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Vyacheslav Kalinichenko, an experienced athletics coach, denounces that during the six years he has been managing Robeilys Peinado, the Ministry of Sport has failed to pay him. Now he fears that debt will remain unpaid.
Vyacheslav Kalinichenko and Robeilys Peinado started their work relationship on the right foot. Under the orders of this Ukrainian coach, the Venezuelan, who practices pole vault, won the bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in London in 2017.
Less than two years ago, in December 2015, this experienced coach and former athlete had started managing Robeilys. He now recounts, from Bydgoszcz, Poland, that only for “six or seven months” did he receive a “good money transfer”.
In an interview with France 24, Vyacheslav says that “later they started with the delays, with the promises”. Today the debt amounts to 20,300 euros. Although his contract is with the Venezuelan Athletics Federation, he affirms that they have sent him to the Ministry of Sport and from this institution they told him to address the issue with the Federation: “No one knew who was going to pay me.”
The fear of a debt that is not settled
According to Vyacheslav, the last promise made to him by the Deputy Minister of Sports, Juan Carlos Amarante, was to settle all his debt after the last Tokyo Olympics. Something that didn’t happen.
Kalinichenko’s patience seems to have run out. In the past, he has been owed around €100,000, but now Vyacheslav fears that the €20,000 he has not been paid will come to nothing. “Now Robeilys is going to move to Italy to train with an Italian coach. But I thought that if she is going to move to Italy, then the Ministry and the Federation will not deliver anything and close the matter, and that is why I decided to tell it.”
Already in 2019, Vyacheslav took to Twitter to denounce his situation. “Ten minutes later I received a call from the Ministry: the deputy minister told me what was wrong, that I couldn’t write that, that they were doing everything possible.” At that time they gave him “some money” for the Pan American Games in Lima.
Other cases of non-payment in Venezuelan sports
There are several coaches who live a similar situation. Vyacheslav talks about ‘Chicho’ Gascon, trainer of the Olympic fencing champion Rubén Limardo. He also cites Ivan Pedroso, which leads Yulimar Rojas, the triple jump Olympic champion and world record holder.
“When Yulimar didn’t jump, Iván Pedroso also had problems with payment, I know that, when Yulimar didn’t jump as much, about five years ago. But all the coaches have problems in Venezuela, there is no doubt about that”.
One of the cases that recently had a significant impact was that of the Portuguese Joseph Peseiro. Whoever was the Venezuelan soccer coach resigned after denouncing that he was owed 14 months of payment.
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