Oligarchic winter games. The Union of Biathlonists of Russia (SBR) received a new president last week. He was the head of the ONEXIM group Mikhail Prokhorov. Apparently, the oligarchs have found application - they will be responsible for financing the Olympic sports. Properly shown social responsibility, perhaps, will allow them to once again confirm their loyalty to the state and thereby painlessly pass the crisis without losing their own business
Mr. Prokhorov, if he was previously seen in love for some winter sport, then for mountain skis. But in mid -October, the State Council on sports was held, at which President Medvedev harshly stated that the Chinese in Beijing showed two examples at once: how to conduct the Olympics and how to win it. And he added that before Sochi there are not as many time as it seems, and if we intend to win there - but this is almost a state order, then we need to move now.
Biathlon family
It seems that Mikhail Prokhorov was the first to respond to the “message” of the president, taking under personal control, perhaps the most successful of the Russian winter Olympic species. “I have experience creating a technology for managing game sports, I want to try to create an effective, profitable system in the“ medal ”sport,” Prokhorov explained the nature of his new hobby, simultaneously promising to resolve “conflicts in the biathlon family”. And they were enough of them under the previous President of the SBR, the legendary biathleticist Alexander Tikhonov: it came to open letters of athletes and coaches of the Russian national team, where they accused Tikhonov of an authoritarian management style and inability to build normal financial and legal relations with them.
Tikhonov, however, had a sufficient authority in the biathlon world in order not to pay attention to such a bad behavior of his wards and calmly win all the elections since 1996. All the more unexpected, his announcement of resignation and desire to focus on work in the International Biathlon Union, where he holds the post of First Vice President. (And the people who know Tikhonov claim that he will go even further and next year will run for the very presidents, all the more so that the elected congress will take place in St. Petersburg, and on its territory such battles are usually more easily won.) Tikhonov and proposed on an extraordinary reporting conference the candidacy of Prokhor for the liberated place, and he, in turn, suggested that they be chosen quietly his first deputy. They voted for Prokhorov unanimously, Tikhonov found an ill -wisher - it is strange that only one.
Strengthen the mattechnic base
Under the “experience of creating playing playing technology”, Mikhail Prokhorov, obviously, had in mind first of all his most successful sports project - the basketball CSKA, which went to the “final of four” Euroleague for six years in a row and won it twice. But before in 2002, Prokhorov took the club for operational administration, the army men were even in Russia in Russia.
In recent years, Biathlon has become very promising from a commercial point of view - since its leaders set out to make him more attractive to television. The pursuit races, mixed relay races, skiers laid in football stadiums - all this was so warmed up by the interest in biathlon that, by the rating on the Russian Sports channel, he escaped to the leaders this year, even ahead of football! And bookmakers record a sharp increase in biathlon starts.
Both Russian national teams, male and female, are stably in world leaders, and now that, obviously, they will not have to be distracted in the near future to the scripture of the new president of the SBR, they can only add. After all, Mikhail Prokhorov has already promised to "strengthen the material technical base, to develop a program of target grants for gifted athletes and sports veterans." Such a leader, perhaps, can also forgive the authoritarian management style ... in the end, to whom, if not oligarchs, to raise various sports from the knees?
Since 2002, the Rifle Union of Russia has been headed by the owner of the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant Vladimir Lisin
Since 2002, the President of the Water Polo of Russia Federation has been Vadim Somov, Director General of Kirishinefteorgsintez
President of the Russian fencing Federation since 2001 - owner of Metalloinvest Alisher Usmanov
President of the Russian sports gymnastics Federation since 2006 - VTB President Andrey Kostin
President of the Russian Ski Sports Federation since the same year is the chairman of the board of directors of Kuzbass Razrezugol OJSC Andrey Bokarev
Ski! • New Times • RIMA — Russian Independent Media Archive
