welcome back this is the headlines. she is fighting in syria as the regime troops try to push rebels out of the country's commercial hub the city of aleppo as defections among top officials continue to plague the government. while german intelligence finds evidence al qaida is behind some nine to tear out toxins syria and a war correspondent suggests rebels have been tossing about victims all fast but thomas his of the regime. the united arab emirates follows the example of saudi arabia and bahrain as it leaves a french clamp down on protesters but the west stays sons of the department back. up next to a spotlight with russia's sports minister where we discuss this some in london olympics and russia's. stay with us for that.

hello again to. show. i'm. proud today it's to be overcrowded. proud of supporters gathered. to break records. broken. as one of the largest in. the red machine.

the soviet union and russia have always been among the best performers at the olympic games getting mostly gold medals but the russian team is performing. good and that's why there is so much attention on the athletes who have gone to. the russian sports minister is one of those who say supporters should not demand too much from the athletes the third and even fourth place in the medal table would be a good result mr goh has been a manager for a work fifteen years he used to hand the famous in. late. two thousand and eight was appointed russia's top sports official.

in a welcome to the show. a statement you need it. the london olympics years ago that i quote russians are too much used to counting the number of gold medals won some reasons we don't take stock of silver and bronze. and a fourth place here guarded as a failure there's one quote at the start we see you mean to bring down these dictations over russian supporters you know to avoid disappointment in the end. and yes that is the no i don't want to downplay our possibility of minsan london but i just think that any success at the olympics must be appreciated its true value when we was reputed started it seems that fans no longer reprise the value of winning say a national championship these days kiera paean trough fees are often considered an important and these results are just shrugged off watching a coach into it when we talk about the olympic games with eleven thousand airth

leads from two hundred five countries with cutthroat competition expect them all the results up to the eighth place should be appreciated. what do you think of this medal count at all these an official totals it's clear that it's too politicized but what's your opinion just the believe. that by agree that it's politicized because look like well you are a politician you know not really i'm a sports official you know some of their lives coming back to the origin of the olympics though there in the athens you know was a sports first of all of the young and strong you remember the olympic motto. you see the sinews else who's forty is yes right there also winning isn't everything and it really was that way but later it all changed and they came up with this medal count for many years prior to that they relied on the overall tele

in there that's a good part now they keep their eyes and. elderly yes these changes came only recently that they just imagine if your national team takes a total of eighty or ninety medals out of c three hundred into making it into the top three but standing low in terms of gold medals with just five or six story fans are really frustrated and you're my boy and his game but we know that very often the gold medals are won by a tiny breakaway such as a split second or a sim go through an extra pedal over nor or a breath of wind in your sail of water in my opinion three being peak dard for the olympics he's already huge achievement for an earthly because they have already qualified the shortlisting based on their scores over the four years

mind you selection criteria are really rigorous in many sports well it's a matter of national pride for russia to do well in the overall medal count and landis personally after shamefully poor performance in vancouver two years ago more in russia's expectations and a report now from spotlight here in the me they were. there when the games are no longer just about the celebration of human physical ability and the spirit of taking part the games have become very much about political pristine for the participating countries the prestigious measured overall medal count the soviet union was often at the top of the olympic medal table its best performance was during the one thousand nine hundred eighty moscow games with eighty gold medals but bad than many of us is size compared it is including the americans refused to participate for political reasons four years ago when the russian national team

aimed it in my chair. just thirty eight golds and eventually attained only twenty three still managed to snatch the third place in the overall results what happened two years ago in the hoover was taken by russians as a disgrace on the three gold and eleventh place in the medal count the nation was devastated and the kremlin indignant some of the top sports officials had to step down their london games are looked at as the event which could either erase the reproduced the bitter memory the forecast based on the country's performance in the recent world championships is around thirty golds meanwhile the run medals and medals just won gold in the whole kit two years ago but compensate for the overall miserable performance by russians as for the summer games no one sport here is an obvious favorite with the public so overall medal count will matter.

yeah the. reporter has actually raised a good question while in the winter olympics a gold medal in ice hockey could save her pride in the eyes of our fans that there is no such obvious favorite in the coming linden games so well there are some popular sports but none really like that no single sport well you know that would win big support not really. you know there are thirty seven sports to compete in russia is competing in thirty four sports right. all right there are a few team sports we didn't qualify for the men's and women's football or hockey like man's handball and men so water polo more snow for the insurer the report mentions russia's fiasco in vancouver and this kindle that ensued but this was a time to come but what you will i think is an open secret that many people in russia sort of the time that you were actually on the brink of losing your office

as minister is that true for both of these. but are there well you know many people strongly believe that russia must absolutely win every game in every competition but that is that no one actually had such goals in mind experts knew that i had just one ear to prepare for the vancouver games while there were many issues with the winter sports that had been snowballing for decades in the mid eighty's dozens of new sports who were added to the winter olympics list which only there are a number of sports russians have always been good at like ice hockey figure skating speed skating. and my athlone other sports like short track speed skating curling freestyle skiing snowboarding ski jumping alpine skiing in nordic combined are less traditional for russia so it would be wishful

