Training Camps

Russian Athletes: the Road to Tokyo. How geography became Russia's advantage in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Russian athletes were deprived of their flag and national anthem at the delayed Olympic Games, which officially started in Tokyo on July 23.

Instead, the team competed under the banner of the Russian Olympic Committee, with the abbreviation ROC the official title. 

Fortunately, the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to impose this ban has had little, if any, ill-effects on the ambitions of Russian sport.

The ROC team won 71 medals at Tokyo 2020 - the highest haul for Russia since Athens 2004. They won 20 golds, 28 silvers and 23 bronze and finished fifth on the medal table.

In 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Russia finished with a total of 55 medals  - 19 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze. 

The ROC team in the Japanese capital included reigning world champions in 10 sports - freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, fencing, gymnastics, swimming, artistic swimming, artistic gymnastics, boxing, athletics and beach volleyball. In sports it is traditionally successful in, such as wrestling and artistic gymnastics, Russia has achieved historical results in this Olympic cycle. The 10 gold medals Russian wrestlers won at the 2018 World Cup is the best result in Russian history. The gold medal for gymnasts in the team all-around at the 2019 World Championships was the first since the Soviet Union era.

On the eve of the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Bańka noted the changes and attitudes in sport in Russia.

"In Russia, we have no longer to deal with an unprecedented system of doping support, organised with the help of the Government, which once shocked the world of sports," Bańka told Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. "The Russians were punished, we came to the end of a certain saga."

Russian Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin was pleased to read the comments of Bańka. 

"There has never been any Government support for doping - this position has always been principled," stressed Matytsin. "The opinion of the WADA President was received with satisfaction. We are glad that at present a constructive dialogue has been built, that the dark page has been turned, and WADA does not consider Russia as some kind of exceptional country, the only one to have a problem of doping. 

"Witold Bańka said that there are isolated cases in many countries. Today the efforts of the Ministry of Sports and the state, together with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, are aimed at creating a system of counteracting doping through educational programmes, through strict control, through interaction with federations and regions. 

"This work has yielded results, and I see the WADA President's statements as an endorsement of this work."

Where state support does exist, and where its role is indeed decisive, is the preparation of Russian national teams. 

In 2008, the implementation of the Federal Target Programme for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports began in Russia. The result for the Russian national teams is a line-up of new or modernised sports training centres. 

Gymnastics received a permanent residence permit in Novogorsk, while fencing, swimming, artistic swimming and artistic gymnastics are based at Krugloye Lake.

Wrestling is located at the Yug Sport bases in Sochi and in the middle mountains in Kislovodsk. All the Russian teams competing in Summer Olympic sports have their own home. 

Under the structure of the Ministry of Sports, there is a Training Centre for the Russian national teams, providing the training process for the athletes and their trips to international competitions. These bases have become real medal factories. 

The presence of such a developed infrastructure provided Russian athletes with the opportunity to return to training in June 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic began to seriously affect people's lives.

The Russian Ministry of Sport has supported ROC athletes preparing for major competitions such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by using its geography to its advantage. This has involved holding training camps in the Far East.

As Russia is a vast country spanning many time zones, it was able to create training camps for every Russian athlete looking to qualify for Tokyo in the Far East of the country - as close to Japan as you can get.

Many nations faced jet lag and a change of climate going to Tokyo, but for Russia this was not a problem. Training camps were ready for the athletes in the same time zone and climate as Japan in regions of Russia's Far East such as Primorsky Territory, Khabarovsk Territory, Sakhalin Region and the Republic of Buryatia.

"The unique capabilities of our country in terms of climate zones, time zones and altitude make it possible to prepare for almost any foreign competition without leaving the borders," said Matytsin, who visited the athletes and training camps in the area.

The main training area was the Primorsky Territory which hosted 24 Olympic and Paralympic sports teams, while the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) on Russky Island received more than 400 athletes and coaches a week before the start of the Games in Tokyo.

Matytsin, together with the Governor of the Primorsky Territory Oleg Kozhemyako, met with the teams and discussed the creation of a sports cluster at FEFU.

The University has become a base for Olympians and is also preparing to host the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) which was established by decree of the Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2015, to support the economic development of Russia's Far East and to expand international cooperation in the region.

It is one of the largest business summits in the Asia-Pacific region, and is set to take place from September 2 to 4 in 2021.

It has established itself as a platform for sports communication.

Chairman of the Japanese Olympic Committee and Olympic judo gold medallist Yasuhiro Yamashita, Korean Sport and Olympic Committee President Lee Kee-heung, vice-president of the Chinese Olympic Committee Lingwei Li and President of the International Judo Federation Marius Vizer were all guests at the "Olympism and the Asia-Pacific Region: Reciprocal Influence" session held at the EEF in 2019.

For the Russian Ministry of Sport, the Forum has become a platform for discussing sport infrastructure issues and this topic is due to continue at the 2021 event.

"We will pay special attention to the Far Eastern District, because in the coming years a significant number of competitions will take place in the Asia-Pacific region," added Matytsin.

"Discussions with coaches and athletes, representatives of regional federations and heads of constituent entities, show that one of the priorities will be the development of these bases."

Russia is therefore well placed to train its athletes for future Olympic Games with Beijing 2022, Paris 2024, Milan-Cortina 2026, Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 already on the horizon. 

The groundwork has been laid for the future success of Russian athletes.