Russian president vents as Olympic flag arrives
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev blasted sports officials for the nation's debacle at the Vancouver Games and told them on Friday to ensure the team wins more medals, especially in four years at Sochi.
"You must work 24 hours a day, not just wear out the seats of your pants and rove abroad," Medvedev told sports federations' chiefs in televised remarks during the Olympic flag-raising ceremony in Sochi for the 2014 Winter Games.
Medvedev said the team's abysmal performance in Vancouver came despite generous funding on par with other nations and blamed sports officials for inefficient use of state money. He said seven of Russia's 12 sport federations will get new bosses, and he demanded a sprawling audit of how the government money has been spent.
He also warned the new federation chiefs that they will be replaced if they don't perform.
"We must show that we are a capable, hospitable and technologically developed nation," Medvedev said. "And the Olympics must also show that we can stand for ourselves and win."
Russia brought home just 15 medals from Vancouver. The team was 11th in the gold-medal count with only three — the team's worst Olympic performance.
The Olympic and Paralympic flags were carried from the airport on a special train to the centre of Sochi for the ceremony at the Black Sea resort. Russia's Olympic and Paralympic medalists then carried them to the city's main square.
Medvedev said Russia still has to do a lot to prepare for the Games, but voiced confidence that Sochi will prove to be the right choice. "We must do everything to make the 2014 Games one of the most memorable events of the century," he said.
Medvedev said Russia needs to shed the image of a doping-tainted nation, but added that Russian athletes sometimes have been targeted unfairly.
"Let's not forget that doping scandals are to a certain extent an element of score-settling and an element of global sports competition," Medvedev said. "We must know how to defend ourselves and not offer the other cheek."
343 athletes caught doping
He added that Russia must increase its profile in international sports organizations, saying Russian representatives haven't been active enough in defending their athletes.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that from 2006 to 2009, 343 Russian athletes, including 31 participants in international competitions, have been caught doping.
Many participants in the ceremony acknowledged that Russia has effectively lost its sprawling Soviet-era network of sports facilities in the economic quagmire that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Many athletes, coaches and doctors have left abroad seeking better wages and conditions.
Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov blasted sports officials for inefficiency, corruption and infighting.
"We are witnessing a complete collapse of the Russian Olympic Committee, many sports federations are corrupt and the sports ministry is helpless," he said. "The system of financing sports is corrupt from the top to the bottom."
Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev, Deputy Sports Minister Gennady Alyoshin and several other sports officials have stepped down since the Vancouver Olympics.