A former Russian Olympic champion made controversial statements after the 2020 Olympics was postponed.
Svetlana Khorkina, a former Russian gymnastics Olympic champion, recently made a controversial statement saying that the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan were postponed because the Covid-19 epidemic was “a sign of God, ”that this plague was a punishment from God to the West for suppressing Russian sports for many years.
Over the past half decade, Russian sports have been constantly involved in scandals, the most serious of which is the suspicion of allowing its athletes to use doping to compete in international tournaments. The Russian sports team has a limited number of athletes participating in the 2016 Olympics, and last year all Russian sports were banned from international competitions, including the soccer team at the World Cup.
Russian media have repeatedly affirmed the purity of the country’s sport, and harshly criticized the West for “hypocrisy” whenever major doping cases emerged in these countries. Recently, Ms. Khorkina, who won 7 Olympic gold medals and is currently participating in the ruling party of United Russia, has considered the epidemic of Covid-19 “an act of God”.
“From my point of view, this deadly disease is God’s punishment for the West when they have suppressed Russian sport. It is no coincidence that the National Anthem of our country says God protect this land, Ms. Khorkina said.
Ms. Khorkina also expressed her support for the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games next year, because so Russian sports will have time to gather all the necessary records and evidence to appeal their fines in Sports Arbitration Court (CAS). The CAS has the authority to overturn penalties and allow Russia to return to international competitions.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump called for a year of Olympic postponement because the Corona virus epidemic was increasingly complicated. In turn, England, Australia and Canada confirmed that they would not bring people to attend if the Olympics were still going on as scheduled.
Although no one wants to postpone the Olympics, especially athletes and sports leaders, this is the best way to protect the health of sports players and global audiences.
