai Sologubov. At the 1960 Games as part of the team Soviet Union he won a bronze medal.
On January 29, 1964, the standard bearer of the USSR national team at the opening ceremony of the IX Winter Olympic Games (Innsbruck, Austria) was four-time Olympic champion (1956 - twice, 1960 - twice) in speed skating Evgeniy Grishin. At the 1964 Games he won silver medal at a distance of 500 m.
On February 6, 1968, the Soviet flag was carried by the world champion (1967) in biathlon Viktor Mamatov during the opening ceremony of the X Winter Olympics (Grenoble, France). At the 1968 Games, he won a gold medal as part of the relay team.
On February 3, 1972, the standard bearer of the USSR national team at the opening ceremony of the XI Winter Olympic Games (Sapporo, Japan) was two-time champion Peace (1970) by ski racing Vyacheslav Vedenin. At the 1972 Games, he won gold medals in the 30 km individual race and relay.
On February 4, 1976, the Soviet flag during the opening ceremony of the XII Winter Olympics (Innsbruck, Austria) was carried by Olympic champion (1972), two-time world champion (1970, 1971) in hockey Vladislav Tretyak. At the 1976 Games, as a member of the Soviet Union team, he again won a gold medal.
On February 13, 1980, he was the standard bearer of the USSR national team at the opening ceremony of the XIII Winter Olympic Games ( Lake Placid, pcs. New York, USA) was three-time Olympic champion (1968, 1972, 1976), multiple world champion in biathlon Alexander Tikhonov. At the 1980 Games he won gold medal in the relay race.
On February 8, 1984, the Soviet flag was again carried by Vladislav Tretyak during the opening ceremony of the XIV Winter Olympics (Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina). At the 1984 Games, as a member of the Soviet Union team, he won the third gold medal in his career. Olympic medal.
On February 13, 1988, the standard bearer of the USSR national team at the opening ceremony of the XV Winter Olympic Games in Calgary (Canada) was figure skater Andrei Bukin. At the 1988 Games, paired with Natalya Bestemyanova, he won the competition in ice dancing.
On February 8, 1992, the Olympic flag, under which the Joint Team (including representatives of six former Soviet republics - Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine) competed at the XVI Winter Olympic Games in Albertville (France), was carried by the Olympic champion (1988) , multiple world champion in biathlon Valery Medvedtsev. At the 1992 Games, he won a silver medal as part of the relay team.
On February 12, 1994, the standard bearer of the Russian team at the opening ceremony of the XVII Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer (Norway) was Olympic champion (1988) and world champion (1989) in biathlon Sergei Chepikov. At the 1994 Games he won sprint race for 10 km.
February 7, 1998 Russian flag During the opening ceremony of the XVIII Winter Olympics (Nagano, Japan) was carried by Olympic champion (1988) and world champion (1997) in cross-country skiing Alexei Prokurorov.
On February 8, 2002, the standard bearer of the Russian team at the opening ceremony of the XIX Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) was again Alexey Prokurorov.
On February 10, 2006, the Russian flag was carried by speed skater Dmitry Dorofeev during the opening ceremony of the XX Winter Olympics (Turin, Italy). At the 2006 Games he won a silver medal in the 500 m.
On February 12, 2010, the standard bearer of the Russian team at the opening ceremony of the XXI Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver (Canada) was two-time world champion (2008, 2009) in hockey Alexey Morozov.
February 7, 2014, the Russian flag during the opening ceremony of the XXII Winter Olympics (Sochi, Krasnodar region) was carried by world champion (2011) in bobsleigh Alexander Zubkov.
He called on future participants of the 2018 Winter Olympics from Russia to take small flags and symbols of the regions to Pyeongchang in order to compensate for the absence of the national tricolor at the site of the events. The senator also intends to address through social networks to fans going to support athletes in Korea.
According to Poletaev’s idea, sports fans should definitely support his impulse.
“The Russian tricolor, in accordance with the decision of the International Olympic Committee, cannot be carried to our athletes who will compete at the Olympics,” the politician said. -
But if they carry flags of 85 Russian regions, this will not be a violation, and Russian symbols and Russia will thereby be represented at the Games.”
Poletaev is confident that some senators will go to Pyeongchang as ordinary fans. He expects his colleagues to follow his call.
Earlier, the IOC Executive Committee decided to exclude Russia from the 2018 Olympics. Only individual athletes who have not had problems with doping in the past and have not served a disqualification on this issue will be able to compete at the Games. The possibility of participation of each of them will be considered by a special IOC commission on an individual basis.
The presence of many people in Korea is considered undesirable Russian coaches and sports officials.
The Deputy Prime Minister for Sports and the former Deputy Minister of Sports have been banned for life from any activities related to the Olympic movement.
