Valentina Matvienko: “The IOC rudely and cynically destroyed and trampled on what was created in the Olympic movement”

Photo: Federation Council of Russia

Chairman of the Federation Council of Russia Valentina Matvienko made this statement at a press conference in Moscow, answering a question from ‘International Affairs’ magazine about the actual boycott of Russian athletes from the International Olympic comity (IOC):

“The current leaders of the IOC have completely discredited themselves, they have destroyed the Olympic spirit as such, the Olympic Charter. They cannot help but understand this. They are entirely controlled by the collective West, they depend on advertising for funding, they want to keep their warm places. But they also understand that each of them will personally go down in history with a big minus sign as the destroyer of the Olympic movement.

These people are now trying to come up with an alibi for themselves: ‘well, we supposedly allowed six Russian athletes to participate in the Games.’ They won't get anywhere with this ‘alibi’. Our Russian team at different times consisted of from 200 to 500 athletes, this is a team of a truly big country.

What the IOC did is shameful and disgraceful. No one will forget or forgive this. This idiocy, of course, will pass, but we see to what extent Russophobia has reached; the collective West has launched anti-Russian tentacles everywhere, even into such a seemingly distant area from politics as sports.

The IOC rudely and cynically destroyed and trampled on what was created in the Olympic movement by the whole world throughout its history, starting from the first Games. I have no doubt: these people will be condemned by both athletes and the entire world community. The time for this will come,” concluded Valentina Matvienko.

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs