COMMON (BUT UNWISE) PRACTICE TO MIX SPORTS AND POLITICS
I was going to joke that the Canadian government might fall if they do not beat the USA in the medal count, however, truth is stranger than fiction!
Most nations appear to have sports as a governmental function. This article discusses a meeting between the German Minister of the Interior, who has sports as part of his portfolio, and his Jamaician counterpart.
The New York Times reported that the Russian medal effort at the Vancouver Games is so poor that there are calls for the resignation of the sports minister.
“Russian Olympians Lose Historic Superiority” was the front-page headline on Thursday in Kommersant, an influential newspaper. Some politicians and commentators are calling for the firing of Russia’s sports minister and the head of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Both opposition and government leaders are saying the team better do better or heads will roll:
“The condition of Russian sports today embitters and offends all Russian citizens,” said Igor V. Lebedev, a parliamentary leader for the Liberal Democrats, a nationalist opposition party.
“Our athletes have given up their positions in every single sport,” he said in a statement, adding that officials overseeing athletic development in the country should be fired.
The governing United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, released a statement on Thursday suggesting that there could be repercussions for athletic officials if Russian athletes continued to fall short in Vancouver.
“Anything under fourth place for our team will certainly be a failure, including for those who oversee athletics in our country,” said Boris Gryzlov, a United Russia leader who is speaker of Parliament. (Russia was ranked 11th in the medal count as of Thursday morning.)
This is what happens when you mix sports and politics. I do not want our athletes turned into political pawns. My original idea is still out there for the IOC to adopt: NO direct government support of the Olympic team.
