Heavy athletics

In Beijing, the World Athletics Championship ended

In Beijing , the World Athletics Championship ended. Recall that this was one of the two most important and medalemic tournaments in 2015-from the point of view of the summer Olympics, which will be held in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The first was the recent World Sports Water Championship in Kazan , and the Russians actually lost it, despite the fact that they were the owners of the tournament. Russian waterwater succeeded only in synchronous swimming (the first seven out of eight), but in other views, which were only six, they won only one gold medal - in classic swimming.

The result of the athletics championship of the world turned out to be even more catastrophic for the Russian national team: two gold medals, one “silver” and “bronze”, the ninth team place. The "gold" of Russia was brought by Sergey Shubenkov in a 110 m barrier and a height of Maria Kuchina. “Silver” won Denis Kudryavtsev in a 400 m barrier, “bronze” in the asset of the Olympic champion Anna Chicherova in height jumps.

This is the absolute worst (!) The result of the Russian team for all the time of its performance at the world championships. Recall that just two years ago the World Cup was held in Moscow, and then the Russians took first place, having mined 7 gold, 4 silver and 6 bronze awards . What happened in just two years with Russian athletics?

The Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko admitted that there were many doping problems in this sport in the country, and we obliged to resign the President of the All -Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA). Athletics are in a serious crisis. We must break the system, and not convince ourselves, which can only be won thanks to doping.

This is the first world championship for Yuri Borzakovsky as the head coach, so you should not dramatize the situation. We will strengthen several positions of senior coaches, athletes will create all the conditions. I hope that in Rio de Janeiro we will figure out sports walking and put up a team for games, ”said Mutko on the air of the Russia-2 channel . The minister also added:“ We need to carry out reforms. According to the results of the World Cup, there is no need to draw conclusions, although they are far and not the best. "

It is clear that Vitaly Mutko about doping was primarily caused by revelations, as a result of which the chief specialist in the field of sports walking Viktor Chegin was disqualified , and the entire Russian team of walkers did not go to Beijing. Moreover, at the last moment, the only remaining Russian Alexander Yargunkin, the champion of the country of this year, was excluded from the team. The day before flying to Beijing, it turned out that his doping test gave a positive result. In a word, Russians in Moscow in Moscow in 2013 won four medals - two “gold” and “silver” in this type of athletics in this type of athletics. Remembering that over the past few years, doping-discharge has been made with respect to other Russian athletes, the words of the Russian minister about a serious crisis in this area should be recognized. How much it will be possible to solve it for the year remaining before the Olympics - the question, as they say, is still unanswered.

Incidentally, in the nearest Tuesday, the International Association of athletics federations (IAAF) will publish the results of a study of biological passports of athletes who were suspected of violating anti -doping rules. Earlier, IAAF started 63 cases of abnormal data in the biological passports of athletes since 2011, and 31 of them are against Russians. Iaaf also claims that new affairs will be open soon. Whether the Russians will be among the new defendants in these cases is still unknown. There is reason to believe that there will be ... in any case, the new President of IAAF British Sebastian COE is known as a supporter of the most decisive measures to combat doping. One of the points of his election program, in particular, was the creation of an independent anti -doping agency, and this has been said a lot.

In the near future, we should decide which of the leading athletes will represent Russia at the tournament, which will be held in Portland in a rather late. It is unlikely that one of our leaders should go there. I think it makes sense to sacrifice this tournament for the Olympics

There is another “factor of failure” - for various reasons, several strong Russian athletes did not go to Peking at once: Elena Isinbaeva , Maria Savinova, Antonina Krivoshapka, Julia Gushchina, Tatyana Lysenko. Of course, it is not a fact that they would get gold medals in Beijing for Russia, because, for example, the best Russian spear thrower, the bronze medalist of the 2013 World Cup, Maria Abakumova, having arrived at the World Cup, could not pass qualifications ... But even if the named athletes would have been successfully in Beijing, this would only delay the crisis in the Russian national team. They would not talk about him as an obvious phenomenon, but perhaps he would have manifested itself larger than next year to Games in Rio. So, perhaps, the current failure of the Russian team gives a chance to the new chief coach of the national team of the country Yuri Borzakovsky. During the year, it is difficult to do something radical, of course, but the sooner the work begins, the sooner the results will be.

