About sports politics and double standards. The International Gymnastics Federation has suspended the president of the All-Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation and head coach of the Russian national team Irina Viner for two years. The reason is the public criticism of Irina Alexandrovna after the defeat of the Russian team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The decision is absolutely political, I think. Irina Viner – the master who brought up a whole galaxy of world sports stars, and the founder of modern standards in rhythmic gymnastics – has, of course, the right to her professional assessments and judgments. I repeat – professional. And subjecting them to sanctions is a manifestation of the same “cancellation culture” of everything Russian. Irina Viner, one might say, was put on a par with our great composers, writers, poets and artists, now “forbidden” by the collective West.
Unsportsmanlike conduct! Yes, what is there – arbitrariness and double standards in big sport. But here, too, the boomerang tends to return. World rhythmic gymnastics without Russian athletes and Irina Viner risks sliding down to the level of corps de ballet. And let them no longer say this phrase: “Sport is out of politics.”
