Russian television will boycott the Olympic Games for the first time in 40 years due to the reduced representation of Russian athletes as a result of reprisals suffered in the context of the war in Ukraine.
O Channel One and the Russia 1 will not broadcast the event, not even the sports in which the Russians will compete, something that has not happened since the Soviet Union and the communist bloc boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
The US had done the same at the 1980 Moscow Games using the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as justification.
Sources at the two public broadcasters told Russian media that a political decision was made “a long time ago” not to show the Russian team competing without a flag or anthem.
Russian television broadcast the 2021 Tokyo Games, although on that occasion the country’s team also attended with only neutral athletes.
The difference is that the Russian military campaign in Ukraine had not yet begun, which is why now only 15 Russian athletes are going to Paris.
Some commentators considered that the real reason for the television boycott was financial, since the absence of Russian athletes made it impossible for them to place well in the medal table, which is why the channels decided not to acquire the rights.
There was a possibility that the Match TVa channel specializing in sports, to broadcast the main competitions, but after the taekwondo, judo and wrestling federations rejected the invitation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the last minute, this option was also discarded.
“Spending millions for 15 people on unpopular sports is an unjustified cost,” the Match TV.
In any case, Mikhail Polenov, a former commentator for this channel, commented that the decision by television networks to boycott the Games is “a catastrophe of national magnitude”.
“It turns out that for Russian sports television, since there is no national flag, the Olympic Games are no longer a celebration (…) Not broadcasting the Games is a political decision,” Polenov told the newspaper. New Gazette.
The social network VKontakte – known as the “Russian Facebook” – has taken advantage of the situation and will broadcast live both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as competitions in 16 sports.
Another option Russians have is to follow the Olympics on the IOC channel.
High-ranking officials of Vladimir Putin’s regime and Russian politicians have assured that they will not turn to foreign television to watch the Olympic Games, not even to find out how their compatriots are performing.
On the other hand, several coaches, active athletes and legends of Russian sports have shown their intention to closely follow the Olympics.
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