Nikita Nagorny is a powerful gymnast and a powerful person. You only have to see him with his family around him, or competing with his team, to understand that he is a strong and reliable man who looks after his loved ones.
For all of history, states and leaders have taken advantage of such a noble impulse - to defend those around them - by taking young men into battle. In Nagorny’s case, the battlefield has been the gymnastics arena. Here, Nagorny has achieved amazing things and I think it’s not stretching a point to say he was a hero at last year’s Olympics. The World AA champion competed for his team whilst suffering from kidney stones. As the final gymnast on floor, he made last minute adjustments to his routine that meant that his team took the gold medal. He’s a good guy, hugely sporting and entertaining, and the first one to give a big hug to his rivals after competition, whether he is in first, second or last position.
It is perhaps these personable and honourable qualities, besides his amazing teamwork and astonishing gymnastics, that President Putin saw when he appointed Nikita as ‘Chief of the Main Staff of the National Movement’ of Yunarmia (Young Army Cadets National Movement). He was appointed in December 2020, and it seems to be a two year tenure that is awarded to prominent sportsmen, to inspire youth to participate in activities to celebrate the past victories of the country’s veterans and to promote pride in Russia’s national identity.
Nikita is not a military officer. He has not stopped bring a gymnast. He is a high profile athlete who has taken on a (part time) national leadership role to fulfill his duty to President and country. Russia is a society where the military is highly venerated. Russia lost millions of people during WW2. Under Stalin’s leadership post war, many millions more suffered torture and murder at the hands of their own secret police, the KGB, an organisation who were much later, at one point, led by Vladimir Putin.
Yunarmia was established by Putin in 2015. People didn’t know then that Putin was going to launch an all-out attack on Ukraine, but the conflict was already underway in Crimea and the Donbas region and Russia had already bared its teeth in Chechnya, Syria, Afghanistan. Russia is a brutal country who with Putin as its President manifests evil intent. Truth is distorted, fear is everywhere. People try to live normal lives, but find themselves thwarted. Perhaps the most difficult thing is to be themselves. Dissent is not encouraged and just recently fear is on the rise; people are being arrested and taken to police stations, where they are interrogated and beaten - only because they may have questioned the basis of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This week, a Siberian gymnastics coach was fined 90,000 roubles for removing the ‘Z’ symbol from the door of the children’s gym where he worked daily. He was informed upon by his colleagues.
Honesty can exist when there is courage and common sense. Aliya Mustafina, now head coach of the Russian national junior gymnastics team (girls), recently responded to a question about Russia’s suspension from international sporting competition:
‘Children, thank God, are not very much involved in all this. Therefore, they did not have to say anything, they both worked and continued to work, without a shadow of doubt.’
In other words, I decline to comment on this subject.
I find Yunarmia to be a disturbing phenomenon. Especially the visibility of young people in what is becoming a theatre of war; there have been suggestions that 17 year old Yunarmia recruits might be deployed in Ukraine.
I am also deeply upset by the presence of Yunarmia at this week’s Russian Gymnastics Championships. Nikita, performing in the team competition yesterday, didn’t do well here and to my eye doesn’t look entirely himself. But you can see him for yourself, pictured amongst the young recruits, supported by a veteran in military uniform.
I suppose you could say that Nikita didn’t have to take on the leadership role Putin offered him in 2020. He could have refused. But would you refuse Putin in similar circumstances? At the time the job was offered to him, it was a great honour. He couldn’t have known about the attack on Ukraine. Maybe he even has family in Ukraine … But what would a refusal have done for Nagorny’s gymnastics career and future life in Russia, let alone his welfare and that of his family? Putin’s Russia does not forgive traitors easily. Nagorny is a proud Russian, and unlikely to turn down such a responsibility.
It’s unlikely that Nagorny is a blood thirsty war monger, more that he has become caught up in something that is beyond his control. I doubt he thinks that Russia is wrong, but to second guess his feelings is impossible.
I would feel inclined to forgive him his involvement if it weren’t for the feelings of his rivals, the Ukrainian gymnasts who have no choice but to fight in the war and defend their homeland. Igor Radivilov has already lost two grandparents in the seige of Mariopol, Stella Zakharova sleeps in a bunk bed underground, Oleg Vernaiev has put on his military uniform and volunteered for active service for his country. The Ukrainian WAG team has left home and is training in Italy while their families no doubt face trials at home. This is a terrible time.
Seeing the picture of Yunarmia and Nagorny at a simple gymnastics competition, among the gymnasts whom we have for long supported, is challenging and even chilling. Why drag children and sports into war and killing? It validates the idea that Russia had to be excluded from international competition. It’s not good for Russian gymnasts and coaches, and their reintegration into the sporting community after this horrible war is over and peace is restored. It is a smack in the mouth to Ukrainian gymnasts and to the rest of us who love the Olympics.
Was it right for Nagorny to accept Putin’s invitation to lead the Youth Army in 2020? What would you do if you were Nikita? Please comment below.
No comments:
Post a Comment