In 2010, fans of the Olympic competitions in Russia faced severe disappointment. The national team has failed almost all of its performances, without even entering the top ten countries in the overall team classification. Against the background of past Soviet victories, such a result was immediately dubbed the death of Russian sports. And many experts began to study the reasons for such a shameful defeat.
3 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze medals - the Russian team has never received such a small number of awards. Moreover, Russian athletes have failed in all those disciplines where they were traditionally considered strong and invincible - hockey, figure skating, biathlon, ski relay races. Given that the leaders of the National Olympic Committee predicted that the Russian national team will receive at least 30 awards.
Among the most obvious reasons for the failure of the national team in the competition are poor team preparation, overestimated self-esteem of athletes and poor sports management.
As for the unsatisfactory training, there was immediately talk that the country lacks the material and technical base for training professionals. In addition, if there are sports facilities where good coaches work, then they are located in large administrative centers, and not every promising athlete will go there, since his accommodation and training will cost a very large amount.
The overstated conceit of the athletes also had a detrimental effect on the performance of our team at the Winter Olympics. The medalists receive a significant prize from the state for their prizes. But this factor did not work for the Russian team either. Many call the athletes overly irresponsible and self-confident - they were not at all worried about the feelings of the Russians, who watched every performance with bated breath.
Another reason for the failure of the Russian team at the Vancouver Olympics is the ineffective management of the leaders of the Russian sports federation. Too large staff of officials in the National Olympic Committee, irresponsible attitude to preparation for the competition and lack of proper contact between leaders and athletes.
Each of these reasons, in one way or another, affected the poor result of the national team. However, no specific conclusions were drawn. All the officials who headed the NOC remained in their places without admitting any guilt or responsibility for the defeat. Immediately after the start, the athletes snapped at the journalists: "We performed as best they could, what's your business?" The development of sports in the country did not begin. The conclusions that those responsible for the failure of the national team at the winter games made for themselves can be judged by how athletes perform at the 2012 Summer Games in London and at the Sochi home Olympics in 2014.
