KYIV. UkraineGate .14 . November .2022 | War News .
Today, there would be a public debate between the candidate for the post of President of the National Olympic Committee, people’s deputy of Ukraine, Olympic champion Jean Belenyuk and the current Minister of Youth and Sports Vadim Gutzait, who also claims the presidency of the NOC, but the latter ignored the discussion and did not come to the Olympic base “Koncha-Zaspa” .
Despite his opponent’s disregard for the public discussion, Beleniuk single-handedly went to the podium and talked to the debate host. According to him, the rejection of the debate on the part of Gutzait is disrespectful to the entire Olympic family.
Citation
“I see no reason at all not to come, not to talk about my vision, not to present my program, especially not to pick up the phone from the media representatives and in every way avoid talking and direct questions…
Today is Sunday, a day off. To devote half an hour to a discussion before such important elections, which take place every 4 years, I think it is not very difficult.
This is disrespectful not to me, but to the entire Olympic sports family. They have the right to know, and not blindly, to choose a person who does not declare anything and does not say how he sees the development of the sphere where he is going,” Belenyuk said.
Taking this opportunity, he presented to the journalists present the basis of the provisions of his own program and spoke about the problems that athletes address to him.
“We all understand the situation in the country: now we have a war with Russia and all the efforts of our state, including financial resources, go primarily to help the Armed Forces defend our land. But we all know that on the basis of the NOC, a fund was formed to help Ukrainian athletes, relatively speaking, Serhiy Bubka was appointed to distribute this fund. And many athletes turn to me with the question of the incomprehensibility of the algorithm for the distribution of funds.
There are two athletes with the same results, and one is given money for competitions, fees, and the other is not. And athletes communicate with each other and are very sensitive to this approach when there is no clarity. Therefore, one of the points of our program is to establish a specific algorithm for distributing international support,” Belenyuk said.
Although Gutzeit did not come to the debate, the host expressed hope that Mr. Minister was watching them live and voiced the issues that were provided from the sports community, namely:
1. Why did Vadym Gutzait not resign from the post of President of the Fencing Federation of Ukraine, taking the post of Minister?
2. Why hasn’t the Ministry of Youth and Sports initiated joint meetings with leaders in all sports since the beginning of the war? Why did not initiate the development of common rules of the game and survival during the war?
3. With the support of the current minister, the position of senior coach of the Ukrainian national freestyle wrestling team was taken by Vasyl Fedoryshyn, a former wrestler who was taken away from the silver medal of the 2008 Olympics for doping. Does this decision contradict the Olympic charter? Did the Ministry of Youth and Sports take the initiative for Fedoryshyn to return state awards for this medal?
4. Why did the Ministry of Youth and Sports interfere in the formation of the Olympic rhythmic gymnastics team and, contrary to the position of the coaching staff, sent another athlete to the 2020 Games?
5. The current president of the Cycling Federation of Ukraine Andriy Hryvko stated that Vadym Gutzait was the initiator of the return to this position of Alexander Bashenko, who was excommunicated from the leadership following a loud scandal related to the boorish attitude towards athletes. In particular, the International Union of Cyclists (UCI) excommunicated Mr. Bashenko’s sports activities. Why does Vadym Gutzait assess the human traits of Bashenko’s opponent and ignore the position of leading Ukrainian athletes and the UCI regarding Bashenko himself?
6. In Ukraine, in those cities where there are no active hostilities, theatrical performances, film screenings take place with the audience, cafes and restaurants work. Why did the Ministry of Youth and Sports not raise the issue of at least partial admission of spectators to the stands of sports arenas during the competitions of Ukrainian championships in various sports?
Whether Vadim Gutzait will answer the voiced questions, or ignore them as a debate is unknown.
Supplement
The election of the new President of the National Olympic Committee will be held on November 17 during the XXXVII Reporting and Election General Assembly of the NOC of Ukraine. Three candidates are applying for this position: Minister of Youth and Sports Vadym Gutzait, Olympic champion Zhan Belenyuk and Director of the Institute of Special Physical and Combat Training and Rehabilitation Igor Malinsky.
Source: Ukrgate
