The World Competes

Russia was not happy over their results in Vancouver. Although they had high hopes, they didn’t even make the top 10 in the medal results. They walked away with three gold medals, five silvers, and seven bronzes.

As a result, Vladimir Putin even started making comments. I’m sure there has been some pressure on the coaches and the athletic directors, because in the month since the games, there have been four people that have quit their positions. On Tuesday, the head of the Russian Freestyle Skiing Federation resigned. On Monday, the head of the Cross Country Skiing Federation quit. The president of the Russian Olympic committee and the deputy sports minister have also quit.

Is it a wise move for Russia to pressure all these people to quit four years before hosting an Olympics? Perhaps, if Russia can find more qualified people to take their spots, they might do better in certain sports. The opposite has also happened before. Sometimes athletes switch coaches and they end up performing worse later on.

I’m just thinking out loud here, but wouldn’t the Russian Olympic Committee president be pretty busy right now? He has more to do than just making sure that the athletes do well in sports. In four years, Russia will have to host the Olympics, and someone has to make all the preparations.

I would like to see the 2014 Olympics turn out well. The last time the Olympics were held in Russia, it didn’t turn out well: the most massive boycott in history was held. So I hope that they can get their act together in time to host the Olympics, although I personally don’t care how well their athletes do (apologies to my Russian aunt Ludmilla).