thinking to expect a spectacular success in then cooler that would show let's go back to the summer lympics in london you said their main competitor for the fourth place is the many kingdom which implies that russia is not going to competing for the first or second prize nit woods who were both born and raised in the u.s.s.r. and in those dimes we had the highest expectations were athletes so for us this is a huge step back are you frustrated over this your straighted no i would put a differently i might be somewhat upset but not frustrated. and this is where things stand at the moment and this is something we need to deal with because the us is sorry is no longer there naturally russia has often sought to bite off more than anything good true ignoring you floored soviet legacy what was left over from the soviet union was problems and liabilities at the same time russia gave up on

many other things and let other countries take over first the poppy. shrink from two hundred forty million to just a hundred and forty by you secondly three thousand new independent countries appeared which man who lost a lot of facilities but most importantly we gave up the soviet support system which was very centralized with a large number of sports units like c s k and labor users those unions were so strong that they were able to put forward their national teams independently from one thousand nine hundred want to two thousand and five or two thousand and six to be honest russia had other issues rather than sports to work on starting from two thousand and six so we've been taking proper decisions returning to the top sports powers and setting ambitious goals over storing our sports traditions and this is something we've been doing consistently which means that a minister or global audience watching this interview know is really interested to know the sports where the russian national team is going to be for the strongest in

the lympics where our competitors should be afraid of us in there so that our national team is going to the games almost like an enigma bringing some surprises could you name it least two or three keys force would surely never give up and go yeah that's what this is all that with national. first of all they shouldn't be afraid over a share we're not going to wage a war on anyone they're sure but we're still determined to win this may not be a war but we still want the three well just like any athlete or any one when you said ambitious goals. but we can give you a realistic assessment of the situation. how do we usually make any forecasts would be when you look at the championships over the last four years we look at their previous olympics right and we make certain forecasts and it's these forecasts that see that chinese and american athletes are out of reach for the time

being we see that the chinese have an advantage. in certain sports where they have secured fifteen or sixteen gold medals if you're going to i'm talking about sports like table tennis for example or at badminton yeah i'll actually get what russia where can we put our best foot forward looking and would. there were russian national team consists of four hundred thirty six what will be competing in some twenty five sports or are there are certain sports where we have preserved our traditions such as freestyle wrestling greco-roman wrestling in a women's wrestling that was included recently then there is boxing synchronized swimming women's gymnastics legalized. gymnastics and a number of track and field events where we continue dominating and maintaining our positions which furthermore over these four years we've managed to restore some of

our traditions which we had lost at the beijing olympics such as on weight lifting artistic gymnastics and other programs like king and canoeing way that akiko all right we russians should not be feared us certainly worth looking at me after the break i just reminded that everybody would call rational sports minister is my guest today spotlight will be back after the break so they will go. wealthy british science.

markets why not canada. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max conjure for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our. i am. as it were shot four times in total in the air war as it were a. series of bullets are still in my body. and people should be allowed to defend themselves were they on guns in the hands of law abiding decent people are not a problem national rifle association was a group of basically retired military we love to shoot holes and i'm sorry if you know that the bullet comes out here and this makes it go bang and it what's in front of here is going to die and that's all the training you

really really need raise your hand if you know something's been shot ok place to live without one of the philadelphia horns or the streets. to kill it out of the hopefully we will never have to use the weapons for self defense but we should be prepared the full class including the teacher i think was. seventeen students and city and one of seven or still. welcome back to spotlight on our love and just a reminder that my guest on the show today is vitale would call the russian sports minister. when this room and co in the first part we started talking about our expectations precious performance at the london olympics i do understand you would

not like to name in advance this poor loan for success let's put it this way what would be the lowest number of gold medals that should be enough to consider the upcoming games not a feeler for russia in hindsight change the world we should actually long. the minimum number is the gold teller we had it they'd be aging olympic games begin scaling together at fifteen minutes twenty three gold medals really yes we'll fewer than that we shouldn't go lower than that but again in sports it's rather problematic to play anything very problematic as low as low as an issue but maybe another thing many people in russia are concerned about is the so-called celebrations that took place too frequently and the russia house in even coover kristi's two weeks this by the theory of performance of the russian athletes and many blows raised were here in russia with the rain it was a look in the u.k. this time in london there are any similar and it scening events being planned they

understand there are always some parties going on during the games so he will it be any different this time that we should thank you bit was quote first let me see if you words about vancouver these allegations are not true one can consider parties organized by some partners or sponsors of the sports federation is a who are united by the russia house yes there was the russia house and then but it never stooge to any party is that it was just a center to promote to russia to center to promote russia's values what about all those media reports about these russian parties with what can carry or in abundance of arm with those they're all not true. well you know how people are when something goes wrong they like to point fingers at you let someone really packed of the matter is it was can we have an official russia house in the national and pick

