Russian President Vladimir Putin criticised sports officials on Tuesday for attracting sportsmen from abroad instead of grooming homegrown champions.
“Looking at our teams, one cannot immediately understand whether those are ours, or a team from Africa,” he said.
“The result is well known. There is no one to play in our national teams,” he told a meeting of Russia’s Sports Council.
Putin wants to revive the past glory of Russian teams, who dominated in many disciplines, and blamed club managers for the decline in sports.
“Instead of preparing young people, breeding our own national cadres they spend millions of dollars hiring foreign players,” Putin told the Council meeting, tasked with planning for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Apart from hosting the Olympics, Sochi is Putin’s favourite holiday venue. The winning bid earlier this summer has fuelled a wave of patriotism in Russia and was one of the high points of his eight-year presidency.
The government is spending billions of dollars to make the city a world class sports centre and resort.
“This is all about spiritual and physical health of the nation, of its young generation,” said Putin.
Achievements in national sport are seen by the Kremlin as a way to consolidate the nation.
“I want to see the results,” Putin said, rejecting explanations by officials that many things are being done and that the revival will take time.
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Wow.. never thought id say this, but much props to Putin for not being “politically correct” and trying to address the issue instead of ignoring it!
What have African players done for England/ France? The last 2 champs were ethnically pure in Spain and Italy. There is something much more special about a team like this than a country thats sold out like France. We all see what happened to them!