Russian Editorial Blasts 'Cowardly' Canada

Slightly late to the party, Russia has joined the growing chorus of critics slamming the 2010 Vancouver Games.

In a fiery and sometimes rambling editorial published Feb. 19 in the online edition of the Russian newspaper Pravda, Canada is called "cowardly" and unfit to host this year's Winter Olympics.

The vitriolic rant raises the oft-mentioned early stumble at this year's Games - the tragic death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili - before diving into a slew of gripes.

Writer Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey was particularly incensed over the treatment of Russian skier Natalia Korosteleva, who was "hounded" to produce a urine sample on Feb. 17 after qualifying for a race.

With the Russian cross-country skiing team already under doping suspicion, Olympic officials decided to pull aside Korosteleva between the quarter-finals and semifinals in the cross-country sprint and ask her to report to the doping control centre, where athletes provide urine and blood samples.

But the skier said the request was unreasonable, arguing she wouldn't have made it back to her race on time if she had gone.

"Why her?" the writer asks.

The commentary then goes on to attack Canada as a "retentive" and "cowardly" nation with a history of coping with an inferiority complex in relation to its bigger brother down south. It also mentions Canada's insecurity over its sovereignty in the Arctic Circle, an issue that has been a touchy subject between the Canadian and Russian governments in recent years.

"The abject cruelty shown by Canadian soldiers in international conflicts is scantily referred to, as indeed is the utter incapacity of this country to host a major international event, due to its inferiority complex, born of a trauma being the skinny and weakling bro to a beefy United States and a colonial outpost to the United Kingdom, whose Queen smiles happily from Canadian postage stamps," the editorial states.

If Russian sentiment towards Canada was lukewarm last Friday - when the scathing column was posted - then emotions have surely reached the boiling point today, especially after Russia's embarrassing 7-3 hockey loss to Canada. Anti-Canadian fervor is sure to ramp up as the Ruskies continue to lick their wounds.

Needless to say, the Canada-Russia rivalry is still hot. Not quite Cold War-era, Summit Series hot, but hot nonetheless. One can only expect things to come to a head in 2014, when Russia hosts the Winter Olympics.

With files from the Canadian Press

Filed under: Sports

Tagged: Nodar Kumaritashvili