It's funny (and sad), of course, to say that an empty chair is the symbol of the outgoing sports year.
Like the gnome from Amelie, this chair traveled through tennis courts, football, hockey and any other stadiums.
On TV (and in sports arenas) there was an intersound noise, and until this idea was thought of, all games in the world turned into friendly ones.
Football players played and play like theater actors, where either no one came, or so few people came that it would be better if they did not come at all.
Of course, the whole economy also broke down: the clubs began to cut budgets, negotiate wage cuts, think about how to survive with the squad, which includes 15 yesterday's understudies.
Even the relatively wealthy NHL has increased the escrow size (payroll deductions that equalize player and league income).
In tennis, the winners of the most prestigious tournaments earned four (!) Times less than a year ago.
The list of such "innovations" is endless.
As for the actual results of the sports year, I would single out a number of events.
Russia was deprived of its flag and anthem for another two years at major international competitions.
Yes, we still bear the burden of the scandals of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the disqualification of the All-Russian Athletics Federation, initiated in 2015, but in fact this, of course, is the burden of consequences of the annexation of Crimea to Russia.
It turns out, if you double-check the samples eight years ago, it turns out that even the champions of the Saratov region in the townships were doping.
Erythropoietin in our country must have been used by chess players, and cybersportsmen gave results on steroids.
Two years will fly by, although this, of course, is a uniform humiliation of a country with a great history and a long list of achievements beyond human capabilities (and not pharmacology, although, of course, we have enough cheaters, as elsewhere).
The fiasco of Russian football clubs at European tournaments.
We have already had unsuccessful Euroseasons, but so that… We expected Zenit, Krasnodar, Lokomotiv and CSKA to finally break through, but this simply did not happen.
As a result, soon enough we will fall in the ranking so much that we will return to the 1990s, when only the national champion played in the Champions League.
Daniil Medvedev's victory in the
ATP
Final Tournament
and Andrei Rublev's takeoff.
Two of our tennis players entered the top 10 ratings for the second time in ten years.
Danya tore up the tour for the entire second half of 2019.
No one could stop him until the 2019 Final.
Then he got tired and spent the last tournament as a disassembled athlete.
In the first part of the covid season, Daniel continued the experiment "who else can I lose in the first round?"
And then he finally got tired of surprising in a bad way, greatly added to the control of emotions and physical condition.
As a result - the reputation of the most dangerous player on the tour right now.
I think that one "helmet" Danya will definitely catch, although the "big three" - Djokovic, Nadal, Federer - still do not go anywhere.
Well, Andrei Rublev is a sensation.
Who won the most games in the 2020 season?
It was he.
An incredible, qualitative leap of an athlete who showed convincing tennis last year.
Taking a step from the top 200 to the top 100 is much easier than becoming the eighth best player in the world from the top 20.
We look forward to even more.
Kvyat lost his place in Formula 1 for the second time. He was replaced by Nikita Mazepin.
There is no story sadder in the world than the story of Kvyat and Helmut Marko.
Advisor to the Austrian stable Marco does not know how to be polite, and with Kvyat, who came to Red Bull in their first difficult season, he twice acted ugly.
We either raise it sharply, then lower it and kick it out, and then plug the holes in the lineup with it to say a mean thanks at the end of 2020.
The Russian flag will now be carried by Haas pilot Nikita Mazepin.
I am sure that good results will allow Nikita not only to gain a foothold in Haas, but also to find a place in the stable, which regularly claims the championship.
Although in the 2022 season it will be a completely different Formula 1.
Yuri Semin left Lokomotiv and won.
Vasily Kiknadze, more than an experienced media manager, decided to suddenly check what would happen if he lost the biggest PR case of his career.
Having parted with Semin very badly (yes, he simply did not renew the contract, but not just either), Kiknadze infuriated the fans who organized themselves and went to write to all sorts of Adidas sponsoring the club that either Vasily (together with the club president Meshcheryakov) goes out, or we go to the exit.
And after all, they left: both from the matches of the Russian championship, and from the matches of the Champions League.
If Marko Nikolic, the new coach of Loko, had given a result, Kiknadze could have played an all-in move.
But a small “would” not have happened, so Vasily exchanged his position for pacifying the anger of Lokomotiv's torsida, which it was Semin who was cultivating with victories.
Gold and blood of biathlete Alexander Loginov.
Sasha honestly served his disqualification and returned to biathlon in the status of a quasi-rogue.
There were conversations around Loginov that justified the lifelong disqualification of the stumbled athlete, while he himself was silent, ran and shot.
When Sasha took gold at the World Championship, the school boycott only intensified.
As for the main scandal in biathlon, it also happened with Loginov and his personal trainer Kasperovich.
The coach decided to forge the accreditation, someone snitched the Italian police, and they came with ... a search of hotel rooms and a car.
Even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervened in the situation, silver spoons were found (in this case, no droppers or illegal drugs were found), but the sediment remained.
Sasha Bolshunov and the Norwegian shock.
“Four-time medalist of the 2018 Olympic Games, four-time silver medalist of the 2019 World Championship” - this was what Sasha wrote on Wikipedia before the 2019/20 season.
"Forever second" is an unpleasant status for any extraordinary athlete.
And then Bolshunov for the first time in history won the World Cup for Russia, became the owner of the "Big Crystal Globe" and the winner of the multi-day ski race "Tour de Ski".
The current Norwegian racers must have apologized to their legend Bjorn Daly for such a shame.
Still, they consider skiing as their fiefdom, just like the Canadians do hockey.
Well, nothing, let them get used to it.
29th victory of Khabib Nurmagomedov.
A completely routine and quick victory over Justin Gaethje emphasized the superiority of the Dagestan athlete over all MMA fighters, regardless of the weight category.
Actually, the very first pound-for-pound rating recorded this fact.
$ 100 million - and Nurmagomedov will win his 30th fight.
This price was announced by the athlete himself.
In a pandemic, this money looks cosmic, but I am sure that Khabib will either lower the price, or there will be sponsors who want to go down in history by organizing the very last fight of Khabib.
And this fight will be with Conor McGregor.
Death of Kobe Bryant.
The helicopter crash with the legendary basketball player and his daughter is a shock that happened at the very beginning of 2020.
Grief paralyzed not only the entire NBA, but also many athletes and fans.
Bryant was more than just a great athlete.
He was an important part of a new chapter in the history of American basketball.
Of course, no one will vomit it, but it would be better if Kobe continued to write the history of basketball in any other capacity than as a bygone symbol of the era.
Death of Maradona.
"Golden Boy", a bully and a man of a wide soul.
According to many, Maradona is the best footballer of all time.
His game is a reason to review the matches of the last (!) Century.
To gallery page
At the end of his career, Maradona shocked the audience as a coach (he played much better than he coached).
Filmed with Paolo Sorrentino, drank and used drugs uncontrollably.
He seemed to be challenging God and nature, because he himself was God and developed the qualities given to him from nature to incredible heights.
If football is in heaven, and it definitely is there, then there is clearly tension with tickets for Maradona matches.
The top events can be continued, but let's hope that 2021 will return all spectators to the stands, bring us the long-awaited victories in biathlon, football, and indeed everywhere where we may not have shone, but regularly delighted the fans.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.