Tatiana Tarasova: “We are not competing anywhere — not at Europeans, not at Worlds. This is terrible. We were disqualified for no reason. They simply wanted to exclude us because we keep winning, so they banned us. They fear us.”
Tatiana Tarasova about suspension of Russian skaters.
original source: Sovsport
In an interview with Sovsport, Tatiana Tarasova spoke about the suspension of Russian skaters from international competitions. Here’s a translation of her comments.
“Q: Did you follow the First Channel Cup? What do you think about this event?
Tatiana Tarasova: Of course, I watched everything. It took place in Chelyabinsk. It’s unfortunate that very few events are held in Moscow — no major competitions. We would easily fill a venue with 10–12 thousand seats, for sure. I didn’t travel to the First Channel Cup this year, but I watched it.
The First Channel broadcasted it very well. In general, they always do a great job covering competitions. I’m grateful to them because they show everything from start to finish. It’s good that we still have different events happening. Right now, however, we are not competing anywhere — not in European, not in the World championships.
It’s awful. This is terrible. We were disqualified for no reason. They had no right to do that because, as they say, sports and politics are not the same thing, and politics should not influence sports. But that’s not true. They simply wanted to exclude us because we keep winning, so they banned us.
Now we are allowed to participate in the Olympic Games. At the last championship, we had three participants in every disciplines. It was a team effort — if not first then second person and if not the second, then the third. It’s crucial for the first to become the first, to have a strong foundation. And now it’s been reduced to only one person. Why?
That means it’s their decision; they wanted it this way and made it happen. What kind of disgrace is this? Why is it so unfair? Why only one, and not two? Why not three? And we haven’t even received an invitation for next year’s European Championships or World Championships.
Q: In your opinion, has the global attitude toward Russian athletes changed recently?
Tatiana Tarasova: To maintain a positive attitude, you need to compete. But they fear us — a significant amount of fear. That’s why they excluded us, and that’s why they won’t let us compete. And there’s nothing we can do about it. How is this acceptable? Who can we trust? How can we go there? Who will support us? Everyone has their own interests.
When it comes to figure skating, there can be no talk of fairness toward us, toward Russians. It simply doesn’t exist, not for anyone.
Q: How important is it, in your view, to return to the global stage with the Russian flag and anthem?
Tatiana Tarasova: The most important thing is to return with the worthy athletes who never should have been excluded in the first place. We must return fully, as is rightfully ours, because we earned those three spots under the rules.
Everything they are doing goes against the rules. The International Olympic Committee decided to allow just one participant per event—“let them wander around.”
Related topics: Tatiana Tarasova
I have never gone, but I have spoken to some Ukrainians through some friends, and they currently live in the US, and considered themselves Americans, but Ukrainian is definitely part of who they are. As to the war, they just want it over and peace.
Yes, you are correct, but in that same wikipedia paragraph it says “The earliest more reliable evidence suggests it was initially an early medieval Slavic settlement paying tribute to the Khazars.[5] Reportedly conquered or otherwise acquired by Varangians in c. 880,[1][5][2] Kyiv would be the capital of medieval Kievan Rus’ until 1240.”
Oh, and did we forget that Kyiv was originally KIev, and was used to refer to the “ Kievan-Rus’ ” in context of the old Russian empire? Look it up
You didn’t answer my question :) And it’s the most important one. To know for sure whether Ukrainians consider themselves Russian, you really need to know Ukrainian people.
As for the name Kyiv, it comes from one of its founders, Kyi, along with Shchek and Khoryv.
No, what I mean is that half of Ukraine is fundamentally divided. You won’t really find that in most new sources today because most everything is usually slanted to the victim, or what looks good. Sure, I could identify as a British, because Americans share a common language with them, but I don’t have ethnic roots. Before Ukraine was recognized, what are now Ukrainians, were ethnically Russian, and part of the Russian empire, thus their roots are there. By citizenship, they are legally recognized as Ukrainian, but their roots are at least Slavic, if not Russian.
