Should we see a sign there? Less than a year before the Paris 2024 Games, while the IOC continues to postpone its decision regarding the participation of individual athletes under neutral status in the Olympic events, the Russian sports movement is insistently looking abroad. Its leaders, above all.
In quick succession, three pieces of news from Moscow reveal it without any doubt: the time of isolation is over. Russian officials take their bags. They are no longer unwelcome in the Olympic movement.
First information: the Russian Bobsleigh Federation (RBF) received an official letter from the world body (IBSF) inviting it to participate in the next annual congress. It is scheduled to be held on September 23 and 24, 2023 in Santa Susanna, near Barcelona, Spain.
RBF Secretary General Sergey Parkhomenko informed the agency about this TASS, adding that the president of the federation, Anatoly Pegov, the vice-president, Yelena Anikina, and himself planned to accept the invitation and go to the IBSF congress.
Russian athletes have been suspended since mid-July 2022 from all bobsleigh and skeleton competitions organized under the auspices of the IBSF. Their suspension has not yet been lifted. But, obviously, the leaders are no longer subject to the same regime. As a reminder, the IBSF is chaired by the Italian Ivo Ferriani, also a member of the IOC Executive Board.
Another announcement: one of the most recognized Russian football referees on the international scene, Sergey Karasev, assured Monday August 21 that he was ready to go to a meeting of the refereeing body organized by UEFA from August 3 to 6 September in Nyons, Switzerland.
On June 30, the press service of the Russian Football Federation (RFU) explained that Sergey Karasev, 44, a FIFA international referee since 2010, had been invited to participate in the UEFA training course for referees. But his trip remained subject to certain conditions, including obtaining a visa.
« I have my visa and other documents, my plane ticket for September 2, I hope there will be no change, he told the agency TASS. I'm going to go to the meeting, then we'll see how things go. I was invited to participate after receiving an official letter, then I collected all the documents, sent the necessary information. I'm ready"
Coincidence or not, the president of the Russian Football Federation, Alexander Dyukov (photo above), also chose the day of Monday August 21 to inform the national media of his intention to seek a new mandate on the executive committee of the UEFA.
Elected to the executive committee of the European body in April 2021, Alexander Dyukov is supposed to serve until 2025. But he is already planning to extend his lease. “ There is a lot of time left until 2025 and a lot can change, he explained this week. Do I intend to be re-elected? If I'm still alive in 2025, then yes, I will run again"
Aged 55, Alexander Dyukov is not quite a sports leader like the others. He is best known in Russia for being the general director of the Russian oil company Gazprom, presented until recent months as the first financial partner of the International Boxing Federation (IBA), chaired by his compatriot Umar Kremlev.
The Russian leader also chaired the board of directors of Zenit Saint Petersburg for a long time, winner of the Europa League in 2008, champion of Russia continuously since 2019. Alexander Dyukov was elected president of the RFU in February 2019. At UEFA, in addition to his presence on the executive committee, he is vice-president of the national associations committee and the club competitions committee.
