Well not quite... but Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for the Russian Olympic officials to resign. Shipment to the salt mines is such a pre-glasnost idea that it probably will not happen.
His actual words however were quite sinister - "they should take the brave decision and submit their resignations," Medvedev said, adding ominously: "If they cannot do it, we will help them!"
Russia Olympic hopes were somewhat tattered as the country came 11th in the winter games, its worst ever performance, with only three golds.
This might well be traced to the Soviet Union break-up which drastically cut the catchment area from which the Russian Olympic team could be built. The fear is that in the next winter Olympics which Russia are due to host (at Sochi on the Black Sea) the home country will put in a similar lack-lustre performance and be disgraced on their home ground.
One can almost hear the Russian Bears knocking back the Vodka and grumbling that this sort of thing would never have been allowed to happen in the good old days! Mind you in those days losing athletes did tend to vanish without trace, so perhaps the motivation was a little higher?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are Moderated but I wont delete ones that are dissenting!