The New Era

Unless you're living under the rock, you know the Winter Olympics are ongoing. I've been waiting for the event as it's not every day that you see it in TV, it is organized every four years. As I like most of the sports participating, it is a real pleasure for me.

Last night I was watching figure skating, men qualifiers as that's what was on.

First of all, I think I deserve a medal and not just any medal, but a gold one, for putting aside my frustration and suffering through a couple of hours and listening to this guy, who should have never been allowed to cover any event in television or radio, let alone such an important one, and those who have hired him should be fired immediately! But Eurosport has a different opinion, which is why I often decide to not watch tennis matches, when this guy with a speech impairment is covering the event. Anyway, this is not the topic I want to write about today, so let's get to the point.

Today is the 5th day of the competition and after these few days, I can see how much the world of sports has changed and I'm not talking about the new sports accepted to this event, but about representation.

In theory, Winter Olympics is a selective event and you'd think only a selected few countries would participate as most of the sports need snow and all of the sports need temperatures below zero Celsius, but the reality is different. Limits are of the past, as in this day of age, the only limit is a different one.

Back when I was a kid, when it came to Winter Olympics, you would just look at the athletes, the country they were representing and knew they were really from that country. Today that is difficult to establish, without a research.

Photo by Ryan Leeper

I saw South Africa among the participating countries, which is a laughing matter, not out of disrespect, but because in a way it's funny. We all know when something really unbelievable and extraordinary happens in South Africa, they say "it's going to snow", because chances for such things to happen are as rare as snowing and winter cold there lasts for a few hours.

One of the South African athletes is a skier, she was born and raised in Canada, but competing for South Africa, for the obvious reasons. If you can't figure out what it is, let me break it down for you.

In some countries the competition is fierce, only the best of the bests get to participate at the event of this magnitude, so some tricks need to be used, if you want to have a chance in life. Switching country one way or another is one of the tricks widely used.

Photo by paul voie

The most obvious example is Ukraine. The country is facing the worst war Europe had seen since the two World Wars. Many of the Ukrainian athletes are fighting, many have been killed unfortunately and those who are still alive and not fighting, have been forced to look for options outside the country as sports facilities have either been destroyed, or not functioning for the obvious reasons. I've seen Ukrainian born athletes competing for Latvia and other countries that have had no representation in those sports, but had the finances to sponsor these athletes, as well as the willingness to give them citizenship. It's sad to see this happening and hope it's going to end very soon.

Photo by Antoni Shkraba Studio

Another example is Russian athletes representing all kinds of countries you would never think of, for different reasons. One of the reasons is that being a big country, the competition among athletes is fierce and again, only the best get to participate at competitions at the highest level, this is why you see them representing countries that have no history in winning anything at certain sports.

The other reason is ... I think you know what I'm going to say. Most likely it's safe to say Russia is the worst actor when it comes to winter sports (maybe summer sports as well). If you have no knowledge of the huge scandal at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, you should look it up. They established a new record in doping and falsifying the results of so many athletes, which led to Russia being banned in most of the international competitions. Thus, athletes have no other choice but to participate as independents or migrate to other countries and get citizenship, that grants them access to the Olympics. Team sports are not allowed, so those involved in such an activity have no other option but to find another country, that is willing to adopt them.

Photo by Vadim Braydov

It's obvious, there's a "market" for this and any country with some investment can represent themselves in any competition as there are always athletes looking for opportunities. You don't have to have cold, snow, ski slops or skating rink, you can send your athletes to train in any country you want, as long as you can pay for the expenses. You can also buy/hire the best trainers as well. All you need is money.

It's a good opportunity to every athlete, but it is a double edged sword as most likely no one wants to leave their country, but some have no choice.

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