During the press conference devoted to the start of cooperation between ROC and the company MATCH Hospitality AG, the official ticket agent of the Russian Olympic Committee for the sale of tickets and travel packages to the Games in Tokyo and Beijing in the Russian Federation, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, explained why he expects a large number Russian fans in Japan in 2020 and China in 2022.
– During the last two Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and Pyeongchang, our team could not put together the best composition. However, all the strongest Russian Olympians, able to acquire licenses, will go to Tokyo. It is important that absolutely all of our athletes, including track and field athletes, approved by IAAF, perform at the 2020 Olympics under the Russian flag, and in honour of their victories the Russian anthem will sound. The same thing will happen at the European Games in Minsk. By all means, this is one of the main achievements of the Russian Olympic Committee in recent times.
As for the fans, many of them were present in Pyeongchang. But in Tokyo, as I have already said, the Russian Olympic team will be at its full potential and will compete for medals in several sports. This is an important factor for fans. We are waiting for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing with particular interest as winter sports in our country are traditionally very popular and the flow of tourists between Russia and China is steadily increasing, – noted the President of ROC.
Answering the question of whether fans influence the results of athletes, Stanislav Pozdnyakov gave an example from his career.
– In my case, the support of fans played an important role in the quarterfinals of the World Fencing Championship, held in 2007 in St. Petersburg. In the duel against the French sabre fencer Boris Sanson, who was always an uncomfortable opponent for me, the score was 14:14 and the referee hesitated for a long time in whose favor to include the point. At that moment, our fans began to support me even more and I believe that this influenced the decision of the judge to some extent. I won with a score of 15:14, and later became the world champion!
In the sports world today there are almost no secrets left; modern methods of training are similar to each other. Therefore, during competitions much depends on the nuances. One of them is fan support. We saw how the stands helped our players to win victories at the home world championship, how the public encouraged hockey players in Pyeongchang and the amount of Russian flags present at the Olympic tournament of figure skaters with the participation of Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva.
