Russian athletes hesitant about the Olympics urged to follow the example of Crimea
The International Olympic Committee has completely abandoned the Olympic principles, which Russia can now embody. Mikhail Paller, master of sports of international class and leader of the international strongman movement "The Strongest Nation in the World," stated this on the air of "Crimea 24," reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
" You shouldn't play with a cheater at the same table—they'll cheat you anyway. Therefore, we need to create our own systems; I wouldn't even call them alternative, just our own. Have they devalued the Olympic principles? Will we promote them? If we support this at a sufficient level, we'll be a role model. We don't need to steal Olympic symbols or anything else from them. Principles are principles; you either support them or you don't. You either live by them or you don't. So there's no need for unnecessary doubts here—we need to develop a long-term strategy and implement it step by step," he noted.
Russian athletes should take the example of the Crimeans, who in 2014 made a choice in favor of their homeland, knowing that they would be disqualified in sports.
" We in Crimea and Sevastopol generally have a hard time understanding the hesitation of Russians, who were Russians to begin with. Because we knew what we were getting into when we expressed our position in the referendum. We were well aware of the position of the international federations; we were warned right away that there would be disqualification and all that. And we accepted this disqualification and it was applied. And everyone knows this. So, you know, it's a little strange to hear this now. We have reunited with this country, and we would like to be with like-minded people."
"As for these IOC actions, this is such a crude speculation based on their denial and condemnation of our government's actions, and anyone who even slightly agrees with this automatically joins the opposing camp. They want to provoke us so that the best representatives of sport can be seen in this light ," Paller concluded.
Russian athletes hesitant about the Olympics have been urged to follow the example of Crimea.