What I mean is that a decent majority of Ukraine is ethnically Russian, speak Russian, identify as Russian, and actually, shocker, want the annexation to Russia. The northern half of Ukraine believes they are Russians. Ukraine broke off of what was the Soviet Union, and it is divided, half think they are Ukrainian, half think they are Russian. So, half of Ukraine believes it should belong to Russia.
May I ask whether you’ve ever been to Ukraine, spoke to Ukrainian people to claim that the majority of Ukrainians identify as Russian? Speaking Russian doesn’t mean someone identifies as Russian. The majority of Americans speak English — does that make them British or mean they identify as British?
Welp, let’s see here, men are bigger and have greater muscle and bone mass, and don’t have the same proportions as women. The Russian men, yes, I’ll admit don’t see much success, but I’d say, the ethnicity doesn’t come into play so much as who teaches and trains them. And let’s be honest, we’d much rather watch the ladies perform, and perform well, much more then the men.
Since when does the Ladies event mean “everything”? Oh Tatiana…
Pairs was won by the Chinese, Dance was won by France and Men’s was won by Americans. Just because Russians have an army of replaceable malnourished teenage girls on puberty blockers doesn’t mean you’ve won everything. If their skills were so transferable, why don’t they have the same success on the men’s?
I can pretty much guarantee that any other country, especially the US, would feel the same way and cry bloody murder just as loud, if not louder, like the Russians are now. The irony here is that the US has waged just as many bloody and horrible wars, like Russia is now, though the case can be made that they are reclaiming what is rightfully theirs, when after the (official) collapse of USSR in January of 1991, when what were ethnically Russians, or at least Slavs, people up and claimed ‘Ukraine’, which wasn’t called “Ukraine,’ but “the ukraine,” up until December of 1991. Even though the US has waged and interfered in plenty of wars, nobody thinks to ban them, for think of the global outrage that would cause. Why not ban both the attacker and the attacked countries, until they both reach peace? For both most give some if peace or a solution is desired. My point being, is all, or the majority, think the attacking country should be banned, but you are not consistent. (And, I believe, the US should be banned, because they are actively founding and continuing this war, by aiding Ukraine, thus waging political war.)
“though the case can be made that they are reclaiming what is rightfully theirs,” what exactly do you mean by that? The USSR no longer exists, and Ukraine has been an independent country for over 30 years. Continuing this logic you probably think that Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan are also “rightfully theirs” and this is absurd. Besides, by that logic, Russiaт Federation itself didn’t exist until 1991 either.
Thera are Russin skaters on EC and WC – for example Kurakova and Samoilov.
Of course, Russians should be able to compete! There is no reason to exclude skaters for political reasons.
To the commentators: the invasion was provoked by the US – you are served as much propaganda as the Russians do (no, I do not support the war). Russian athletes are not guilty in the war, neither can they stop it. Your western leaders loved dealing with Putin as they were making good money, knowing exactly who he was and continuing strengthening him. The owner of this blog did not include other parts of the interview there Tarasova was praising US for the help she and her students got during the 90-s.
Oh, this eternal russian whining. Someone please tell Tarasova that there is a war going on. An unprovoked aggression staged by her country. And, as someone here, already noticed – you are not winning everything
The whole “politics and sports should be separate” argument has been kind of moot since at least the 1980/1984 olympic boycotts. Probably longer. South Africa was banned from the Olympics for almost 30 years from the 60s to the 90s over their politics. Due to the Balkan war, Serbia was barred by UN resolution from competing in international events like the 94 winter Olympics. So whether Ms Tarasova likes it or not, there is precedent of sports and politics being very much entwined, and this is not a one off because everyone is fearful of Russian athletes winning everything. Because they don’t. While in women’s skating (possibly pairs) they do, there are so many other sports in the olympics besides figure skating. And in many places of the world skating is not popular enough to warrant that kind of action.
Such a fiction they tell themselves. No reason? Illegal invasion during Olympic truce, state doping of athletes without end. Abuse of child athletes without consequence. Not true that it is fear competition!