Olympiad through the eyes of Russian officials: early surrender and "myth" about the failure of the national team

The twelfth day of the Olympiad brought the Russian team only four medals - the result that seemed to the media is not particularly noticeable compared to 13 medals over the two previous days. The only gold on Wednesday was won by Natalya Antyukh in 400 meters with barriers - for Russia it is the 11th award of the highest dignity in games. Elena Sokolova won silver in long jumps. Lyubosov , who performed in the female wrestling tournament, and Taekwondist Alexei Denisenko, earned in bronze.

The most spectacular fights for the national team on this day were the quarterfinals of male basketball and volleyball tournaments, where Russians were able to succeed in a stubborn struggle, the sports observer RIA Novosti writes.

Russia is still in fifth place in the medal standings. The first four occupy, respectively, China, the USA, Great Britain and South Korea. The Kremlin has already recognized the defeat - the country can no longer get to the three strongest, and this will happen for the first time in history, said the head of the administration of the President of the Russian Federation Sergey Ivanov. Russia, however, is already in the three - not by "gold", but in the total number of medals.

- Diary of games-2012. Schedule and results of competitions

Newsru.com sports observer notes that four years ago at the same line of the Olympics , four competitive days before the closure, the Russian national team had 13 gold medals. Today there are 11 of them. However, in the end, our athletes took 23 medals of the highest dignity from Beijing, becoming the third in the overall standings. So there are still chances to overtake the British.

In turn, the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, said that all the reasoning that the domestic team was lower than they expected and is clearly shortcoming - this is "mythology created by journalists." “They probably are guided by sensations, and I rely on the facts,” he said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda . “If you want, I will share it is no secret. After ten days of competitions in Athens, we had 6 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze medals. In total - 41. In Beijing - 8 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze. London - 7 gold, 17 silver and 18 bronze - 42. And where, in your opinion, failure? "

Here, however, it is necessary to recall the history of the birth of "myth". Back in May 2011, Zhukov personally said that Russian athletes at the 2012 Games in London are obliged to win 75 medals, 25 of which should be of the highest dignity. This, according to a sports official, was supposed to be enough for the Russian team to take third place in the team event.

“Any Olympic reward is a tremendous success. Everything cannot be won,” says Zhukov now, emphasizing that he, in principle, does not like the approach when the bronze medal is perceived as a defeat. In his opinion, there are "real fans" who "watch competitions, worry about their athletes." And there are those who, "ignoring the details of the struggle, open the medal tables and begin to calculate something there, compare." "Sport is not about it at all!" - believes the president of the OKR.

At the same time, he admitted that there was hope for a sufficient number of medals in fencing and shooting, and no one expected such a failure that in the end. “After returning to Moscow, we will understand the reasons. Maybe we miscalculated with access to the optimal form, perhaps the problem in psychology. The spirit of the winners must be educated, it does not grow out of the blue,” Zhukov said.

Recall that in fencing, Russia has three medals: silver was won by the Saber Sofya Great and Rapyrist in team competitions , bronze - Sablicist Nikolai Kovalev . The plans were to conquer six awards: two gold, two silver and two bronze.

The Russian team in shooting completed the performance at the games with only one medal - Vasily Mosin won bronze in stand shooting. At the same time, before the start of the competition, the arrows predicted no less than 28 medals.

The main mentor of the Russian fencing team Vladislav Pavlovich and the head coach of the Olympic team of shooters, the sports director of the Russian Rifle Union Igor Zolotarev was resigned .

"Do you understand who Natalya Antyukh won at all?"

Meanwhile, Vladimir Osipov, sports observer "Kommersant FM", made a fiery speech in defense of Russian athletes whom he considers heroes. I must say that his words sounded, this is true. "For many things, our officials need to be given on the head, for a lot of things. But the athletes have nothing to do with it. They run better and jump better than they can. Almost every result at this Olympics is the best result, personal records," he said.

The journalist expressed the opinion that the Russian media simply cannot give news about sports achievements. “Do you understand who Natalya Antyukh won at all? The lavases of Demus! Do you know who is this? This American is the world champion, who flies 400 m/with barriers under the world record. And this girl who comes out - and the 80 thousandth stadium stands up, welcoming her Antasha Antyukh to win this gold of the Olympiad,” - admires Osipov.

“This medal is worth the medals of the entire Olympics, even if this medal will be, but the rest will not be, you can say:“ It's cool, guys! ”This is cool, incredibly cool,” he continued. “This is probably heroism, you already forgive me for pathos, but this is true. Those who watched will understand me.”

After victory, Natalya herself admitted that she did not even remember the rhythm, she could not say how she ran. "But starting from the gathering from the ninth barrier, before the beginning of the tenth, thoughts were about one thing:" Just not to seed! To fall, but to reach the end! ”She told the whole sport agency.

The athlete shared that it was from Demus that she expected the biggest troubles: "I literally felt her breathing, her shoulder on the right side. I tried to add. I know everything about the rest of the rivals: tactics, psychology. But no one can say what the Demus will do."

The last meters, according to the runner, were given to her with incredible labor. “I never fall in the finish“ cells ”, trying to stay to the end. But here the forces are already completely over,” she said and expressed appreciation to her relatives and friends for true faith and support. “Many people wanted success - they literally cut off the phone, social networks. They wrote: we believe, wait, we are sick. I understood that I could not let these people. But myself too. And most importantly, my beloved grandmother,” Natalya said.

13th day of the Olympics: Hope is mainly for women. Men won the first bronze

And on the 13th day of the Olympiad, Russian fans have the main hope for women, RIA Novosti notes. The spearman Maria Abakumova, Boxers Sofya Ochigava and Nadezhda Torlopova will argue for gold. Natalya Vorobyova in the fight is also capable of winning the medal, the agency "All Sport" believes.

The men of the canyists Alexei Korovashkov and Ilya Pervukhin were considered the men for the victory - on Thursday they eventually became bronze medalists at a distance of 1000 meters.

In total, 23 sets of awards will be played. The Russians will take part in the draw 11 of them.