The head of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) lost his membership in the IOC and received an indefinite suspension (with the right to reinstatement) due to sanctions imposed on the organization he heads. The former head of the Sochi 2014 organizing committee, and now the boss of the Continental hockey league(KHL).
At the same time, some other functionaries, although not named by name, are included in the secret “stop list” of the IOC. First of all, this applies to those individuals who were part of the official Russian delegation at the 2014 Games.
In the current situation, the president of the Russian Hockey Federation (RFH) plans to go to Pyeongchang as a simple fan.
“I’m not worried at all, if I’m not allowed, I’ll go as a fan. There is no excitement,” Tretyak said.
The powers of the initiator of the idea to provide athletes with regional flags, Senator Poletaev, expire in September 2019. He is deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Rules and Organization of Parliamentary Activities. In 2016, together with two colleagues, he came up with a proposal to tighten responsibility for desecration of the Russian anthem.
According to the bill, those who insult the Russian anthem are subject to punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to a year or forced labor for up to one year.
Poletaev regularly comes out with various initiatives. Among other things, he spoke out for revising the schoolchildren training system and the Unified State Examination assessment system. The senator is a supporter of the introduction of a “road map” aimed at improving the road transport situation in Russia by improving the quality of training and testing the knowledge of drivers in driving schools.
Political strategist Vyacheslav reacted to Poletaev’s initiative regarding the symbols of the regions with a fair amount of skepticism. In his opinion, the activity of some officials is more like attempts to justify themselves instead of taking responsibility for the current state of affairs.
“There are two approaches here. The first is that if we didn’t succeed, then crutches won’t save us. And such a proposal looks like crutches. Instead of statements from the Federation Council, our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Sports should think about resignation as the softest option,” Ivanov told Gazeta.Ru. -
Everything is very sad, and we see attempts to justify ourselves instead of taking responsibility and leaving our positions.
Another thing is that it is pointless to boycott the Olympics, but those of our athletes who will go to it must understand that they are “kamikazes”, because they will try in every possible way to remove them from competitions and look for doping. And there is a danger that many of them will simply bury their careers by coming to Pyeongchang, because everything is not over yet, and our athletes will simply be finished off. And with what symbols they will be finished off, this no longer interests anyone.”
Ivanov does not exclude that athletes from Russia who manage to prove themselves at the Games will then fail doping control - and not necessarily due to the actual use of prohibited substances.
“When they say that for many this may be the only or last Olympics in their lives, you need to understand that they will be treated there as outcasts who have lost the fight to prove that it was all a slander,” the expert believes. -
And if someone shows them good results, it cannot be ruled out that their doping tests will ultimately be positive.
Therefore, if we were the athletes, we should still think about whether to go or not in order to try to avoid bad consequences, but if we were the officials, it would be time for them to retire.”
Other news, materials and statistics can be found at winter species sports, as well as in groups of the sports department on social networks
The flag of the delegation of Olympic athletes from Russia will be carried by a volunteer at the opening ceremony. This is what the IOC decided.
FROM THE HISTORY OF THE QUESTION
This is bad?
Let's look at history.
Neutral teams at the Olympics are not uncommon. Not every time, but often at the Opening Ceremony, along with the rest of the delegations, a modest group of athletes marches through the stadium under Olympic flag. As a rule, from small, newly formed countries that have just gained independence, but have not yet managed to join the IOC. Or - from teams that were thereby disqualified by the IOC (usually for political reasons), but at the same time the athletes themselves were able to receive the notorious invitation to the Games. For example, in London 2012 such a team of “neutral Olympic athletes” included four people from two countries (Curacao and South Sedan), in Sydney 2000 - three (from East Timor), in Rio 2016 there were two of them (from Kuwait) . At the same time, both won medals! They competed in shooting, Fekhail Al-Dikhani took gold, Abdullah Al-Rashidi took bronze.
Even at the Olympics in Brazil, the “Olympic Refugee Team” appeared for the first time (the IOC in general, apparently, likes to experiment with various variations of neutral teams). It included athletes who received official refugee status, confirmed by the UN, and were selected for the Games according to the usual qualification standards in their events. 10 such people came to Rio at once - natives of Syria, South Sudan, DC Congo and Ethiopia. They also took part in the Opening Ceremony.
Who carried the flag in each case? Here everything is different. In Sydney it was an athlete - boxer Victor Ramos. Volunteer in London. In Rio, it is the “independent Olympic team” - those same two Kuwaiti shooters - who also has a volunteer. But the “refugee team” has an athlete again (runner Rose Lokonjen).
