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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Coming and Going Odesa-Style Ends in Fiasco

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Ukrainian girls cast anchor on Moskva River

By Oleksandr HONCHARUK, The Day
Having reached at the coasts of Australia for the world sailing championship,
leaders of the Ukrainian team were somewhat nonplused to see a familiar
yacht with the Odesa-based crew of Vlada Krachun and Natalia Hapanovych
flying the Russian tricolor. What happened to our mistresses of the Black
Sea waves? We asked the senior coach of the Ukrainian national team Viktor
Mayorov
to tell us more.

"Maybe it is customary for yachtsmen to change country without warning
or preliminary notice? Were you totally out of the picture?"

"There were various rumors flying around Ukraine, for example, that
the girls with their coach Andriy Illienko were conducting talks with somebody
behind the federation's back, but nobody expected them to present us such
a fait accompli. Their coach has been trying for many years to prove
that he is a high-class expert (and in principle there is nothing wrong
with this), but the ways he is choosing to fulfill his ambitions are not
completely honest."

"But is the crew really very interesting and strong?"

"Two years ago in the world championship in Israel they finished third,
last season they were ninth in a similar regatta. The real position is:
we have a still stronger crew in this class: four-times world champions
Ruslana Taran and Olena Pakholchyk. At the Olympics, as distinct from the
world championships, a country can only be represented by one entry. Naturally,
the Odesa girls got only peanuts from Ukraine's Sports Committee for their
personal outfit and yacht equipment (they were taken care of by local sponsors).
So they decided to try their luck somewhere else."

"It is a natural desire to get to the Olympics and demonstrate your
skills."

"Right, and if they had officially tendered a request to be excluded
from the national team, the federation would not have objected, although
it is always better to have reliable substitutes. But everything turned
out differently: the girls promptly married (by all accounts, these were
fake marriages) Muscovites and became Russians. By the way, I talked to
representatives of our neighbor's Sailing Sports Federation, and they said
they were little aware of this. For Russia has a strong crew of its own
also headed by Hanna Basalkina former Odesan and Illienko's former pupil,
and now a resident of St. Petersburg. This crew was thirteenth at the last
world championship in Australia, while Krachun and Hapanovych finished
twenty-second."

"It's hard to believe the federation was out of the picture."

"The game is far more complicated than it seems at first glance. Moscow
has set up a sailing-sport school under the patronage of "omnivorous" Mayor
Yuri Luzhkov who took it upon himself to gather the best representatives
of this aristocratic sport, so he began to attract yachting masters from
all over Russia to take part in the Olympics. But the women's 470-class
crew does not want to leave St. Petersburg, so he decided to form an alternative
crew by enticing the Odesans."

"And now?"

"Hard for me to say. The point is the athletes have the right to compete
for another country if they move to one three years before the Olympics.

"This could be done sooner if Moscow struck a deal with Kyiv and both
federations submitted their transfer requests to the IOC. From now on,
Krachun and Hapanovych may compete everywhere for Russia, but they will
have to wait another five years for the Olympics. So Odesa-style coming
and going came off without a fanfare."

 

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