Russia-Ukraine War: Effects on Gymn World

[MaryClare]

Tennis is even more controversial, because they are not representing a club as the footballers are. Russian gymnasts can still compete in invitational events, such as the club league in Italy.

 

[Bob]

It makes me sad I just want everyone at the table. Worlds and Olympics without all the top nations is so much less to me. I understand the reasons I don’t like the result.

 

[Doug1233]

How about we let them compete as “Ukraine Team B” and with the Ukrainian national anthem playing as they stand atop the podium if they win gold /s

 

[Bob]

Because that is childish and petty and we are adults.

 

[MaryClare]

Well, you’d think so…

 

[tsarinajen]

Agreed Bob. At this point, I’m barely invested in watching the Paris games. And I certainly wouldn’t get up at odd hours to view them.

 

[Doug1233]

Because that is childish and petty and we are adults.

…

/s

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Speaking of childish and petty, I find myself wondering how many bricks the 1996 and 2000 Olympic bars champion has shat today.

 

[MaryClare]

Because of the reported attack in Belgorod? She hasn’t lived there since she was a teenager.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Because of the reported events in her hometown, yes. Obviously she hasn’t lived there since, like, dialup/insert own 90s reference here.

 

[MaryClare]

Her mother moved back to Kharkov some years ago, I wonder if she’s still there…

 

[Doug1233]

Is Khorkina still spouting the Z bullshit ?

 

[JaJa]

https://sports.yahoo.com/french-open-2023-day-1-marta-kostyuk-booed-for-not-shaking-aryna-sabalenkas-hand-after-loss-dan-evans-out-223859019.html

Kostyuk is right. Fans should be embarrassed for booing her.

 

[Doug1233]

Well, Sabalenka is wrong when she says this:

“Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, support the war. Nobody. How can we support the war? Nobody — normal people — will never support it. Why [do] we have to go loud and say that things? This is like: ‘One plus one [is] two.’ Of course we don’t support war,” Sabalenka said after the match. “If it could affect anyhow the war, if it could like stop it, we would do it. But unfortunately, it’s not in our hands.”

 

[MaryClare]

There absolutely are people here in Russia who do want it, but I would say that a majority do not.

Sabalenka however is from Belarus, where I very much doubt there is support for Putin outside of the political elite. Most people there were already resentful of their government being so much in bed with Moscow and people are very hurt that they are being punished to the same extent as Russia which seems very disproportionate

 

[JaJa]

There is for sure a good deal of hostility towards the government on the part of many Belarussians. But how that translates into their views on Ukraine is not so clear, although one would think the majority do not, as you say, support the war.

And I more than understand the inability of the citizenry there ad in Russia to publicly oppose Putin’s war. And I could easily be persuaded that sports are supposed to be neutral ground and no country should be banned. However, I also think its perfectly excusable to Ukranian athletes to be less than cordial and even less than sportsmanlike when interacting with Russian or Belarussian athletes.

 

[Doug1233]

There absolutely are people here in Russia who do want it, but I would say that a majority do not.

Exactly. So what Sabalenka said was completely wrong.

 

[MaryClare]

But I think she is referring to her own country, in which case she’s probably right

 

[Doug1233]

But I think she is referring to her own country

I mean, read the quote. She didn’t say that.

 

[Caligym]

"Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, support the war. Nobody.”

This is clearly not only about her countrymen, and very, very wrong.