In the Russian sports movement, it seems, a new scandal is brewing. Six months after the end of the Winter Olympics in Turin, it suddenly became clear that the champions and prize-winners of the Games, which until recently the whole country was so proud of, missed the promised premiums from the Russian Olympic Committee. The first rebels were skiers who insisted on considering their claims in the very near future. Representatives of other sports are also very unhappy with the optionalness of officials.
On October 3, 2005, the President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Leonid Tyagachev presented to the public a grandiose project worth 110 million US dollars. For this money, the ROC intended to transfer the rights to attract reputable sponsors to the Russian Olympic movement to Fedcom Media. And although one of the main goals of the agreement is Tyagachev and the head of
Aleksey Fedorychev called the holding of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia; upon signing the protocol of intent for the first and last time, officials made promises to pay winners of the 2006 Winter Olympics in the amount of 50, 30 and 20 thousand dollars for gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
“This money will be paid in addition to state awards,” Leonid Tyagachev emphasized then, and Fedorychev and OCD economic program director Alexander Tukmanov added that all premium champions and prize winners of the Olympic Games are not included in the specified amount of the contract.
A year has passed. In February, Russian athletes successfully performed in Turin, winning 8 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze medals. Immediately after the Olympics, athletes were literally bombarded with gifts. At the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, each medalist of the 2006 Games received an expensive jeep and annual grants from a special fund to support Russian Olympians on behalf of a group of large businessmen.
The order of the Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov was fulfilled by Rossport, transferring to the cards of athletes exempted from paying taxes of 50, 20 and 10 thousand dollars in ruble equivalent for medals of all merits. Regional officials and businessmen did not lag behind federal structures. For example, in St. Petersburg, Olympic champions were given 800 thousand rubles, and in the Chelyabinsk region - 500 thousand.
Local authorities improved housing conditions for some of Turin’s heroes (Evgeni Plushenko, Larisa Kurkina, Ivan Babikov), cool cars were presented to others and stadiums were named after them, and biathlete Sergei Chepikov generally became an honorary citizen of Yekaterinburg. However promised
The Fedorychev and Olympic Committee have not yet awarded prizes to heroes.
“To be honest, I no longer hope to replenish the family budget at the expense of the Fedcom. In the spring, the financial department of the ROC told us that we already received enough double awards, which were given to the medalists of the 2004 Athens Olympics, we should not wait. Apparently, she was just unlucky, ”Svetlana Zhurova, Olympic champion in speed skating, answered a call from a Izvestia correspondent with a sad grin.
Albert Demchenko, Russia's only silver medalist in Olympic luge, Albert Demchenko, received a call from an Izvestia correspondent in the workshop. “Here, I spend the remnants of the federal bonus on a new sled, although my wife has long dreamed of going abroad.
I asked the president of the ROC for additional remuneration in the spring. Leonid Vasilievich was very surprised at that time: “What prizes? We didn’t promise anything! It’s all the journalists came up with, and contact them,” he said.
“In general, athletes are not being fooled for the first time,” Demchenko continues. “Remember the story of figure skater Maria Butyrskaya, who sued the leadership of her federation for unpaid prizes. And I don’t want to go into direct conflict with anyone, because I feel responsibility not only for ourselves, and for our whole sport. ”Russian sledgers, in principle, are not spoiled by fees, and if we start the fight for justice now, they can bury our federation altogether, but we have just begun to raise our heads. Governor of the Moscow Region Boris Gromov promises to build a highway by 2008. And in the Dmitrovsky district, I’m very good
relate, unlike my native Perm region or Irkutsk, for which I spoke before moving to the suburbs. And although today the family budget is bursting at the seams, my wife and I, when money was scarce, learned to live economically. "
But the ski team did not want to sit back and wait for the officials to fulfill their promises. The uprising was led by the world champion, bronze medalist of Turin, Vasily Rochev. “We are tired of living with promises!” He says. “We can win medals, now we need to learn
to defend their interests. For the upcoming meeting of the coaching council, which I enter as captain of the team, we are preparing a letter about the lost prizes. Only Rossport, the regions and the Dynamo sports society, which encouraged those who are members of it, fully complied with our obligations. Thanks also to President Vladimir Putin for SUVs. Unfortunately, I have not received a clear response from the president of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation (FLGR), Vladimir Loginov, when we are given a reward from the general sponsor of the LUKOIL national team and OCD. Do not consider us as crooks, we are not asking for the stranger to give, but for our own earned sweat and blood. Why, when the prestige of Russian sports hangs in the balance, officials and businessmen do not skimp on promises, and when the time comes for calculation, their memory suddenly refuses them? "
The head of the FLGR, and part-time vice-president of the ROC Vladimir Loginov, a Izvestia correspondent’s call surprised: “I’ve heard from you about the requirements of skiers for the first time. I think this season the national team is not offended. Athletes, as they say, are shod and dressed with head to head, they get good scholarships. But LUKOIL did not promise any extra money. And anyway, how can you demand anything else if the guys have already received bonuses, cars, grants? Today, the Olympians are surrounded by care. Not like in the old days when the champions were paid a penny. "
Where the traces of premium promised by OCD and the Fedcom were lost, Alexander Tukmanov could not explain. In his own words, he is now on vacation and is not yet ready to give a direct answer to the questions that have accumulated for him. It seems that the officials, using sports terminology, are simply dragging out time. Are the sports heroes of Russia "thrown" again? Izvestia will certainly continue to follow up on the topic.