Olympic grief for Russian father-son duo

SUSPENSION WILL DENY LITVINOV’S A CHANCE OF MAKING HISTORY

C4

Russian hammer thrower Sergey Litvinov and his father have a lot in common: a first name, an athletics discipline and now a history of missing the Olympics.

The suspension of Russia’s athletics federation over “state-sponsored” doping will deny the 30-year-old a shot at Olympic glory, just as the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games did for his father and coach, legendary Soviet hammer thrower Sergey Litvinov.

Father and son recognise the striking parallels between their careers and wish the stinging memories of 1984 had not returned more than 30 years later.

“There is nothing good in this,” Litvinov Sr. said about seeing his son sidelined from Rio like he was in 1984.

Unlike many banned Russian athletes, Litvinov and his father have been openly critical of Russia sports authorities and their inability to reform the scandal-ridden anti-doping system in time for track and field athletes to compete in Rio.

Litvinov Sr., 58, thinks that Cold War-era politics weighed into the decision to keep Russians away. He blamed the country’s sports authorities for their “passive approach” to the problem.

His son, who competed at the youth level and the 2009 world championships for Germany before a falling-out with the federation there saw him change his allegiance, has rejected the popular notion in Russia that the ban is a Western conspiracy aimed at eliminating strong competitors.

Great depression

“I don’t have a negative attitude towards the West,” he said after a consolation track and field in Moscow held for the banned athletes.

“You have to look for the problem within yourself first. There is no smoke without fire.”

Litvinov Sr., who won silver at the Moscow Olympics, had his sights set on gold for Los Angeles, having won his first world title one year ahead of the Games.

The Soviet boycott devastated him. “A great depression swept over me,” Litvinov Sr. said. “It took me a whole year to return to my normal self.”

Although he returned to win gold at the boycott-free 1988 Seoul Games — Olympics in which Litvinov said the sports world could finally breathe — his absence from the Los Angeles Games left a stain on his stellar career.

“I could have had a chance to go for gold,” he said. “But what can I say? It didn’t happen and that’s it.”