News & Events in Belarus

“Sport is big politics. You see what is happening now, how tough the fight has become. Probably, there are some political implications in this. If we did doping we would not find it funny. I am totally for clean sport. If someone takes prohibited substances, then we need to fight this. We will not benefit from this. If we do not support clean sport, we will lose. Because the big states will always find the opportunity to beat us in this. If sport is clean, then we have more chances to win medals,” the Belarusian leader noted.

Alexander Lukashenko noted that everything necessary is done in Belarus for sport, especially elite sports. “I do not think anyone can complain that there was a lack of funds to prepare for the Olympics,” the Belarusian head of state noted.

However, the President stressed that Belarus will not send “tourists” to Brazil. He asked in what sports the national team has chances to medal, what the quality and quantity of licenses are. “We know that there are no weak athletes at the Olympics. Every year it gets more and more difficult to win medals. But that is no reason for excuses. We have stopped making medal plans. This is probably right. There is no need to put unnecessary pressure on athletes. However, if we see that there are no chances, we should not waste people's money,” he noted.

Alexander Lukashenko also expressed concern with what is happening around the Olympic Games in the world. “We all see, through mass media, how sport is moving into a big political dimension. This also applies to doping issues, particularly meldonium, which became suddenly world famous. In this regard, it is important to know whether the problem has affected our athletes and if it has, then how strongly. We should not hide anything. You saw that they even started examining the samples of eight years ago,” the President noted.

“We should prevent the situation when the medals won in Brazil woud be taken away in some eight years time. There will be personal responsibility for such facts. The European Olympic elite will gather in Minsk in autumn, and we should not feel ashamed,” Alexander Lukashenko stressed.

The Belarusian President also inquired what is being done to protect honest athletes from unsportsmanlike influence.