Theft strands Team Magadan

KIRSTEN MURPHY

More than 40 Russian athletes from Magadan have withdrawn from the Arctic Winter Games after thieves made off with their travel money, according to Team Magadan’s chef de mission.

About $8,000 was stolen from the sports office on Feb. 9, said Mikhail Sverlov, who spoke to Nunatsiaq News in Russian via his daughter Jenya Sverlov who lives in Montreal.

The team has only enough money (about $73,000) to send 28 of its 76 athletes to Iqaluit and Nuuk, Greenland. It was to be the largest contingent since Magadan joined the Games in 1994. Organizers have confirmed that a team of 11 will be travelling to Iqaluit and a team of 17 will be going to Greenland.

The remaining 48 will stay home.

“Can you imagine training and competing for two years only to be told you cannot go?” Sverlov said. “For them, the Arctic Winter Games is the Olympics. It has the same importance. It’s not just the competition. It’s the possibility of going to another country, seeing other kids and making friends. Otherwise, the only way for them to know how other people live is to watch television.”

Sverlov and his daughter, a volunteer interpreter for the Games, are still booked to come.

The cards have been stacked against Team Magadan for months. Higher airfares after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States stretched the team’s already tight travel budget.

In January, two members of the basketball team were diagnosed with hepatitis. The team was benched for six months after a quarantine order, and their sponsorship money, which is not transferable, was pulled.

“I felt I was on my own, trying to raise support. The games are not just important for me and the children. It’s important for the whole region,” Sverlov said.

The devastating news was received with gasps and tears by the 48 young athletes forced to stay back. As recently as two weeks ago they expected they’d be getting on a plane for the March 17 to 23 event.

Source of pride

In Magadan, a city of 150,000 in the Russian far east, families typically survive on between US$100 and US$150 a month. Jenya Sverlov said food and shelter are the priority — not shin guards and ski poles. In fact, she loaned the athletes US$6,000 to help them get to Iqaluit.

Past and present AWG athletes are tremendous source of pride for Magadan. The city competed for the first time in the 1994 AWG in Northern Alberta. Athletes took home a record 25 medals — the majority in hockey, soccer and cross country skiing.

Two downhill skiers who competed in 1994 went on to the 1998 Winter Olympics. Another two AWG cross country skiers are now on the country’s national ski team. And, last year, Magadan won gold in the boys’ cross country competition.

Jenya said such success stories encourage future athletes. “Two years ago in Whitehorse, some players noticed our hockey equipment was not good and brought us their own hockey sticks and skates. Not old equipment, new equipment. The kids were smiling and almost crying because they could not believe somebody could share such things with them,” she said.

Like Iqaluit, the port city on the Sea of Okhotsk is accessible only by plane — there are no roads or rail service. “Residents often feel forgotten by their own government,” Jenya said.

Kim Wasylyshen, general manager for the Iqaluit AWG host society, has a special place in her heart for Magadan. “They make this an international event. They’re such nice happy, friendly, appreciative people and they make me want to work hard,” she said.

There is a bright side for team Magadan. The Iqaluit Arctic Winter Games Host Society came to its rescue by helping secure reasonable airfares. Five cultural performers are still scheduled to come to Iqaluit.

But even if the team receives the $160,000 it needs to send all 76 athletes to Greenland, Sverlov said it’s too late. Registration deadlines have passed. Last-minute airfares would be unaffordable.

However, organizers are still accepting donations. The Team needs money (or volunteers) to transport athletes from Montreal to Ottawa to catch a plane for Iqaluit.

For more information contact, Jenya Sverlov at (514) 721-6632.