Bans for Ukrainians, skiathlon line-up and the situation with COVID-19: what is being discussed less than two weeks before the Beijing Games

News of the Olympics: a ban on the Russian language for Ukrainians and settling in villages

The Winter Olympic Games in Beijing can already be considered informally open.

On January 23, three Olympic villages in the Chinese capital, Zhangjiakou and Yanqing, received their first guests from foreign delegations.

The official opening will take place on the 27th, when the first athletes will move in.

As during the Tokyo Olympics, the organizers will regularly report on the epidemiological situation in their territory.

At the moment, more than 70 cases of coronavirus infection among staff have been confirmed, athletes and officials have not yet passed a single positive test.

Eight Russian citizens are already in China, and all of them also passed negative tests upon arrival in the country, the Russian Olympic Committee said.

There are less than two weeks left before the opening ceremony of the Games - a colorful action that precedes the drawing of the first medals will take place on February 4. The organizers did not reveal details of the event, but the director of the Olympic broadcasting service, Yiannis Exarchos, promised that it would be as spectacular as the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing was 14 years ago. And its director Zhang Yimou said that the audience will be incredibly surprised at how exactly the Olympic flame will be lit. According to him, nothing like this has happened for the last 100 years.

During the Parade of Nations, the flag of each country will be carried by one man and one woman. This tradition was introduced in Tokyo and will continue in Beijing. The ROC team, as the Russian team will be officially called, will also choose two flag bearers, but a little later. According to the head of the ROC Stanislav Pozdnyakov, they will have to focus primarily on those athletes who have already settled in the Olympic village and will be able to get to the opening ceremony. By the way, 7 billion rubles from the budget were spent on the preparation of the Russian teams for these Olympic Games, and another 412 million were allocated to participate in test competitions in China.

Athletes in Beijing will have to face a number of tough rules in connection with the coronavirus, and the Ukrainian team will face even more restrictions related to politics.

According to Match TV, the country's Ministry of Sports advised members of the delegation not to give interviews in Russian, and not to be photographed with the Russians.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called such recommendations "a manifestation of an act of totalitarianism."

Cross-country skiing: skiathlon line-up and Vyalbe plan

Skiers will begin to compete for medals from the skiathlon - a race from the general start of the classic and skating.

Although almost two weeks remain before the start, the Russian team has already decided on the composition for the men's and women's races.

On February 5, Yulia Stupak, Natalya Nepryaeva, Tatiana Sorina and Anastasia Rygalina will join the fight.

If the first three have long deserved such a right, then Rygalina joined the team based on the results of the control race.

The next day, Alexander Bolshunov, Alexei Chervotkin, Denis Spitsov and Sergey Ustyugov will start the 30-kilometer race.

President of the Russian Ski Racing Federation (FLGR) Elena Vyalbe said that only Ustyugov's candidacy was in question.

Ivan Yakimushkin also claimed to participate in the skiathlon, but it was decided that for him the Olympics would begin with a 15 km cut.

Vyalbe also told what result of her athletes she would be satisfied with.

She wants the team to exceed the medal plan announced for the sports ministry.

“In the complex target program of the Ministry of Sports for the Olympics, we have one gold, one or two silver and one or two bronze medals.

If we take one gold in Beijing, it will be a satisfactory result, but not super.

No matter how optimistic I am, I understand that out of all 16 people, no one can shoot.

We still have leaders.

I will not name names, ”Vyalba told First Sports Radio.

The head of the FLGR also commented on the increased popularity of the skier Veronika Stepanova, who quickly burst into the national team and already helped win the relay at the World Cup. 

“I don’t understand why you made a star out of Stepanova. I'm glad that people remember her, but too much PR. So far, she hasn't really done anything yet. Medals love silence. There is no need to make champions out of someone ahead of time. I am deeply convinced that Veronica has a problem - this crazy PR. It’s probably easier for her, because I know that a lot is done there for her. She does not do everything herself in the same Instagram. But first you need to really express yourself. The World Cup is good, now there will be the Olympic Games. She will take gold there - God, I myself will write something about her on Instagram, ”said Vyalba.

