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Russia’s decades-long dominance of rhythmic gymnastics was shattered at this year’s Tokyo Olympics, where Russian athletes failed to win Olympic gold in the individual all-around for the first time since 1996. In In Sunday’s group competition, Russia didn’t win gold either, losing to Bulgaria.
As authoritarian countries cherish Olympic competitions as a tool to inflame nationalist sentiments and promote their country’s global position, Russia’s defeats have been strongly rejected by a multitude of pro-Kremlin voices, who have resorted to the age-old tradition of conspiracy state media.
Experts on Russian state television have tried to read each country’s Olympic gold medals like tea leaves, suggesting that the outcome determines the new global hegemon. Last week, pro-Kremlin pundits, hosts and pundits relished the idea of the “weak” United States being overtaken by China. Host of the state television show 60 minutes, Olga Skabeeva, pontifica: “You cannot beat China. They have the most gold medals. Eager to inject Russia’s notorious transphobic rhetoric into the conversation, Skabeeva added, “And none of them are transgender, so they will continue to procreate.”
Much to Russia’s dismay, the United States eventually overtook China, winning 39 gold medals and 113 total medals, the most in the world. And that means, according to the logic of Russian state television, that the United States does not give up its world leadership, which does not suit Russia.
“The Tokyo Olympics are the clearest example of total Russophobia. These Olympics stink. World sports have forever ceased to be fair competition, turning into a cheap political farce, ”Skabeeva raged on Monday’s broadcast of 60 minutes. She claimed without merit: “At the request of the Americans, the International Olympic Committee withdrew two gold medals from Russia. “
Lawmaker Aleksei Zhuravlyov described the other countries participating in the Tokyo Games as “a pack of Russophobic beasts, led by the United States”. “Americans are monsters. Moral monsters. Why are we even discussing this parade of monsters and perverts? Asked Pyotr Tolstoy, vice-president of the Russian State Duma.
Oleg Matveychev, a member of the Russian Expert Institute for Social Research, claimed that the decisions of the Olympic judges were influenced by Russophobic propaganda.
“The Israeli sportswoman’s medal is worth nothing, she should throw it away,” he said, referring to Linoy Ashram’s victory over Russian Dina Averina in the rhythmic gymnastics all-around competition – only the Russian team asked to cancel. “She hung shame around her neck.” He went on to say that American Olympic victories are “worthless” and are also “obtained by cheating”, calling for all American athletes to be allowed to participate only in the Paralympic Games, as many of them are ” sick ”.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko told TASS on Sunday that the Russian Olympic Committee had sent a request to the International Gymnastics Federation to judge in rhythmic gymnastics. Accusing the judges of being biased, Chernyshenko said: “Of course, we will not leave unanswered situations where the policy was above the objective and fair assessment of the performance of Russian athletes.”
Appearing on the public television channel Rossiya-24, the president of the Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics, Irina Viner-Usmanova, said: “During these Olympic Games, for the first time in history, there has been such horror and such chaos … planned in advance. She added that the decision would have been taken “not on the basis of performance and not on the basis of results, but on the basis of the desired result”. Viner-Usmanova called the judgment of the Olympic event in question “obscene”.
On her Telegram account, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained Russia’s losses by alleging that the “Russophobic bastards” could not allow Russia to win and therefore had “resorted to fraud in front of the whole world “. Appearing on the Monday show of 60 minutes, Zakharova claimed that Russia’s victories and achievements are usurped by its opponents. “World sport is in danger,” she complained, complaining of “the blatant injustice” perpetrated against Russian athletes in Tokyo.
RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan was so angry with the judges in the gymnastics competition that she tweeted: “After the massacre of our gymnasts by judges from different countries, I really regret not working for the GRU.” GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency, is known to specialize in sabotage and assassinations and is believed to be responsible for the attempted assassination of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal in the English town of Salisbury in 2018.
Russia’s overreaction has no basis in reality. The main complaint against the gold medal won by the Israel Ashram is that it dropped its ribbon in the last exercise, with Russian sports figures and commentators claiming such a mess would have made it impossible for it to win. . However, Averina, the Russian silver medalist in Tokyo, won gold at the 2018 world championships despite dropping her ribbon, beating none other than the Ashram in silver. This year, Ashram’s routine has surpassed that of Averina in her difficulty level, with cumulative points securing her victory, even after deducting her mistake.
Ignoring the facts, the head of the state-funded RT, Simonyan, describe the Olympic judges as “beasts” posted their names on his Twitter account and called on the Russians in Tokyo to spit on their backs. Simonyan insisted that the Ashram can only “remain a human being” if it returns the gold medal. As a result of Moscow’s vicious smear campaign, the Ashram’s social media pages were inundated with hateful comments from resentful Russians.
Besides hurt pride, Russia’s accusations of rigging the Olympics serve another important political agenda: nurturing the besieged fortress narrative to promote national unity.
Appearing on monday 60 minutes, Professor Oleg Barabanov of the Russian Academy of Sciences explicitly articulated this approach: “I read a lot of comments on sports forums to decipher public opinions on various subjects. I was amazed at how much our country supported Dina and [twin sister] Arina Averina in this unfair judgment … The greatest result is that our whole country has seen and understood that there is an anti-Russian campaign going on, that we are surrounded by the circle of enemies … not only according to propagandist television accounts, but in real life. From this point of view, those judges who misjudged Dina Averina did an important and useful thing for the consolidation of Russian society.
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