The Tokyo Summer Olympics, which were postponed last year owing to the coronavirus pandemic, will begin on Friday. In an interview with Kommersant, Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov stated that Russia may finish in the top three for medals won in the Games.
When asked about Squad Russia’s medal chances, Pozdnyankov stated, “our projections are generally based on the performance that contenders for the Olympic team exhibit at the two world championships that precede the Games.”
In his opinion, Russia ranks third after the United States and China in terms of athletes capable of winning Olympic gold. “If at least half of these competitors win medals in the Olympics, we will receive 50 to 60 prizes,” stated the head of the Russian Olympic Committee. That figure, he believes, “may allow us to join the top three in the unofficial medal rankings.”
When asked about specific sports in which Russia was making strides, Pozdnyakov mentioned swimming, claiming that the country’s athletes “had considerably improved their rankings.”
“We kept our places in sports with a lot of medals on the line, such as fencing, wrestling, and gymnastics. We have been the leaders in rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming for numerous Olympic cycles “, he took notice of this.
“Others, on the other hand, are expected to strike gold. This applies to athletics, where our tiny squad has inspiring leaders, as well as several other sports “The Russian Olympic Committee’s president went on to say.
When asked how many more athletes the Russian delegation would have included if not for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) penalties and the requirement to act as neutrals, Pozdnyakov stated that the number would have remained the same, 335.
“The primary outcome of the WADA vs. RUSADA [the Russian Anti-Doping Agency] lawsuit, in which the Russian Olympic Committee was a third party, is that we guaranteed complete participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games,” he stressed.
