Why did the Ukrainian team so poorly performed at the Olympics?

Ukraine is, of course, for Russians abroad, but there is interest in this country, if only because many have relatives living in this near abroad. Despite the huge problems in interstate relations that arose after the Maidan, friendly relations are preserved, reciprocal visits to guests happen, and for sports successes, especially Olympic ones, citizens are monitored on both sides of the border.

The Ukrainian team in Rio acted as best she could. In contrast to the European Championships, relatively recent, in the absence of a will to win reproaches did not sound. But why did it come out so poorly? There are explanations, they are given by sportsmen themselves, officials and politicians.

What the minister says about refereeing ...

The comment of the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine deserves attention, this member of the government is responsible for medals, records and other possible achievements in the area of the country's life entrusted to him. The main obstacle to victory, he believes wrong refereeing. Only one of dozens of Ukrainian champions who came to Rio could win a gold prize, which means only one thing: arbitration was biased. Gold was actually stolen from the fighters, Belenuk became the victim of intrigue, ceding to the Russian Davita Chakvetadze. Jean deserved the first place, so the minister believes. If he had judged, then the victory would have been, it can be said, in his pocket, that is, on the neck of the more deserving champion. Probably, there were other blatant cases of injustice, but Igor Zhdanov did not go into details. About how right he is, even to argue is useless. The prejudice against the Russian athletes from the IOC was obvious, and very serious reasons would be needed for their Ukrainian colleagues to suddenly become even more hated.

... and the general situation in the country

Igor Zhdanov described as the reason for the weak Olympic results not only an unjust court, he also drew attention to the fact that Ukraine is at war. Money for sports is not enough, so it turned out that way. And it's true, without spending money it is difficult to count on many victories. However, there is an objection to this explanation. So, in 1952, when seven years after the most terrible and destructive war in history, Soviet athletes first took part in the Olympics, they took the second place among other things. And among the champions were even those who grew up in the Gulag. Received 61 medals, including 22 gold, three dozen silver and 19 bronze. And now, on the wave of the declared unprecedented growth of patriotism, Ukrainians, too, could seem to be temporarily distracted from material difficulties. Yes, there is not much money, so what, without them already? Moreover, if we believe official propaganda, then Russia also fights with might and main, only secretly and hybrids. With the strongest army on the continent, by the way. Ukrainian media often say that the Russian economy is in a deplorable state. In general, again the problem. But down with politics, now about sports.

Saakashvili's remark

The former Georgian president would not have been himself, had he not commented on the modest successes of Ukrainian athletes. By this he demonstrated to everyone his hot southern heart of a patriot, and at the same time showed once again the ability to criticize impartially anyone, even the minister of sports. Ukraine has a huge potential, it can become the most important country in everything. In general, it is time for the minister to resign after such an incident. But now the government is "contractual", and it, despite the mistakes made, will be abandoned. This is necessary, Ukraine played worse at the Games in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Cuba, Kenya, Jamaica (hereafter, a list of three dozen countries). Georgia, however, is even worse, but not much.

Rejoicing Minister

Zhdanov did not tolerate and responded to Mikhail Saakashvili in the style of "from this I hear." The squabble was on "Facebook", otherwise it could go to the traditional throwing of vessels with liquids and screams. In the Odessa region, hundreds of stadiums and other sports facilities have recently been destroyed and closed. By the way, all this infrastructure, without exception, was created in the Soviet times, and it is quite possible that they destroyed it under the pretext of decommunization. The stadiums are full of different bas-reliefs with stars, ears, sickles, hammers and other attributes of totalitarianism. But the fact remains, the objects are closed, and Saakashvili seems to have nothing to cover. But the Zhdanov case in the parliament will still be considered, in the profile committee. Let everyone tell how the Ukrainian sport was harmed.

Expert opinion ...

The opinion of the Ukrainian (Soviet) Olympic champion in 1980, gymnast Stella Zakharova, is very valuable, she certainly knows the sporting issues. Now she is deputy head of the "People's Party" Lytvyn, who is in charge of the youth sports direction. Zakharova also accuses the officials of the profile ministry and demands the dismissal of all non-professionals who interfere with the overall development. To be engaged in such questions it is necessary to sportsmen and good managers. Then everything will be fine, but the old cadres will not go far. Perhaps it was Zakharova who should have entrusted this difficult matter. Athletes are not guilty of their failures. Financing is not enough, and nobody raised this problem (probably). And corruption to the same. It was stated on the "5th channel" of UT. Interestingly, while Zakharova in 1980, the manager was? And sports in the USSR was considered amateur. True, the choice was available to the trainers, all the Youth Schools worked throughout the country, for free, by the way. Young people massively engaged in physical culture and sports, it was healthier, so the problem is actually much deeper, it goes beyond the bureaucratic arbitrariness and is systemic in nature.

... and one more

The deputy chairman of the Rada Committee on Family, Youth Policy, Sport and Tourism, the World Swimming Champion, the silver medalist of the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000 Denis Silantieva has a similar opinion. The record-holder and the deputy just develops a theme in the direction of the humanitarian policy and health of the nation. After reproaching the country's leadership that it is doing "everything for the nation to grow up sick", Silantiev also mentions the issue of financing, insufficient, and this is very rightly noted. And what other power should be in order to achieve a better situation for the situation? The people's choice speaks about this. Was he drafting a bill of appropriate content? And if so, what is his fate? All this was said not in the walls are happy, but to the correspondent of the agency "RIA Novosti". And so, everything is correct. But there is no money.

So how did you perform?

In fact, it can not be said that the Ukrainian athletes did not act well. Rather, well, just in the whole history of independence, that is, over 25 years, was never worse. A total of 11 medals, of which two are gold, five are silver and four are bronze. Could be worse. Ukraine is on the 31st place out of 78 possible. This is above the middle. Everyone can scold, but you can try it yourself - it's still worth looking at.

In London there were more - two dozen different medals. The best performers were in 1996, in Atlanta, then they won nine gold medals. Since then everything is worse and worse. On Tokyo there are no special hopes, there will be no more money, and sports schools too.

And if you look wider?

A long time ago an intelligent person noticed that success always has many fathers and mothers, and failure is usually an orphan. In more than modest results of the Ukrainian team, you can blame the athletes themselves or, as it is now fashionable, officials - they are never loved. So far, this is what all those who want to show their activity and interest are doing. Few people come to mind to ask other questions, quite simple: why in all other areas the situation is not better, but more often than not, than in sports? Why is it that behind the bravura speeches on the eve of Independence Day you can not hear the quiet whisper of pensioners, who are struggling to survive with forty-dollar benefits? Why are there less and less work? For what reason do prices grow, and the population, on the contrary, is declining? Sport, he, of course, is important, and everything else? And can athletes from a poor country show better results?