Belarusian Athletes Ousted By Foreigners :: Charter'97 :: News

Almost half of the national Belarusian squad at the winter Olympics will be represented by folks, who are no Belarusian nationals at all. The globalization idea, which characterizes the new millennium, has penetrated into sports as well. Let’s take the Belarusian sport for example. We are getting more athletes, representing other countries in our teams. Similar practice has been applied elsewhere for a few decades now. Let’s taken the famous NHL hockey as an example. In general, every country, which attained certain success at the international arena, can cite examples from its own practice. Such a situation is witnessed everywhere. However, never before had we seen the whole team of foreigners join the national squad. And we’re talking about our country.

Recently there appeared numbers of teams, made up of Russians, who in no time became Belarusian nationals, were issued blue passports and turned into our countrymen. Do you need facts? Here you go. Female biathlon team, female mountain ski team, national skating squad, short-track etc… That was the real expansion on behalf of our Eastern neighbor. Rehearsals of such “globalization” took place long ago, when sportsmen of the multi-national Russia were coached in Belarusian gyms. Fair enough, there were lots of outstanding athletes in their midst, for whom our flag and anthem were almost like their own. But that wasn’t always the case.

As a rule, those who come to be trained in Belarus, have no real perspectives in their home country. And I pretty much know what they feel. They dedicate whole lives to their favorite sport only to face closed doors at the end. But how about those kids, who were born here and also dream of high sports achievements? Belarusian sport has encountered numerous problems in recent years. First, it lost a good deal of massiveness. Such star athletes as Medved and Romankov get born here once in a century. But it is namely sports sections, which bring them up, train and lift them to international recognition.

Unfortunately, young folks don’t really feel like playing sports. Sections are being closed down. The pupils abandon schools, academies and institutes. Cows are being pastured at the stadiums…

The country’s sports leadership is only seeing the top of the iceberg – the sport of highest achievements. And they care little about what’s happening on the bottom.

Apparently, well-meaning Russians send to us sportsmen, whose records are far from perfect. And our specialists also realize that they can’t solve the task radically. They have to start over from the very beginning. Fine, our skiers or skaters can get us some tenth or twentieth spot at the Olympics. But what’s next? How many girls and boys are leaving their training while you’re reading these lines?

Most coaches will shrug their shoulders in despair. Many will lock the gyms and take up another job. Why doing biathlon then if any moment they can throw you outdoors. And this is true not only of the national squad but of the teams at all levels.