Before the start of the Olympics, Stepanova herself is worried about the problem of fluorine-containing ointments, which are a lot of talk in the world of cross-country skiing. Now in the European Union there is a ban on category C8 lubricants, but in China they can be used, which causes a mixed reaction among specialists. Stepanova is confident that all teams will take advantage of the existing loophole.

“The rules are different all over the world, and we must proceed from this. In the USA you can own an AK-47, somewhere you can even wear it openly, but that's hardly possible in Norway, is it? If China allows the use of C8 products, then everyone who has them in stock will want to use them at the Games if this is the best lubricant option. This is reality. Let's act honestly and like adults: until there is a reliable apparatus for testing, attempts to use C8 products will continue. We need either reliable testing equipment, or the development of products that do not cause such harm to the environment, but give the same effect as C8. But I have no idea if this is possible,” said skier Dagbladet.

Not a single national team is now openly declaring the use of the C8, but the Swedes spoke about another technical innovation that they are going to resort to at the Olympics.

These are new masks to protect against coronavirus.

They are equipped with a battery operated fan.

Each member of the Swedish cross-country skiing team will receive such a device, which should help the team avoid unpleasant incidents with possible infection on the eve of the competition.

Other sports: Wild's return and track and field surprise

The rest of the Russian teams are preparing for the Olympics with might and main.

The bobsleigh team named its line-up.

Four Russian pilots will perform in Beijing - Rostislav Gaytyukevich, Maxim Andrianov, Nadezhda Sergeeva and Anastasia Makarova.

The list also includes eight overclockers, among which Dmitry Lopin stands out.

In the past, he was one of the leading Russian sprinters and won the European team championship.

But in the end, he was able to go to the Olympics as part of the bobsleigh team, which he himself was very surprised at.

“Being on the Olympic bobsleigh team is unexpected for me.

But even more I was surprised after I showed one of the best results during testing, the last of which took place at the beginning of the year in Latvia.

If we talk about the tasks for the Olympics, then for now I don’t think of anything because of the difficult covid situation in the world.

It is very important not to get sick before the competition, so now the most important thing is to stay healthy before the competition,” Lopin told TASS.

The appearance of athletes in bobsleigh is also typical for other countries. So, Montell Douglas, who began her sports career in sprint, will perform in the UK team at the Olympics. She even performed at the 2008 Games in Beijing, and now she will return to the Chinese capital in a completely new role. Tried to prove himself in bobsleigh and Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford, who was also in Beijing 14 years ago. However, he never made it through.

The most titled athlete in the Russian national team will be Vic Wilde.

The two-time Olympic champion officially joined the snowboard team.

For a 35-year-old athlete, this will be the third Games in his career, but at the same time, it is difficult to call him a favorite in the fight for medals.

The last time a native of the United States climbed the podium of the World Cup was two years ago, and after a divorce from Alena Zavarzina, a former Russian snowboarder, he ended up in the top ten only once.

At the same time, there was a place in the team for the most successful athletes of recent years.

Russia in Beijing will be represented by all the winners of the last World Cup - Dmitry Loginov, Sofya Nadyrshina and Andrey Sobolev, as well as the silver medalist of the 2019 World Championship Natalia Soboleva.

The composition of the freestyle team has also been determined.

It included 22 athletes - more in the Russian application only hockey players.

Not without one fairly large loss.

Lana Prusakova, the silver medalist of the last Big Air World Championship, did not recover from her injury and was left without a ticket.

But in addition to her, the team will have five current world champions at once - a colleague in the role Anastasia Tatalina, mogulist Anastasia Smirnova and acrobats Maxim Burov, Pavel Krotov and Lyubov Nikitina.

Team size can still increase.

The fact is that freestylers this season could not compete in some qualifying competitions in the USA and Canada due to the lack of visas.

The Russian Freestyle Federation, together with the Russian Olympic Committee, is negotiating to provide the national team with additional quotas.