Leonid Tyagachev lost his voice

Photo: RIA Novosti, upon returning from Vancouver, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (OKR) Leonid Tyagachev (in the photo on the right, with the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko), cold during the games, fell ill with pneumonia. This was probably affected by the coherence of the work of the press service of the committee.

Her employees yesterday first informed that Tyagachev wrote a resignation statement, then refuted this message, and finally confirmed again.

Recall that previously sharp criticism of Russian sports was subjected to President Dmitry Medvedev. “Anyone who is responsible for preparing for the Olympics must be responsible now. Responsible persons will have to make a courageous decision and write a statement,” he said at a meeting with the leadership of the United Russia party. “If they cannot, we will help them.”

First, the head of the public relations department of the OKR Gennady Shvets spoke.

“This is a direct reaction to the words of the president,” he said. “Tyagachev, like a real athlete and an outstanding coach, decided to take the blame for everyone and everything. We hope that a worthy leader will be replaced and will help the whole sports movement get out of the state in which it is now.”

Toward evening, the spokeswoman for Tyagacheva Daria Chervonenko denied the words of Sweds. “The head of the public relations department and the press service of the OKR Gennady Shvets hastened to resign his boss,” Chervonenko said. “So far, no official statement was received from Tyakachev. If it arrives, the OKR will immediately notify the entire public and the media.”

Later, Shvets in an interview with Gazeta explained that he "simply reacted to the news."

"I was still flying from Vancouver.

At the Frankfurt Airport, they called me and asked me to comment on Tyagachev’s resignation. At the same time, the news was given as a faitred fact. I just reacted to her. Knowing how Leonid Vasilievich was worried about the results of the games, I was ready to expect such a decision from him. And then there is already a reaction of the country's leadership.

And Tyagachev is a systemic person who thinks rationally. In any case, even if Tyagachev writes a statement, he will still remain in great sports. "

20 minutes after the conversation of the Gazeta correspondent with Gennady Sweden RIA Novosti, referring to the spokesman for the functionary Daria Chervonenko, reported that Leonid Tyagachev nevertheless resigned.

Who is to blame

The President of the OKR was under fire of criticism after the Russian team took a humiliating 11th place in the team in the team standings-the lowest in the history of domestic sports. Explaining in an interview according to the results of the games, Tyagachev tried to present the OCD as an organization with purely representative functions, as opposed to the Ministry of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy, in which levers are concentrated both by the organizational and financial management of the country's sports industry.

Another argument of Tyakachev was the appeal to ineffective, from his point of view, the work of the predecessor Vitaly Mutko, the former head of the Federal District, Vyacheslav Fetisov, who, according to the President of the OKR, supposedly finally buried our sport.

At the closing ceremony of the 2010 Games, Tykachev walked along the stadium in the ranks of the Russian delegation and showed with all his appearance that he was only a performer, and not a boss at all.

What to do

Formally, the Olympic Committee of Russia is a public organization, and even the head of state cannot dismiss Tyagachev. However, Leonid Tyagachev did not wait for the promised “help”.

The attitude to the resignation of Tyakachev caused a different reaction. She did not cause only obvious surprise. For example, the speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov believes that Terkachev acted correctly and that the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko should follow his example.

“The fact that Terachev resigned is commendable, he is well done. From a moral point of view, this is the only true decision for him. But the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko should also resign after him,” Mironov said Gazeta.

But the leader of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky was not so categorical.

“This plugachev will leave now, and Mutko will leave-nothing will change. The Russian proverb says: as your friends you are not sitting down, everyone is not suitable for the musicians, or something is interfering with the bad dancer. They interfere with-cut it off. They don’t cut off and do not dance, but you have to do something,” he said.

There was no unanimity in sports circles either.

“It doesn’t seem to me that the resignations of officials will decide something. I think that we have reached the bottom, and in order to surfed up, we need to reach the bottom. And if tomorrow we have five sanitary-beast tracks, I myself am ready to resign. But if nothing changes, then why is it necessary?” - said the President of the Russian Sports Federation, Valery Silakov, President of the Sailor of the Russian Sports.

The President of the Russian wrestling Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili answered the newspaper that "the amount will not change from the change of places of terms." “The problems of our sport are much deeper, and global changes are needed to solve them. And now the fashion has appeared - to make the right statements without delving into the essence. Gorlopanov has been bred that talk about the need to rise in children's sports and due to this glow everywhere, and there is no real work,” he said.

A chair with a dowry

The 63-year-old Tyakachev, who, simultaneously with the work in the Olympic Committee of Russia, is also a senator from the Rostov region today, has been managing the Olympic movement in our country since 2001. Since that time, he was re -elected to his position twice - the last time, just recently, in mid -December last year. All this time, Tyakachev had practically no competitors. Only in 2005, the famous skater Irina Rodnina, who was supported by the then head of the Federal District, Vyacheslav Fetisov, who conflicting with the Tyagachev team, tried to win the elections in the past. At this difficult moment, the assistant to the president of the country (then - Vladimir Putin) called for voting for Tyagachev, and the issue was resolved.

Yesterday, the commentary of the three -time Olympic champion Irina Rodnina was like this:

"Tyagachev realized that the time had come for responsible decisions and decisive actions." At the same time, the question of who could lead the OKR, Rodnina replied: "I think this is Fetisov's place."

One thing is undoubted: the candidate of the successor to the head of the OKR will again be coordinated in the Kremlin and the White House. To whom in this case the authorities will transfer is the most interesting question. After all, no matter how modest Tyagachev is, he has a very serious and very rich organization under the leadership.

Forces of the state and thanks to a commercial grip, the Olympic Committee of Russia accumulated considerable amounts of sponsorship money and has a great influence on the sport and national teams.

But in the coming years, the role of the OKR will become even more, so the appointment of the successor of Tyagachev acquires political significance. In preparation for the Olympics in Sochi, it is the OCD that will first of all be responding to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for preparing for games-2014. It is OCR, and not the Ministry of Sports or Olympstroy will receive compensation from the IOC for resolving organizational issues and the construction of Olympic facilities.

The article was published in the publication "Gazeta", No. 37 of March 4, 2010