But there are reasons more global than doping and temporary absence in the national team of several strong athletes. A reduction in athletics financing looks more global. It is clear that now much more serious money in the country is spent on much more serious events. In sports, this is last year's Winter Olympiad in Sochi and the 2018 Football World Cup . In both cases, a lot of money was spent - and still spent - and these tournaments were considered and are considered priority. But there are also financial problems of a different order, coming from problems in the development of the country. The actual war in the east of Ukraine and the economic sanctions that were caused by it and the annexation of Crimea, the collapse of the ruble and the economic crisis in the country, of course, question the proper financing of the 2016 Olympic team, no matter what the Minister of Sports and other responsible comrades in the Russian government say ...

There is one alarming symptom. The All -Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA), according to Russian press reports, is inclined to ensure that the leaders of the national team miss the Winter World Cup - 2016, which will be held from March 18 to 20, 2016 in American Portland. Vadim Zelichenok’s acting President VFLA stated in an interview with TASS agency : “In the near future, we should decide which of the leading athletes will represent Russia at the tournament that will be held in the American Portland at a rather late. It is unlikely that one of our leaders should go there. I think it makes sense to sacrifice this tournament for the Olympics.” I must say that if it is decided not to send the whole team to Portland, this will be a worldwide scandal. It is unlikely that Russia will go to this, but even if, say, juniors are sent to Portland, it will already not look quite decent ... At least this decision can be made by political and economic motives - both options look equally unacceptable for Russian light athletics.

Frankly, analyzing the reasons for the failures of the Russian national team all the time I would like to return to the World Cup itself, which took place in an interesting struggle, attracting the attention of millions of fans. First of all, it should be noted the progress of the Kenya national team, which for the first time in history won the team set -off! Kenytsy won 7 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals. And the second were representatives of Jamaica: they have 7 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals. The national teams of these two countries won, of course, primarily due to success in treadmills: Kenytsy - at medium and long distances, Yamais - in sprint. Nevertheless, they were ahead of the Americans, who, incidentally, took the third command place, winning 6 awards of each of the virtues, and the Chinese who claim to be athletics from the time of the 2008 Beijing Games, and the leaders of the previous years of Russians. This is a kind of new trend in world athletics, and it has yet to be comprehended.

Another important factor is just one world record set in Beijing. He was achieved by the American decenter, the Olympic champion Ashton Iton. In the remaining types of the program, the records resisted, and this is an occasion to think about whether the athletes on the barrier of human capabilities did not "rest"? Someday, such a moment, no doubt, will come, is it time to get used to the competitions without records? Let's hope that this moment will not come soon ...

Among personal achievements, of course, the achievement of the great Jamaician Useyn Bolt, who became a three-time champion of the current championship and won his 11th gold medal of the world championships. Getting to the start of a hundred -meter, as it seemed, not in the best shape, in the decisive moments of this and two other distances it was irresistible. The greatness of the bolt is not only in his personal achievements, but also in the fact that after him a whole scattering of the Jamaican sprinters reached out - both men and women who provided the country with second place in the overall standings.

We note other heroes of Beijing. Dutch Daphne Schippers became the first runner from Europe to win 200 meters at the World Cup, also won Silver on a hundred-meter. The Briton MO FARA repeated his result at the 2012 Games in London, winning at 5 and 10 thousand meters. Shelly-Enn Fraser-Perse, a Jamaica runner shone in the female sprint. The victories of the Kenyans of Nicholas Betta, 400 meters running with barriers and Julius Yego in throwing spears, brought their national team the title of the best in the tournament. The Chinese team took a sensational third place in the male relay one hundred meters, and after the US team disqualification, she received silver medals at all. In general, according to the results of two global world championships of this summer, we can conclude that China has grown competitive representatives of the most medalemic species in summer games. It is the Chinese that will claim the Olympic victory in the team event-if not in Rio-2016, then it is necessarily in Tokyo-2020.

And for Russian athletics, I repeat, difficult times have come.