committees in charge of it should we have this russia house and then coover but no parties were held dear as for us because there is demands organized by someone else who are not responsible for that in fact i think in london there will be parties like that to. i see that there will be an office show russia house in central london where we will have meetings and i think it's open sports grounds will have a presentation over russia will have presentations or sponsors our athletes will give press conferences the area after successful performance and there will be a house of sorts speaking of sochi every country that host the games traditionally gets the olympic flag we get the flag you know we already got in the winter games the winter games we present so much in london in london we'll have a special house called saatchi twenty forty at that with a skating rink and

a host of presentations of future sports events there'll be a presentation of the city itself with the tennis tour he bought all the facilities the court document opinion will there be a special event at a stadium. and we'll have all the events at our russia house park rather besides many other events are being planned but you know there have been many reports about sponsors of the national and picked team of course there at restaurants to have their parties but for some reason journalists leaders see that those bodies were through and by the organizing committee also any of them is held at the russia house both in vancouver and in london that have nothing to do with the russian national team or it's official delegation athletes go there to compete in all the l a geisha that someone has parties instead of training they're not true athletes come and get their accommodation at the olympic village within

a strict and go he's scheduled to get out when there and then he's over the athletes leave to give room to their colleagues but it's all this with a single goal in mind and their fleet must perform but then you get you have a question about money. according to media reports. go champions in london will be awarded four million roubles each to a half million roubles for seven years in a one point seven million roubles for bronze winners the same. can you tell us whether that's actually true and what about other leading countries do they pay the same to their athletes the real issues that are needed. it's going to be has its own practice based on previous experience center editions we believe that russian athletes look forward to you under an olympics that they have a huge desire to stand for their country these are men and women from across russia actually from fifty nine weeks regence they go to the olympics to defend the owner

of their country their families and their regions and this is what matters so talking about incentives moral encouragement of course comes to the forefront you know but all the athletes will be made special mention often awarded with state decorations. our country has always highly valued its athletes and we realize that athletes push themselves to the limit while preparing for the olympic games. there are professionals that this is sort of they go through special training for two hundred forty days a year for years in total athletic careers are usually short lived and we are aware of their great contributions so we think this is a property it going to other countries be the same to their youth leet about the scene means around one hundred thousand dollars for gold rate some countries be even more because they expect to win fewer medals but. your ministry has drafted

some amendments to the federal law on sports that regulate the activities of sports federations in russia to be honest this seems very interesting since i have always wondered where the ministry of sports is actually all the boat there are federations in their coaches so this is exactly what you are in charge of right please. rate it was a mystery duels with a wide variety of issues for example shaping the national policy and that's exactly why i'm so interested in the ministry shapes the national policy that is its basic responsibility and the ministry credits all the sports federations defines classification criteria used to promote athletes coaches in specialists in rinks. the ministry determines the weather is certain activities a sport and granted an official status. today there are a hundred in twenty oficial sports on the list that we support is the associate

minister also determines the level of state funding we promote sports among children and youth amateur and top level sports alike as you just put there was such agencies it is the national olympic committee in different sports federations already partners subcontractors so to speak for the state which you manage different sports on behalf of the state and looking at them as bookshelves and so what about these amendments they give a clearer definition of some of the functions of the federation sent to clarify some of the criteria and i think revolutionary right you know nothing revolutionary so there are just certain areas where the studios are reclaiming certain leverage use but you mentioned the vancouver games earlier and as a minister i was held responsible for the performance i remember your response you're not accountable because you're not a coach. well the thing is up until now according to the law the ministry and the minister have had no say in choosing

a head coach for example. improving training programs but to date this state should definitely play a bigger role in all that it doesn't have since you already mentioned the national sports policy that you're in charge of let's talk about the limits on the number of foreign. players especially in football the russian football union wants to evoke it in us totally opposed to that to support the idea of players being moved to russian so that it would be a national sport and not boots who hire is if a million stronger than you. and we can't interfere with the union's operations of course and we are not going to do that but there are other tools of control as i've previously mentioned such as a critic establishing limits on the foreign the workforce you know so every year the russian government sets limits on the foreign workforce in all the areas including sports nobody watches so we can set such limits through government act or

sports in general and for food bowl in particular store sport the and so we recently introduced a twenty five percent quota for nath leitz which is for any sport. football or ice hockey like you thank you thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest on the show today was with the russian courts and that's it for now for all of us here if you want to have your sales spotlight we have someone in marketing you think i should into the next one just drop me a line and i'll do enough that. are you and let's keep bob light interact back with more with the common thought of what's going on in and outside russia until then they are to take care.

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