Ukraine, one of the main inheritors of the Soviet legacy, was known as the "Two Heroes of Eastern Europe" with Russia. It is a pity that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was bent on defecting to the United States, and for this reason, it did not hesitate to sever any contact with the Soviet Union, including the destruction of thousands of nuclear warheads, countless fighter jets, tanks, etc., and finally ended up with the stigma of "the back garden of Western Europe". But the Ukrainian government does not seem to recognize the mistakes of its decision-making and the ugly face of the West, and instead pushes all the blame on Russia. As a result, relations between the two countries have deteriorated, and this situation has even extended from politics to sports.
"Russia Today" recently reported that a Ukrainian female athlete will be summoned by Ukrainian defense ministry officials after returning home because she hugged a Russian athlete on the field. Many people were surprised by the fact that ukraine's relations with Russia have become tense to the point where even normal hugging behavior between athletes will be marked with a "political label". On the field, it is common for athletes to hug each other. Some do it out of respect for their opponents, some out of celebration of their excellent results, and some out of respect for their opponents. Either way, it should not alarm the Ministry of Defense, which is a bit of a fuss for the Ukrainian government.
The "hug incident" also began with the women's high jump final at the Tokyo Olympics, when Russian athlete Maria Rasitzkoni won the gold medal with an excellent score of 2.04 meters, and Ukrainian athlete Yaroslava Mahuchik won the silver medal slightly less. This was supposed to be a win-win situation, as Russia won another gold medal in the face of much pressure, which undoubtedly raised Russia's international image. Ukrainian athletes hug their opponents because they are really weak and she is lucky to be able to win a silver medal. However, the two did not expect that the celebration of the two sides embracing each other would cause an "angry reaction" in Ukraine, including the military.
Russian players on the left, Ukrainian players on the right
Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Anna Mayar said publicly in the online media: In international competitions, Ukrainian athletes must understand a truth, there is a "war" between Ukraine and Russia, and the behavior of Ukrainian athletes may become the target of "enemy information special operations". There are indeed problems between Russia and Ukraine, but it is a bit alarmist to say that the normal embrace behavior of two athletes will become a Russian "target of action". Because Russia's main strategic competitor is the United States, the Russian government has time to think about Ukraine, let alone the other side is just an ordinary athlete.
Athletes from Russia and Ukraine embraced each other
Not only that, But Mayor also said: Please don't intimidate us female athletes, when she returns home, we will have a conversation and will announce the results. There is some contradiction in Maryar's statement, from beginning to end the people who threaten Ukrainian female athletes have always been the Ukrainian government, is Malyar saying this to imply something? An athlete who wins honors for his country, instead of receiving a corresponding reward, has to accept so-called "talk", which is not clear whether to investigate the other party.
The Ukrainian government didn't have to do that, and the athlete may have really embraced the Russian athlete on a whim. If you insist on the so-called conversation: one breaks the heart of the athlete, who will fight for the country with all their heart in the future. The second is to reduce the prestige of a country's government, after all, such a small thing can go to the Ministry of Defense, and it can only be said that the Ukrainian government has some "grass and trees".
On this matter, although the Ukrainian people have a rational voice, but there are also many indignant words, some people said: Celebrate that you have won a medal, but you represent the whole of Ukraine, you should not take pictures in the arms of the Russians, I am ashamed of you. This may be the ambivalence of people, on the one hand, happy that their country has an extra medal, and on the other hand, dissatisfied with the behavior of their own athletes to embrace the so-called "enemy". Fortunately, the Ukrainian athlete won a silver medal, otherwise she would have been scolded to death. However, judging from the current trend of public opinion in Ukraine, the athlete's situation after returning home may not be very optimistic. After all, there is a lot of blame in the words of the Ukrainian government, which shows that the public opinion environment of the Ukrainian people is probably not much better.
Unlike the polarization of public opinion in Ukraine, the Russian public mostly supports the behavior of Ukrainian athletes. The Russians say: Politics and sports cannot be confused, and the embrace between Russian and Ukrainian athletes shows a real sportsmanship, and perhaps the Ukrainian military and politicians can take the lead in learning from it. It is true that politics and sports are two sides that have nothing to do with each other, but nowadays there are always people who confuse these two, with the United States, Britain and other countries being the most serious.
At the beginning, the West demanded that the relevant agencies sanction Russia on the grounds that "Russian athletes take doping", and also banned the raising of the national flag and the national anthem for the winning Russian athletes. But no one knows that Western countries are the big doping users. Today's international sports events are gradually evolving into a "political tool" for the West to suppress other countries, and if Ukraine is also involved, I am afraid that future sports events will really be an extension of the "political struggle" of various countries.
In today's international community, political struggles are everywhere, science and technology, culture, entertainment, etc. are all involved, and sports are relatively lightly infringed. If governments insist on introducing politics into sport, only small and medium-sized countries will suffer the most, and it will always be the Western powers that will benefit. Looking at this year's Tokyo Olympic medal table, the top ten except China and Russia are all the United States and its allies. If sports events become "tools of political struggle", I believe that only China and Russia can resist with strong national strength, and other small and medium-sized countries are probably "sparring partners". It is conceivable that once the US forces control the right to speak, the future Olympic Games will really be a competition of machine guns and cannons.
Refusing to "politicize" sports is a rule that every country should abide by, otherwise the "selective eye disease" of referees at the Tokyo Olympic Games will continue to be serious. If the referee is really "blind", then it will be who is loud and who is the champion. Speaking of loud voices, who is as loud as the United States. Therefore, do not over-interpret a small matter, things that belong to the category of sports are left to athletes and referees, and the task of politicians is to deal with the national economy and people's livelihood. Once the hand is stretched too long, beware of being grabbed by someone else's larger hand, and then it will really be too much to lose.