Reporter | Anjing
On February 7, the Representative Team of the Russian Olympic Committee won the team event in figure skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The 15-year-old Vallieva became the first women's singles player to complete the four-week jump at the Winter Olympics, which entered the annals of the Winter Olympics.
As a traditional powerhouse in ice and snow sports, Russia is preparing for a strong comeback to sweep away the shadow of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
At the Winter Olympics, Russia sent a super-large delegation of about 500 people, including 216 athletes. Some institutions predict that Russia may rank second in this Winter Olympics, second only to Norway in the number of medals. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Russia's medal count fell to 13th.
As early as 1900, Russia began to participate in the Olympic Games. During the Cold War, the Olympics became a new battlefield for the Soviet Union to confront the West, and the Soviet national ice hockey team became a constant general, known as the "red machine" by the United States.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's ice and snow sports suffered a low point, and after a slow recovery, they reached a new peak at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. After the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia's Olympic journey was bumpy again due to doping disputes.
Back to the top three
Market research firm Nielsen's Gracenote predicts that at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Russia could win 30 medals, including 10 gold, 12 silver and 8 bronze.
Germany is likely to also win 30 medals, tied for second with Russia; in first place is Norway, which is likely to win 44 medals, of which 21 are gold medals.
Before the match, the Russian Olympic Committee had announced that it would be charged with 30 medals. Figure skating "genius girl" Vallieva, men's cross-country skier Bolisshunov, women's speed skating 5000 meters world record holder Volonia are all favorites to win the championship. On the 6th, Bolisshunov has won the men's doubles pursuit championship in cross-country skiing.
On February 7, 2022, In Beijing, Vallieva participated in the competition. Image source: Visual China
If Russia ends up winning 30 medals, it will be the most medals the country has won since the Soviet era, except for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Before the dissolution, the Soviet Union won the largest number of medals at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, in 1988, with a total of 29 medals, ranking first in the number of medals.
The last time Russia performed badly at the Winter Olympics was at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
At that time, the IOC banned Russia from participating in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics as a state on the issue of doping, and only allowed Russian athletes to participate in a neutral capacity under the Olympic flag. This is also the first time that Russia has participated in the Olympic Games under the English abbreviation ROC of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The Russian Olympic Committee initially applied for 389 athletes to participate in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, but due to doping disputes, the IOC only approved 169 athletes to participate. In the end, Russia won 17 medals at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, only about half of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
From the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia ranked in the top five for most of the total number of medals, with both the Sochi Winter Olympics and the Lillehammer Winter Olympics ranking first. The only time it finished 11th was at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
After the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Russia launched a survey on the country's lower-than-expected performance, and the public at one point demanded that then-sports minister Mucote step down.
The "Golden Age" of the Cold War
Although Russia participated in the second Summer Olympics in its history as early as 1900, the country's Olympic "golden age" occurred during the Soviet era.
At that time, the Soviet Union and the United States used major international sports events, including the Olympic Games, as another battlefield in the ideological struggle, riveting their efforts to overwhelm each other.
The Soviet government revolved around sports
The sport has been heavily publicized, with a series of sports-themed films; the government has also funded professional training for athletes, provided subsidies for housing, education, food and clothing, and encouraged more young people to participate in sports training.
The Soviet Union's first Olympics was the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, and its first participation was a huge hit, winning 71 medals. At that time, the Soviet Union ranked second in the number of medals, after the United States with 76 medals.
From 1952 to 1988, with the exception of the 1980 Moscow Olympics boycotted by the United States and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics boycotted by the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union and the United States became the protagonists in both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics, taking turns occupying the top two medal tables.
By the time of the collapse, the Soviet Union had won 1,204 Olympic medals, and it still ranks second in the world, just behind the United States. At the Winter Olympics, the Soviet Union ranked first in the number of medals it won seven times.
Figure skating, ice hockey, and skiing were the strengths of the Soviet Union. The Soviet national hockey team, which is almost entirely made up of soldiers, once became a regular general in the Olympic Games, winning seven Olympic gold medals and being called the "red machine" by the American media.
Soviet ice hockey team match. Image source: TASS
Tarazov, one of the coaches at the time, was known as Russia's "godfather of ice hockey." He wrote Russia's first book on ice hockey, emphasizing teamwork, opposing egoism, and applying his experience in chess and ballet to hockey training. Russia still uses some of Tarasov's tactics to this day.
At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the American ice hockey team had a rare victory over the Soviet Union, and this game became an "ice miracle" that Americans talked about.
Doping storm
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's path to the Winter Olympics once declined. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Russia won just 13 medals. But as the government stepped up its investment, winter sports such as ice hockey in Russia began to slowly recover.
In 2008, the Russian men's national ice hockey team won the World Men's Hockey Championship in Canada, and then won twice in 2009 and 2012. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia won 33 medals, the highest in any previous Winter Olympics. Due to doping problems, the number of medals was later reduced to 30.
According to a survey by the Russian business magazine RBC, Russia's preparations for the Olympic Games are mainly funded by two sources, government funding and large corporate sponsorship. In preparation for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, the Russian Olympic Committee invested about 1 billion rubles (about $17 million), and the annual budget of the Russian Olympic Committee is about 2 billion rubles.
The survey noted that Gazprom is the largest funder of the Russian Olympic Committee. Prior to the Sochi Olympics, the company donated $130 million, followed by $130 million for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Aeroflot and Norilsk Nickel are also important donors.
In addition, the Russian Ministry of Sport also provides funds for preparations for the Olympic Games. From 2014 to 2018, the Ministry of Sport spent between 46.7 billion rubles and 80.7 billion rubles on "world-class sporting events".
The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics will bring Russia back to the top, but it also became a turning point. Since then, Russia's Olympic journey has been shrouded in doping disputes. Russia was accused of systematically using banned drugs at the Sochi Winter Olympics, and the dispute over the issues continued for six years.
During this period, Russia has used the Russian Olympic Committee's English abbreviation ROC to participate in the Olympic Games since the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. In December 2020, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Russia could not participate as a state in international events for the next two years, including the Olympic Games and the World Cup, due to the doping incident at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Russian players can still participate in these competitions as neutral, but the Russian flag and national anthem will not appear in these competitions. For the ruling, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused it of being politically charged with trying to politicize sports.
According to the ruling, the ban on Russia will last until December 16, 2022. It also means that by the time of the next Olympics, Russia will resume competing as a country.