Wearing white trousers and a medal on the neck in Rio de Janeiro
Realnoe Vremya analyses what competitions the national team of Russia can fight for gold medal in
While international federations continue to give their verdicts on the national team of Russia in Rio one by one, there is less time left before the start of the Games. The first competitions will take place on 3 August, and the opening ceremony is due to be on 5 August. The number of the unallowed athletes surpassed one hundred. It is obvious this Olympiad is not going to be triumphal for Russia. This is why, probably every medal will be precious. Who can fight for these medals? The sports staff of Realnoe Vremya is looking for the answers to this question.
Russian machines. Sports that everyone must visit
Well, let's start with a pleasant topic – rhythmic gymnastics. These fragile girls have always been the solid base of our national team. Our gymnasts have no equals in all big competitions. We can support them during the last two days of the Games, without doubt, and wait for the repetition of the golden double in London. The most important thing is that the gymnasts don't get relaxed. After the recent confident victory at the Kazan stage of the World Championships, the leader of the national team Margarita Mamun was very strict while commenting TASS her performance: 'My coach and I are satisfied. There were blots, faults, errors that an ordinary spectator cannot see but the coaching staff and I must know about. In general, we are satisfied but will correct the mistakes.' It seems many athletes lack this kind of stamina.
Representatives of synchronised swimming don't cause doubts. Olympic champions in London, Natalia Ischenko and Svetlana Romashina who have rich experience remained in the team. They won't get confused. They won't let young athletes overshadow them. The girls are able to step on the upper stair of the podium in both competitions.
London champion, diver Ilya Zakharov and his partner in synchronised diving Evgeny Kuznetsov (synchronised diving silver medalists in 2012) are also on stream. In the recent European Championships, the men's national team was good. But Chinese divers who collected all golds in the FINA World Championships in Kazan are the guys' main rivals. Will they be also perfect in Rio? The fight promises to be interesting.
Four-time London Olympics medallist Aliya Mustafina, her teammates Maria Paseka and Daria Spiridonova – the reigning champions in vault and uneven bars respectively – are demonstrating good shape in this season. American athletes are their major rivals in all events. Men performed worse during these four years. The main gymnastic fight is likely to break up among the Asian athletes, mainly Chinese participants.
More than gold. The Games
Interest in the Olympic sports is not always equal to the number of medals. They are only two in volleyball, but they are too valuable! No one would doubt a gold of volleyball players became the brightest and the most remarkable victory of Russia in the previous Olympiad. Both men and women have not been playing confidently for the last four years, but both celebrated and star teams have great victories and aspiration to a win under their belt like no one else. We will hope the flag bearer Tetyukhin will be a lucky charm for both his team and the Russian national team in general. By the way, according to Tetyukhin, the unfair ban on Russian athletes will add sports fury to the team. As for handball and water polo, only women's teams will represent Russia. But it is difficult to call them nominees for gold.
Good times for Russia in women's tennis has left behind now (we hope we will see them in the future too). The highest rank of female representatives of the national team belongs to experienced Svetlana Kuznetsova is 10. However, we cannot forget about young Daria Kasatkina who is playing in this season as if she is going to 'shoot' at any time. And does she! Yelena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova are one of the main candidates for medals in the women's doubles. Nevertheless, women's tennis is quite unpredictable. The Olympic competition cannot be lacklustre.
Russians are unlikely to be a decent rival to Asian athletes in badminton and table tennis. And Russians are not among the favourites in beach volleyball.
Faster, higher, stronger – in swimming pool, on track and platform
Swimming is one of the Olympic sports that has many medals to compete for. But, unfortunately, after Yefimova's 'departure', we can't wait for any individual achievements. The results of the FINA World Championships in Kazan and sad tendencies of Russian swimming in recent years illustrate it. But it is worth watching relays, especially among men.
Competitions in the queen sport will be a pain for a Russian fan. Long jumper Daria Klishina is the only Russian field and track athlete who was allowed to participate in the Games only because she has had nothing to do with Russia in recent years. We cannot count on her medal – her result in the Championship of Russia was 66.84, it is the 10 th result of the season in the world. It is silly to say the absence of Yelena Isinbaeva, Sergey Shubenkov and many others who were not implicated in doping of the strongest athletes is just a loss of medals. But for them, it is a deprivation of an opportunity to take part in the Olympiad, it is what ordinary fans cannot imagine. Mother of the reigning world champion Sergey Shubenkov in the 110 metres hurdles Natalia was divested of a chance to win a gold because of a boycott in 1984. It is the only family in the sports history who has such a story. But the Shubenkovs are unlikely to be glad about their record.
Medal perspective of Russia in weightlifting also suffered much after the 'selection' of the international federation. To be more precise, they reduced to zero: no weightlifter will step onto the platform, though in this sport, as well as in track and field athletics, our national team was celebrated and strong. There will be also organised domestic competitions for weightlifters to let them demonstrate their results.
We can watch the competition of cyclists in track and mountains. The strongest road racers were not allowed by the decision of the federation. When the racing cyclist Ilnur Zakarin was not allowed to compete, Oleg Tinkov, a Russian banker and the owner of Tinkoff cycling team who never stints on expressions, wrote on his Instagram and called the International Cyclist Union a bunch of bureaucratic idiots.
Face to face. Combat sports
After the edit of the international federation, the squads of freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling has had small changes. Meanwhile, athletes in these sports can make us happy. They are likely to do it. In the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, Russia was the leader in the total medal table. Freestyle wrestler Mogamed Kurbangaliev is very decided, he told 360tv.ru about it: 'We will have to fight to support our field and track athletes. We will go to win gold medals, of course. I have competed with future rivals and won them all. There are few people I have never competed with, but I'm sure I will win'.
Judokas' performances don't cause optimism, their results in world championships are worse. The same result was demonstrated in the European Judo Championships that took place in Kazan recently. The reigning Olympic champion Tagir Khaibulaev who is not very successful at the moment is in the national team. But the experience of the Olympic victory gives him a big advantage over his rivals.
Amateur boxing, which is present in the Olympic programme, is not respected in the sports world. Nevertheless, the national team of Russia has big fans who can win medals of a different calibre.
The Olympic doctor prescribed to watch the nine-day tournament among elite combat wrestlers and fencing to all people who get tired of doping investigation and want to enjoy the fight of the Russian athletes for a victory. Russian fencers have chances to win all golds in sabre and foil, but epee also gives us hope.
Celebrated Sofia Velikaya and Nikolay Kovalev have never touched the Olympic gold. Probably they want to change it very much. In general, fencers are ready for this Olympiad, and fans just need to prepare and revise the main differences between arms and rules.
Anything else?
Russia also has its candidates for medals in skeet shooting. This sport can be seen on TV only once in four years. In Kazan, people, first of all, will support Vasily Mosin who has big chances of winning a gold. Strong trampoliners Dmitry Ushakov and Andrey Yudin also go to Rio. But this is not the whole list of Summer Olympic sports. You won't regret if you spend some time watching sailing, equestrian, modern pentathlon, triathlon, rowing, basketball or rugby, in spite of the absence of leading Russians in these sports. Rio is waiting!