No salaries: Russia blames IOC for poverty of its athletes

The Director General of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), Vladimir Sengleev, has accused the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of not having enough money to train athletes. The official noted that the criteria for admitting athletes to competitions "undermine the economic foundations of the entire Russian Olympic movement."

Sengleev complained about this on the air of the propaganda TV channel Match TV. According to him, the RDC is having great difficulty finding sponsors, as they are not interested in working with athletes who compete under a neutral flag.

"Individually neutral athletes cannot be representatives of the Russian Federation. They cannot be associated with any symbols of the Russian Federation. In fact, this undermines the economic foundations of the entire Russian Olympic movement. All of us are funded by sponsorship, and sponsors want to be associated with the Olympic Games and the performance of the Russian national team at these competitions. Currently, you cannot use commercial emblems, even of a manufacturer that has a Russian origin. And how do you reconcile this with the athletes' salaries?" said Sengleev.

Earlier, ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov called the IOC's sanctions against Russian athletes a manifestation of "the worst traditions of totalitarian regimes."

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, the president of the Russian Cross-Country Skiing Federation, Yelena Välbe, expressed an absurd idea that Russian athletes would be persuaded to return to international tournaments.

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