A previously unknown, special neutral team will make its debut in Korea - Olympic athletes from Russia. And, presumably, the IOC spent many sleepless nights deciding what to do with it at the opening ceremony. More precisely, who should be entrusted with its flag at the opening ceremony.
The most important. Olympic flag!
Tricky MOK
There were only two positions to choose from - volunteer/athlete. Volunteer preferred. Stanislav Pozdnyakov, first vice-president of the ROC, announced a similar decision. We haven't heard any details.
However... Do you need them?
We have already competed under the Olympic flag. When the CIS team arrived in Barcelona and Albertville in 1992. The situation was different then. The USSR collapsed, and for now they decided not to divide the delegation of athletes. Everyone understood what kind of team this was. Whom does it represent? Just like now. With one exception, the decision to change the flag was made by us ourselves. Not the IOC.
On summer games The banner was carried by wrestler Alexander Karelin. In winter - biathlete Valery Medvedtsev.
And now?
Half of the fans in the country still don’t understand why we went to Korea in the first place? After everything that happened? Biathletes have already refused to participate in the opening ceremony. And they are unlikely to be alone in this decision. There are a number of reasons why the boycott should have been abandoned. Boycott the entire Olympics. But competitions are one thing. What about the ceremony?
She is not important to us now. Our flag was taken from us. They took away our symbols. We can't even write just "Russia" - without adding "Olympic athletes from". In such a situation, who would want to become the standard bearer of a “faceless” team? Carrying your native tricolor at the Opening is a great pride! And to carry the IOC flag, which eloquently showed with what contempt and how prejudiced it treats your team...
Shame is not shame. But something very close.
The IOC understood this. We played ahead of the curve. Again - to save face. Like, we ourselves decided - a volunteer will carry the flag! It’s not that you refused to carry it yourself...
I wonder, in the context of the whole situation - do you really care that everything turned out this way?
Maria Sharapova will carry the Russian flag at the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. the site pulls out text from the archive about all domestic standard bearers - previously they were exclusively men.
For the first time, teams participating in the Olympics marched under their national flags at the opening ceremony of the 1908 Games in London. Since then, this has become a tradition that has never been broken.
(Helsinki-1952)
The first standard-bearer of the USSR national team at the Olympics was the famous heavyweight weightlifter Yakov Kutsenko. From 1937 to 1952, he won two victories at the European Championships, once won silver at the World Championships, and set a total of 58 USSR records and 4 world records.
In 1952 he won the final again personal championship USSR, beating Alexei Medvedev. But the leaders of the team, obviously afraid of the American heavyweight weightlifters (primarily the legendary John Davis), did not enter anyone at all in this category. And Kutsenko went to Finland as an honored coach and... standard-bearer.
Kutsenko's assistant at the opening ceremony was Galina Zybina, our champion in the shot put, who became the only woman awarded the honor of walking next to the flag of our country.
(Melbourne-1956)
Four years later, a situation similar to the story of Yakov Kutsenko arose. The heavyweight weightlifter Alexey Medvedev was again chosen as the standard bearer. And again, our sports leaders were afraid of defeat - the American Paul Anderson and the Argentinean Umberto Selvetti seemed very strong. Medvedev was removed from the starting list. Anderson won with a result of 490 kg. And at the demonstrative “evening of records,” Medvedev raised 487.5 in triathlon and earned Selvetti’s praise. A year later, Alexey became the world champion with a result of 500 kg.
(Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964)
In 1960, the weightlifter, the legendary heavyweight Yuri Vlasov, was again chosen as the standard bearer. By that time he was already the world champion (Warsaw 1959) and European champion (Milan 1960). Fortunately, he did not repeat the fate of his predecessors - he performed at the Olympics. He pushed a weight unimaginable at that time - 202.5 kg (a world record), showed 537.5 kg in triathlon, and journalists called those Games the “Vlasov Olympics”.
Four years later, Vlasov was again assigned to carry the country’s red flag. In Tokyo, he was considered the favorite, but lost gold in a dramatic fight to his compatriot Leonid Zhabotinsky, who then set a new world record in the clean and jerk (217.5 kg).
At the closing ceremony, the Soviet flag was entrusted to Jabotinsky. In front of the box of the Emperor of Japan, the flag was supposed to be bowed, but our athlete, who carried the flag with one hand (the other hand was injured), did not do this. Both in Japan and at home they gave him a debriefing. It is believed that it was precisely for this oversight that he was not nominated for a high state award.
(Mexico City-1968)
Despite the incident in Tokyo, Jabotinsky was again entrusted with carrying the flag at the opening ceremony of the Games. By that time he was already a two-time European champion and a four-time world champion. A year before the Olympics, the athlete literally shocked the whole world - during a friendly match in Sofia he established new record classical triathlon – 590 kg. In Mexico there were no exploits or dramas - Jabotinsky beat the Americans Pickett and Dube in class.
