Russian world record holder Kliment Kolesnikov shared his thoughts on the sport of swimming and the debate over Russia and Belarus’ return to international competition during a recent interview with the Russian news agency, TASS.
From a fan’s perspective, the 22-year-old backstroke specialist said he thinks the lack of interaction among teammates and opponents in swimming makes it difficult to attract the same audiences as other major sports. Even individual sports such as tennis and chess, Kolesnikov said, involve more improvisation than swimming. The two-time Olympic medalist and six-time champion at Short Course Worlds went so far as to say swimming is “more monotonous than skiing or cycling.”
“I’ll tell you straight out: If I wasn’t a swimmer, I wouldn’t watch swimming,” Kolesnikov said. “For me, it’s not as spectacular as any team sport. Whatever you do, a team sport will be more interesting, because there is an element of improvisation there, it’s interesting to watch. There is improvisation in such individual sports as tennis or even chess, while ours is a monotonous, cyclical kind, and even more monotonous than skiing or cycling, where overtaking and contact are possible. We don’t have that.
“Therefore, the issue of attracting an audience is difficult,” he continued. “There are well-established sports, such as football, hockey, and basketball, which are interesting to people, but I think it is still possible to increase interest in swimming. We need a good promotion that would do all this, because you can’t lure people with posters alone.
He pointed to MMA’s rising popularity in America as an example of savvy sports marketing.
Asked if he felt insulted at all by the lack of spectator interest in swimming, Kolesnikov replied that he’s accustomed to the sport’s popularity by now, although the 6-foot-5, 190-pounder admits a switch to basketball is tempting.
“After so many years in swimming, I no longer think about how much others earn, but rather the thought that it might be cool to go not to swimming, but to basketball,” he said. “No matter how many times I thought about it, I caught myself thinking that in general I have good coordination, I could play well. But since everything is going so well in swimming, I decided that I would still be a swimmer. Thoughts about money, arguments that someone can just sit down, do nothing really, and get €1.5 million are already going in the background.”
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) recently denied Russia the chance to compete at Olympic pre-qualifying tournaments, effectively banning its basketball team from Paris 2024.
Kolesnikov: Athletes Deserve Vote in Debate Over Paris 2024 Participation
Russian and Belarusian athletes have been restricted from international competition since their invasion of Ukraine last year. They are set to miss this summer’s World Championships after World Aquatics extended their ban into 2023.
Kolesnikov believes that “the current situation does not take into account what an athlete wants” and that the best solution would be to allow athletes to decide the issue by a popular vote.
“Athletes from Russia and Belarus could have already returned to the global arena if the decision was up to foreign athletes instead of politicians or sports officials,” he said. “If a meeting [with foreign athletes] took place, it would have been much easier — everything would have been decided directly by popular vote of the athletes. This is how it was during the Swimming League round table discussions when athletes participated in the discussion of various issues. It’s cool when the athletes themselves can bring up topics they care about and discuss them.”
Kolesnikov thinks Russia can host its own versions of various global competitions, but ultimately there’s no replacing the Olympics.
“I believe it is almost impossible to think of an alternative to them [the Olympic Games] and I don’t see how it can be organized,” Kolesnikov said. “I came to this conclusion having been there once, having seen it all and felt what it was all about. I have no clue at all how such global competitions can be replaced with something else. It is a different issue that the current situation is being overdramatized in regard to the Olympic Games. For me personally, they [the Olympics] are still number one for fulfilling athletic ambitions.”
The latest International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations suggest that Russian and Belarusian athletes can to international competition as neutrals, but only if they are not “actively supporting” the war in Ukraine. For now, they still have an avenue to qualify for Paris 2024 via the 2023 Asian Games.
Fellow Russian backstroke star Evgeny Rylov served a nine-month suspension until February of this year for appearing on stage during a Vladimir Putin-hosted pro-war rally in Moscow last March. The reigning Olympic champion in the 100 back and 200 back told TASS that he has already mentally prepared himself for the possibility of missing Paris 2024.
“According to the latest information, I cannot get there even if I officially resign from all law enforcement agencies,” said Rylov, who is a staff sergeant in the Moscow Oblast Police in Lobnya. “I think the restriction will be a little tougher on me.
“However, things are changing every day, Rylov added. “A couple of months ago, they were saying that we are allowed everything is fine, [IOC president] Thomas Bach seemed to be on our side, but then — bang — they went back to talking about precautionary measures, and it seems that we are not going anywhere. But, the situation may change and they may decide that everyone can go.”
You can read the full interview with Kolesnikov here as well as a condensed version here. Rylov’s interview is available to view here.
Basically he says watching swimming is boring, and we are all nuts.
