Russia’s Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov has now been elected President of the National Olympic Committee. Although the 43-year-old himself is subject to sanctions from the EU, the USA and other countries, he announced in Moscow that he wanted to break the international isolation of Russian sport.
His goals are “the lifting of all restrictions, the equal participation of athletes in all international competitions under the Russian flag,” Degtyaryov said, according to the state news agency Tass. At the same time, he announced a more measured tone. “We have to stop the aggressive rhetoric against the international organizations.” In world sport, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it has long been said behind closed doors that things would not work without Russia, he claimed.
Putin agreed to dual roles
There are not only sanctions against Russia due to doping. Because of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russian membership in the IOC is also suspended. At the Summer Games in Paris, only a handful of Russian athletes were allowed to compete without their flag. Moscow has initially given up its plan to compete with the Olympics with so-called World Friendly Games.
Degtyaryov had previously obtained the approval of President Vladimir Putin for his dual role as minister and head of the NOC. Unlike his predecessors at the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, he is not a former top athlete, but instead pursued an administrative career as a civil servant. Before being appointed to the Ministry of Sports, he was governor of the Khabarovsk region in the Russian Far East. He was not considered particularly popular.
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