(Munich-1972)
Sad at the opening ceremony famous Olympics the hegemony of the standard-bearers-weightlifters was interrupted. The legendary wrestler Alexander Medved was entrusted to carry the flag. By 1972, the famous freestyle wrestler was a seven-time world champion, a four-time European champion and a two-time Olympic winner. In Munich, he added another Olympic gold medal to his collection.
True, it was not without hassle. Terrorist attack on Israeli athletes seriously frightened residents Olympic Village, and someone started a rumor that Bear might be kidnapped. Therefore, immediately after the victory, Alexander Vasilyevich, along with other wrestlers, was sent home on a plane.
32 years later, he had the opportunity to be a standard bearer at another Olympics. True, the country was already completely different - the best freestyle wrestler of the 20th century was entrusted with the flag of Belarus at the 2004 Games.
(Montreal-1976 and Moscow-1980)
In 1976, the era of the “classics” began - representatives of Greco-Roman wrestling. The first standard bearer was Nikolai Balboshin. Two or three days before the opening ceremony, he was called to the delegation headquarters, where he was informed that he was honored to carry the flag of the Soviet Union. The then chairman of the sports committee, Sergei Pavlov, really liked Balboshin’s intransigence - a year before the Games he took fourth place at the World Championships, competing with a serious injury.
The only parting words given to Balboshin sounded like this: “The main thing is, don’t move it from hand to hand, understand?” The wrestler did not disappoint - both the opening and the Olympics itself (gold medal) went smoothly.
The organizers of the 1980 home Olympics decided not to change anything and again entrust the flag to Balboshin. This time the wrestler failed to mark the medals he won.
(Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996)
The nomination of the 21-year-old wrestler to the role of standard bearer came as a surprise to everyone. This honor is given only to athletes who have almost one hundred percent chance of success, and only coaches Mikhail Mamiashvili and Gennady Sapunov, who finally convinced the chairman of the sports committee, Marat Gramov, could vouch for the young wrestler.
Few knew that Karelin fought the decisive qualifying bout with a serious hand injury. Mamiashvili explained his choice this way: “I saw how he fought. And I realized: if to win in Seoul you need to die on the mat, Karelin will die, but will not lose.” And the wrestler did not disappoint - in a very difficult struggle he snatched victory from the Bulgarian Rangel Gerovski.
Before the Barcelona Olympics, Karelin’s candidacy was no longer disputed by anyone - the triumphant of the last Olympics, three-time champion peace, four-time champion Europe. After the Spanish Games, he added a second Olympic medal to his collection. By the way, Karelin was already carrying the flag of another country - the CIS.
In Atlanta, Karelin proudly carried the Russian flag at the opening ceremony and won another Olympic gold. Karelin’s case is unique. He was the standard bearer three times, and all three times he carried different flags: the USSR, the CIS and Russia.
(Sydney - 2000)
The leaders of the Russian team wanted to entrust Karelin with the flag for the fourth time. But a problem arose. The wrestlers had to arrive after the opening ceremony, and Karelin would have had to disrupt his training cycle. For the first time, the standard bearer was the “player”, the legendary handball player Andrei Lavrov.
Even then he was a two-time Olympic champion, two-time world champion and European champion. The legality of his appointment to the honorary position was not questioned. And it was the handball players who became the only Russian team, which won gold in Australia. Lavrov played simply brilliantly, becoming one of the creators of our team’s victory.
And Alexander Karelin, who never became a standard-bearer, suffered the only defeat in his career - in the final of the tournament Greco-Roman wrestling lost to American Rulon Gardner.
Alexander Popov at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Games
Photo: Fotobank/Getty Images/Jonathan Ferrey/Staff
(Athens-2004)
Four Olympic golds, six world championships won, 15 (!) victories in European forums.
Popov became the first standard-bearer swimmer, although there were certain doubts: the next day the Russian team had to compete in the 4x100 freestyle relay. But there were no objections from the athlete, and the candidacy of the IOC member was approved.
At the Athens Games, Popov turned out to be the oldest swimmer, and perhaps this had an effect. He failed to qualify for the final heats in either the 50- or 100-meter race.
(Beijing 2008)
Captain of the Russian national basketball team Andrei Kirilenko, one of the main creators of the sensational and dramatic victory at the 2007 European Championship, carried the banner in Beijing. True, at the Olympics itself our team performed poorly and could not even get out of the group.
(London 2012)
The first racket of the world and the owner of a career Grand Slam Maria Sharapova will be the standard bearer of the Russian team at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Games (July 27). Sharapova will be the first female flag bearer in the history of our team. For Masha herself, this is the first Olympics.