Could organise podcast like interviews/conversations between competitors for fam interest. Just would need a refined formula so it doesn’t appear cheap and tacky. ESPN like interview format where a small team of high quality staff organise chats between competitors, what they’re focusing on, dynamics in marshalling, tactics, mental “swing thoughts” (phrase from golf) to focus leading into race etc. lots of interesting content that could be produced.
Not super expensive as could organise via Skype or whatnot
The guy in the photo looks suspiciously like Milak.
Swimming has never really centered itself around fans but around the athletes and performance. Which is fine, but makes it difficult to grow the sport in terms of crowds and revenue.
Take NCAA swimming as an example.
The champs are often in cold weather environments in March and often in relatively hard to get to places, with the biggest talking points (traditionally) being about the pool and general setup for the athletes. Until VERY recently there wasn’t much talking about the fans or how the location suited them. The walkout fireworks and TV are a start, I hope to see more.
One of the things that has propelled OT’s into being talked about, watched and has people showing up… Read more »
He’s not wrong that swimming, just in and of itself, is boring as hell. (If you broadcast a random junior national meet and said it was the Olympics, basically no one but the die-hards could even tell the difference. There’s no scale in how fast these people are swimming, and that’s another detriment.)
But the things that really builds up most sports is storylines. Think about any race that you’re really excited about – that excitement almost certainly has a lot more to do with the story you’ve been told about the event. (It’s a decent reason why NCAAs are much more fun to watch than pretty much any meet outside of WCs/Olympics.)
He’s delusional about the athlete vote… Read more »
I think that major concern behind this blah-blah-blah stuff is losing of major big sponsors because of this ban on international competition for Russian swimmers.
But how nicely it was wrapped into concern of the popularity of sport of swimming. Yes, it’s true. Swimming won’t make you rich in Russia even if you are at world class level. You may get decorated by some order of honor by government, but you won’t be able to get much of selling it.
I used to say the exact same thing. then I retired, took 15 years completely away from the sport, came back to it from a spectator’s perspective and grew to love watching it.
But still, it’s not an exciting sport to watch when you’re a complete outsider. So I get what he means.
Athletes popular vote?!
They did have it when have chosen war-manger government.
Everything has its consequences. Accept it and be quite with your deep thoughts and stupid suggestions.
I don’t think Kolesnikov was born when Putin came into power. Try again.
The only thing I would try should I get such opportunity is asking Kolesnikov if he belongs to 70% of population of Russian Federation who supports war in Ukraine and demands new territorial expansions.
Or if he is the part of that 85% group that wants to see Putin at the head of the Russian government for life.
Putin was re-elected multiple times and Kolesnikov did have a vote when it had happened last time. Now you try and ask him what he voted for.
Bro really thinks elections matter in Russia 💀💀
Same with this country
Please believe me when I tell you this. The numbers you are presenting are not the reality of life in Russia. Elections are rigged. The elderly get their news from state-run programs. It is propaganda at its finest. The people who don’t use VPNs and APPs no nothing about the war, except the lies the government is spreading. The younger generation knows the truth. But when you speak the truth you are imprisoned. A British citizen just received a 25-year sentence for speaking the truth. And when most of the population doesn’t vote, the eventual results are one-sidedly skewed. The only Russian athletes who have spoken out against the war are tennis players. Why? Because they live abroad, in places… Read more »
Is he one of the 234% group that wants to see Putin at the head of the Russian government for life, or is he one of the small portion of the population who prefers involuntarily base jumping from a 10 storey window.
You do realize Putin suppressed opposition since 2003 and this goes to local levels of government? Real opposition parties don’t get on the ballots they go to jail.
These votes and percentages don’t matter. At best you can tell who supported something mundane… but even at the local level mundane stuff is approved from the top.
I don’t think you understand how corrupt the elections are in Russia. The people have no say nor the power when deciding who their leader will be.
If you are not Russian or live at the modern days Russia then believe me that I have more intimate knowledge and experience about the life in this country. You are living with stereotypes of Stalin’s Soviet Union. Why do you think the Soviet Union collapsed that easily and so suddenly – everybody got tired of such life.
Sure the ruling party is trying to stay in power any ways possible including intermediation and corruption. But it is no different than in any other country, including US.
Dude do you know anything about Russian politics? Russian democracy died when Yeltsin had troops forcibly disband the parliament in 1993*.
Let’s go back in time, to just before the new millennium. Imagine you’re an ordinary Russian, hanging out with your friends and drinking to celebrate the coming year. The TV is in the background so you can catch the annual presidential address. Eventually Yeltsin comes on air, and you watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVitEiKkRZ8. Now suddenly a new younger face is before you, and he tells you this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJI2_lw1gIQ
Uncanny, isn’t it… the rise Putin’s happened in the shawdows.
Now, there is certainly a conversation to… Read more »