On February 4, before the official opening of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, skaters from 10 countries will take to the ice of the Capital Indoor Stadium, where they will begin to compete for medals in the Olympic team competitions.
For the first time, team competitions in figure skating were included in the program of the Olympic Games in 2014 - at the Olympics in Sochi. Then, as part of the Russian team, our athletes: Yulia Lipnitskaya, Evgeny Plushenko, Tatyana Volosozhar - Maxim Trankov, Ksenia Stolbova - Fedor Klimov, Ekaterina Bobrova - Dmitry Solovyov and Elena Ilyinykh - Nikita Katsalapov won gold medals, writing their names in the history of the Olympic
Games. Four years later, at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, our athletes, who competed under a neutral flag and the abbreviation OAR (Olympic Athletes from Russia), became silver medalists. In Korea, our team consisted of: Alina Zagitova, Evgenia Medvedeva, Mikhail Kolyada, Evgeniya Tarasova - Vladimir Morozov, Natalia Zabiyako - Alexander Enbert, Ekaterina Bobrova - Dmitry Solovyov.In Beijing, medals of team competitions in figure skating will be played for the third time in the history of the Olympic Games. 10 teams from Russia (5947 points), USA (5209), Canada (3949), Japan (3830), China (2809), Italy (2774), Germany (1480), Georgia (1472), Czech Republic (1137) and Ukraine (893) qualified for team competitions.
At the competitions, athletes of all 10 participating teams will perform with short programs, according to the results of which 5 teams will enter the final round of the tournament, which will present arbitrary programs and compete for the first set of medals in figure skating among themselves.
During the team tournament, it is allowed to make two substitutions from among the skaters declared for the Olympic Games in individual competitions. At the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, substitutions were made in pair skating and ice dancing in our team. At the 2018 Games in Korea – in women's singles and pair skating.
On February 1, the participating teams announced the rosters of the teams. Our team included: Mark Kondratyuk, Andrey Mozalev, Evgeny Semenenko (men), Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova, Kamila Valieva (women), Alexandra Boykova - Dmitry Kozlovsky, Anastasia Mishina - Alexander Gallyamov, Evgeniya Tarasova - Vladimir Morozov (pairs), Diana Davis - Gleb Smolkin, Victoria Sinitsina - Nikita Katsalapov and Alexandra Stepanova - Ivan Bukin (dances).
Schedule of team competitions in Beijing:
(local time)
february 4
10.00. Men. Short program
11.35. Dancing. Rhythm dance
13.15. Pairs. Short program
february 6
9.30. Women. Short program
11.50. Men. Arbitrary program
february 7
9.15. Pairs. Arbitrary program
10.30. Dancing. Free Dance
11.35. Women. Arbitrary program
The rosters of participants in specific competitions will be confirmed by the teams the day before. The composition of men's singles for the free skate will be announced after the completion of the short program in women's single skating, one hour before the start of the free skating for men.
The Olympic team of our country performs at the Olympic Games in Beijing not in a neutral status, as it was in the 2018 Games in Korea, but as a team of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). Our Olympic team at the Games in Beijing was formed by the Russian Olympic Committee in accordance with the Olympic Charter, as well as the teams of the National Olympic Committees of other countries. Despite the fact that the use of state symbols of the Russian Federation at sports venues, stands, in the Olympic village where athletes live is not allowed during the Beijing Olympics, the current situation with regard to our team has a number of differences. The Russian Olympic Committee is recognized by the International Olympic Committee on a par with the other 205 National Olympic Committees and implements its rights and obligations in full.
Neutral status implies an Olympic flag with five Olympic rings on a white background, the Olympic anthem and impersonal equipment, as well as the invitation of athletes to the Games individually by the IOC and the organizers of the Games, as it was in 2018, when the ROC was suspended by the IOC and did not have the opportunity to form a team. Now our team has a flag - the flag of the ROC, its name - the ROC team, which is identified with the country, its musical accompaniment for official events - a fragment of the First Piano Concerto by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, its easily recognizable equipment.
All athletes - participants of the Games live in the Olympic village, coaches and heads of federations in the official hotels of the Olympics. In front of the entrance to the hotels there are zones beyond which it is impossible to go. You can move inside the Olympic "bubble" only on special shuttle buses. For example, journalists first need to go to the MPC Olympic Press Center, which plays the role of the main interchange station, then take another bus to the rink. Taking into account the schedule of movement, it takes an hour and a half or two. Even from the main arena to the training rink, which is located within walking distance, you can get only on a special small machine "for golf".
Every day, not only athletes, all those accredited at the Olympics must take PCR tests. If the test is not passed, then you can not get to the sports facility, they just will not be allowed on the bus. Before leaving the hotel, everyone's accreditation is scanned, a photo is taken and things are checked "on the tape". There are no additional checks at the rink. Masks are not removed even on the street. The organizers of the Games are doing everything possible to minimize the risk of catching the virus.
The day after the arrival of our skaters in Beijing, the first official training sessions were held. Our guys are gradually getting used to the new environment, because most of our team are debutants, and only two pairs of Evgenia Tarasova - Vladimir Morozov and Victoria Sinitsina - Nikita Katsalapov have Olympic experience. The Olympics are a special event, and even in training, despite strict quarantine measures, there are quite a lot of spectators – journalists, television, volunteers... This has its plus: skaters will definitely not have to perform in front of empty stands, although it has already been officially announced that there will be practically no spectators in the arena.
After the men's training, coach Alexey Mishin shared his first impressions of his stay at the Games:
- You know, I would not focus on the fact that the situation at these Games is significantly different due to COVID and all participants in the Games should be in the so-called "bubble". For example, it does not bother me at all that we cannot go anywhere. I don't feel any bubble. I see the blue sky, the sun, the wonderful Beijing, the wonderful hotel I live in, the wonderful Olympic village, the transport, everything is well organized. And I don't feel the "bubble walls". After all, that's not the point. The main thing is that the Olympics are what unites us, raises and ennobles us. When we arrived, we quickly passed through the airport area, passed all the tests, all the procedures, and the atmosphere was warm and friendly. There are still a few days before the start of the team competition. The mood is businesslike, because it should be combat by the time of the start," said Alexey Mishin.
Alexey Nikolaevich also added that Mikhail Kolyada is already recovering from his illness and has begun training at the Yubileiny ice rink. Mikhail Kolyada was declared a member of the Olympic team, but on the eve of the departure of skaters for the training camp in Krasnoyarsk, Mikhail's test gave a positive result. For this reason, the athlete is forced to miss the Olympic Games in Beijing. He was replaced by Evgeny Semenenko.
Olga ERMOLINA
Photo by ISU, OCD, from the instagram of athletes.
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