Elena Skripel, chairwoman of the Belarusian Gymnastics Association, did an interview with Minsk Capital Television in which she discussed everything having to do with the decision to allow Americans compete at World Championships over her own Belarusian gymnasts.
The biggest takeaway from the interview is that the Belarusian federation has spent nearly a year trying to figure out how to steer their women’s program in the right direction. The gymnasts and their coaches approached Belarus with the idea of competing for them at Worlds and are fully paying their own way to do it – a win-win for Belarus if they can essentially earn an Olympic spot for free.
We have translated the interview and have it in full below.
You are responsible for several gymnastics disciplines, including artistic, acrobatic, rhythmic, and trampoline. You also run your own business. How do you find the time?
It’s difficult. It’s hard, but I try to find the time because I like what I do.
Do you have time to monitor the developments in all of these disciplines?
I’m involved in everything. As you know, in rhythmic gymnastics, we are doing very well. At the recent World Championships, the competition was fierce. It seemed like men were competing. We knew Russia would be first, but what our girls did was heroic, because there were issues with judging and there were emotional issues as well. The whole world was fighting for second and third, but it was Belarus who got second. Katya Galinka also did the impossible. Thanks to her performance, we were able to win three out of three possible qualification spots for the Olympic Games in Brazil. This is very good. Only one other country earned all three spots…Russia. So we are very happy.
I think you are happy with Melitina Stanyuta’s performance as well. She had some disappointments in the individual events, but managed to finish well in the all-around.
Melita is a fighter. She is human, however…sometimes she just doesn’t feel well. But it is a complex sport. She really gives it her all for Belarus.
Now we are preparing for the artistic World Championships and T&T World Championships. These are two more Olympic spots we need to obtain.
Artistic gymnastics is very popular and is still developing in Belarus. Recently you announced that American gymnasts will compete for Belarus in this discipline.
We were preparing an event to attract American athletes to Belarus after Nellie Kim’s visit this summer. Since November, we have been trying to figure out what’s going wrong with our artistic gymnastics. Unfortunately, our women currently have no prospects. We watched training sessions and received advice from some women’s coaches and then we as a group decided to accept the offer from the American side regarding the involvement of the American girls.
I’ll explain a little bit more. The thing is that we need to earn a spot for the Olympic Games at this World Championships. Therefore it is very important all the same to try to do everything possible to earn at least one spot so that Belarus is represented at the Olympics in this sport. Belarus has such a strong history in gymnastics, but over time, we’ve grown weaker. Therefore, we are moving in several directions. We have attracted American girls as a short-term solution, while at the same time we are working to invite a new head coach for our women’s team.
A new head coach will be invited.
Yes. We have reached an agreement with Oleg Ostapenko. This man is very famous in the world of artistic gymnastics. Now he coaches the Brazilian national team and has achieved good results. He accepted our proposal and should begin work in January.
Have the American girls received Belarusian passports?
Yes.
Why Americans?
In America, this sport is very developed. Due to the fact that there is a club system there, a lot of attention is paid when it comes to training in this sport. But unfortunately, not everyone can make the American team. I would also like to say that neither the country of Belarus nor the gymnastics federation paid a dollar [to make this happen]!
Here’s something to think about. If Americans can join the women’s team, why not invite the Chinese or Japanese to the men’s team?
We have our own promising athletes on the men’s team. We don’t have an official squad for the World Championships, but our coach Viktor Dalidov will soon introduce some new young athletes.
Do you already feel at home as chairwoman?
No. I am learning something new all the time. But I like what I do. The president of the Olympic Committee said during a recent meeting that sports don’t exist outside of politics. That is a very important aspect. Especially with the sports I’m in charge of where there is major potential for medals. We just need time and attention. I think I can still accomplish a lot working with the BGA.
I believe that this sport will truly turn into politics when an American athlete in the colors of the national team of Belarus will climb to the Olympic podium.
Yes! The girls, by the way, are very nice. One is a typical American, while the other is part Korean.
In America, everyone is shocked, I believe.
Yes, already everyone is shocked. Now we’ll wait for the results.
