Extended Tatyana Tarasova Remarks
https://www.sport-express.ru/olympi...a-tarasova-hochetsya-ne-plakat-a-vyt-1344761/
Q. How should one react to the IOC’s decision? How lawful is it?
“You know, I probably can’t tell you anything about how lawful it is. (
Trans. The word chosen for “lawful” could also mean “right”, but Tarasova is interpreting the question according to the word’s most common use.) We have a lot of lawyers, sport directors and people who have been appointed to such roles in our country. They should answer if the IOC decision is legally appropriate. But in general – it’s just the murder of our national sport! Of course, we will try, we will get over it. We have been through worse.
“In my opinion, the decision is absolutely unfair, based only on the testimony of a person who should be tried in an international court.
“In the 2000s, the Americans had serious questions and investigations about doping. We can’t say that doping that was provided by one person is the politics of a government. That’s not true. I have been through a lot of Olympic Games with my athletes – since 1968. I never heard of such a thing. Never!
“There are just no words, I don’t want to cry, but to wail! It’s one thing when you’ve spent your life at the Olympic Games – my life, my dad’s life. But it’s another thing if you are just starting and every day training til you
bust a gut for these Games and they won’t let you go… (
trans. literally - ripping your intestines)
“That our athletes will compete under a neutral flag, the IOC flag, it is just the maximum that could be gained in this situation.
“We just folded our hands and didn’t do anything after the Olympics in Rio, just forgot about it all. We didn’t prepare a team of serious people, who can answer the legal questions.
“Now I watch on television as an educated person explains everything in understandable and accessible terms why we are not guilty in certain questions.”
Q. Is it necessary to compete under the IOC flag?
“This is a matter for each coach and athlete, but I think it is necessary. I don’t think the country abandoned athletes. Although really, she did, not taking care of them. If something had been done and people had looked a bit ahead, the results would have been different. Yes, they lied to us – that is for sure! If not 100%, then even worse. It means that there wasn’t a single educated person who could resolve everything to the desired result. Our athletes will compete in white Olympic uniforms….”
Q. Will everyone agree to compete under a neutral flag?
“I can’t say for everyone, but I had the kind of athletes whose lives I couldn’t ruin. They have been preparing for the Olympics their whole lives!
“Yes, I have no answers to the questions. How will our athletes be treated, received and judged… There are no answers yet.
“But all the same, I can thank the IOC for letting the athletes compete. They have only life and perhaps only one Olympics. It’s a pity that we won’t have teams, that we won’t enter the Opening Ceremonies and be the most beautiful ones there. It’s a pity that the flag won’t be hung, but nobody banned singing the anthem. If we will win, then I think our athletes will sing for us.”
Q. Will the banning of Russia eliminate our team as competitors in the athletic battles?
“We are a great athletic power. Of course, the Olympics won’t work without Russians. We know how to compete. We have the victory gene, passed on to us by our parents. If there are some serious people who can untie this nightmarish tangle, we will only be grateful to them. We’ll applaud them from the afterlife.
“I want to wish the athletes to focus on their specific competitions and battles. It may even help many of them. Because when one is offended or feels something is unfair, you can have extra power. I have experienced it myself and in those situations, I always emerged victorious with my athletes. I wish all our athletes good health, strength and will.”
Q. You called this IOC decision the only smart one in this situation. Will athletes be able to build a career if they attend?
“Of course. I think that our country will recover quickly. If we could recover after 45, then what is this? The decision was even noble, I would say.”
Q Was this decision a political game? What responses could Russia take to change the situation?
“I am not the president of the country. I am not the sports minister. I am a coach who has been to a whole lot of Olympics. A very successful coach. I knew how to prepare. If the sports minister knew how to lead the team, then I think we wouldn’t have this problem. I think there has been a mistake somewhere.”
Q. What would you like to say to our athletes?
“Will they go out? Under what letter? Will we wait for them in white costumes? That’s not clear. But I will really love and respect them. Know this: the whole country loves you. Not just a few people involved in sports, but everyone for whom sport matters. Get ready, guys! You are strong. I love you.”
http://www.sovsport.ru/olympic_game...mutko-diskvalificirovali-mne-lichno-ne-zhalko
“I am not personally bothered that Vitali Mutko was disqualified, but that athletes were disqualified and that he as the director could not help them or the country, that he got the country caught up in this nightmare – that he didn’t use his authority, that he was incompetent in these questions… I don’t have any pity for him. I have pity for those who suffered from his incompetence.” (Tarasova)