(ATR) The head of the company reviewing Russian winter sports performance says the country has the potential to perform well in four years on home soil at the Sochi Olympics.
After a disappointing performance at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, the Russian Olympic Committee hired Lausanne-based TSE Consulting to conduct an internal report on how to improve winter sports training. TSE officially started its review on Friday and will deliver a report by mid-May, ahead of elections for a new NOC president.
Russia recorded its lowest medal total in history at the Vancouver Games, 11th in the medal tally with just three golds, five silvers and seven bronzes.
After the Games, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for officials responsible for training to resign and a review of training. Leonid Tygachev resigned as NOC president in March.
Managing Director of TSE Consulting Lars Haue-Pedersen tells Around the Rings that Russia can right the course of its winter sports program in time for Sochi.
"Some people could call it a wake-up call but it is good that it came in Vancouver at least four years before Sochi," Haue-Pedersen said. "We see this as an opportunity to do some things that would have been done anyway but might be accelerated and implemented more strongly. If that happens, then Russia can celebrate strong success in Sochi. "
The report includes three main parts: a review of the best practices by successful winter sports programs, an analysis of the Russian system and initial recommendations to the ROC. Haue-Pedersen said his company will review successful winter sports programs such as the U.S.
Haue-Pedersen compares the state of Russian winter sports to the U.S. following the 1998 Nagano Games. Team USA captured 13 medals in Nagano. Just four years later on Salt Lake City, Team USA nearly tripled its medal count by capturing 34 medals and finish second overall on its home soil. In Vancouver, Team USA finished on top of the medal table with 37 medals.
TSE consultant Steve Roush was one of the individuals responsible for success of Team USA. Before joining TSE in 2009, he served as USOC Chief of Sports Performance. Roush is leading the TSE Team responsible for the review of Russian sports.
"The development from Nagano to Salt Lake was part him," Haue-Pedersen said of Roush. "The good thing about that was that the dramatic improvement that U.S. winter sports went through because of hosting the games was sustained afterwards continued in Torino and further developed in Vancouver."
Maybe in 2022 the Olympic Movement may look at Sochi as the turning point in Russian winter sports performance. Haue-Pedersen is not making a dramatic predictions of Russian performance in Sochi yet.
"At this stage no body can really tell," Haue-Pedersen said when asked to predict. "History can tell something that is quite encouraging. Russia is a sports power. It is not some emerging sports country. It has extremely strong tradition for sports including winter sports. "
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Written by Sam Steinberg.
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