The Gymternet 
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I think this whole issue was blown entirely out of proportion, particularly since none of us knew the full story, nor have we heard from the BLR girls themselves. Further, I am appalled and disgusted at those who badmouthed these girls, referring to them as “naive” or “ignorant” or possessing “white privilege.” Clearly, the intent is that the Americans will help secure an Olympic spot for Belarus, after which Oleg Ostapenko will begin the rebuilding process. Lost in all the melodramatic hand-wringing (and mud-slinging) is that, while the Belarussian girls lost the opportunity to compete in Glasgow, this setup may very well secure one of them a spot in Rio – one which they otherwise might not have. I’m fairly certain that whichever BLR girl makes it to Rio, the memory of staying home from Glasgow will be quickly forgotten. This is purely a means to an end.
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Actually, the Olympic spot for Belarus will be a named spot meaning the gymnast who earns it will go, not a Belarusian. If she can’t go for whatever reason, it will be passed on to the first reserve. No Belarusian will compete in Rio. I have no problem with the girls. I do have a problem with their parents buying them Worlds team spots that belonged to actual Belarusian gymnasts just because they couldn’t make their own country’s team.
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Second what Lauren said. Also, if you say stupid things you’re going to get blowback. That’s just the way it is. For the vast majority of us who criticized Kwan and Dickson’s interview, including myself, we were not saying that these girls were bad people (because they’re clearly not). We were just pointing out that their words are ignorant (because they clearly are). They can’t help that because they don’t know any better. This whole situation stinks, I can understand Belarus wanting to employ new strategies, but whether the ends truly justify the means…remains to be seen.
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Criticizing the girls or their words is ridiculous. The only people who should be shouldering any blowback should be the adults who guided them into this situation without preparing them for a backlash. If you want to criticize anyone, it should firstly be the Belarussian officials, who supposedly betrayed their own girls. Second should be the U.S. officials who were also complicit. Third should be the girls. Put yourself in their shoes: Young women with zero shot of a U.S. Worlds or Olympic spot who suddenly find themselves presented with the opportunity of a lifetime by people they trust and respect. Hindsight may be 20/20, but anyone who says they wouldn’t have jumped at the chance if they were in these girls’ shoes is flat-out lying.
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Duh, people have been doing that. People have literally been saying that the real fault lies with the adults. And it’s not about the girls taking the opportunity. It’s their reasoning and how they got this so-called “opportunity”. They’re 16 not 6. Remind me again how they can’t be criticized for their words? None of this makes them infallible. Everyone is responsible to some degree for their own expression. They were not forced into this. There was a choice involved.
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Wait, are you actually suggesting that 16 and 17 year olds–near adults–should not be held accountable for their words? Seriously? I agree with your basic point that most people (not all) would jump at the opportunity they’re given but they came off rather badly in that interview. No one’s burning them at the stake but yes, there will be analysis and criticism–that’s what this site is for. I frankly think you’re taking this way too personally, especially if you miss that most of the criticism HAS been toward the adults involved.
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Ok so despite the obvious outrage, I gotta point out two more things:
“It seemed like men were competing.” this is incredibly sexist.
“One is a typical American, while the other is part Korean.” and this is incredibly racist; I don’t know what a “typical American” would look like, but if anything, she would have indigenous blood.
Damn shame.
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I had these exact same thoughts when I read those passages. I understand that this kind of thinking is probably quite normal in Belarus, but that doesn’t make it okay. Belarus-gate completely aside, I honestly thought these two things were the worst things she said in this interview.
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I’ve been attempting to read the test event and olympic qualification rules very carefully. This is a difficult process as it doesn’t always use the clearest language.
As far as I can tell individual places for the test event are allocated to the country for both the men and the women, so the american girls can win places for Belarus. At the test event it said “not nominative” in brackets after the women’s place, I read that as the men’s place is attached to the athlete and the women’s isn’t – no idea why it would be different but it does seem that it could lead to a native Belarussian competing in Rio.
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Except that the training conditions in Belarus will not change, and I doubt native gymnasts will be given the chance to train in the US.
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This is true – Elena Skripel seems to place a high level of importance of obtaining an olympic spot for belarus, without saying who would take it. I don’t know why or if there are financial implications. I don’t like the idea of buying spots at worlds and possible an olympic place, I’m just trying to understand it from the perspective of the belarussian federation.
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