“Traitors” when they start. “Ours” when they win medals. Olympic split personality in Russia and Belarus
Photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
There are no Russian and Belarusian teams at the Paris Games, but Russian and Belarusian athletes have already won several medals. Some under a neutral flag, others in the colors of the countries to which they moved, escaping the sanctions imposed on athletes from both countries after their countries attacked Ukraine. Russia, which likes to use sports for propaganda purposes, is forced to rejoice in their successes – writes Michał Banasiak, an analyst of politics and sports relations from the Polish Institute of Sports Diplomacy.
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Born in Yakutia, Sardana Trofimova runs marathons. In recent years, there has been little Russia women who could cover this distance as fast as she did. Trofimova won races organized in her country in a row, and was the Russian champion five times.
Trofimova's personal best (2 hours 24 minutes 38 seconds) at the last world championships would have earned her a medal. Despite this, the runner never made an international mark. The reason was her Russian passport.
In pursuit of the games
In 2014, the German television station ARD broadcast a documentary about the systematic doping of Russian athletes and the cover-up of cases where it was detected. The film became the first domino block that led to a ban on Russian athletes from competing in international competitions. Trofimova, although she was not on the list of doping suspects, did not go to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She was punished as part of the collective responsibility for the cultivation by Russian officials and services of the inglorious Soviet tradition of fighting for medals not only in stadiums but also in laboratories.
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