Russians are satisfied with the performance of the Russian athletes at PyeongChang Olympics
MOSCOW, March 2, 2018. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a study following the XXIII Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents kept track of the Korean Winter Olympics; which is slightly less than the number of those who planned to do that. Most of viewers were attracted by their favorite sports (48%), while 13% watched almost all the broadcasts; a further 8% only watched those competitions where Russian athletes participated or had chances to win medals.
Russians felt pride and admiration watching young Russian figure skaters who won the silver medal (Evgenia Medvedeva – 37%) and the gold medal (Alina Zagitova – 27%), as well as the Russian hockey team, which became the winner (33%). Russian viewers did not experience disappointment (77% failed to name the athletes whose performances were disappointing).
According to the Medialogia Company analysis, hockey (695,000 mentions) and figure skating (145,600 mentions) were the most mentioned in social media during the Olympics. The mentions’ peak was February 25, 2018: Russian hockey team won the finals and gained their gold medals; 385,000 comments were posted with reference to “Olympics/Olympic Games” that day. The rating of athlete mentions is headed by Evgenia Medvedeva (190,500).
An overwhelming majority of fans are satisfied with the results of the performance of the Russian athletes in PyeongChang (89%, including 27% of those who consider their performances as perfect and 62% as successful; this share is higher than at Sochi 2014 (82%).
Despite disappointed expectations concerning the medal table position, half of viewers (48%) recognize that the Olympic results exceeded all expectations. More than one-third (37%) expected good results, and their expectations were confirmed.
As to 2020 Summer Olympics, most of Russians (55%) hope that the Russian Olympic team will be a full participant of the games. Twenty-eight percent are skeptical; they say that the IOC’s claims against Russia will still be preserved.
The VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on February 26-27, 2018. The survey involved 2,000 Russians aged 18 and over, and was carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.2%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
The 2006-2014 results are based on household surveys. In 2016, the sample size involved 1,600 persons and was carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%.
Social media analysis. Ratings are based on the number of social media mentions in Twitter, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Telegram, forums and blogs. More than 5 mln mentions were analyzed. Data were calculated on 26.02.2018. Period of study: 09.02-26.02.2018.
Did you follow the PyeongChang Winter Olympics? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of all respondents) | ||
| Rio de Janeiro 2016 | PyeongChang 2018 |
Yes, I watched broadcasts of all sport events regularly | 17 | 13 |
Yes, I watched those competitions in which Russian team had chances to win medals | 9 | 8 |
Yes, I watched only those competitions which I was interested in | 38 | 48 |
No, I did not follow the Winter Games | 32 | 28 |
Don`t know | 4 | 3 |
Whose performances were you most proud of/admired by? (open-ended question, not more than 3 answers, % of those who watched the Winter Olympics, shown are answers that gained more than 1%) | ||||||||||||||
| % of respon-dents | Мale | Fe- male | 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 and over | Moscow and St.Peters- burg | Million cities | More than 500 ths | 100–500 ths | Less than 100 ths | Rural area |
Medvedeva | 37 | 31 | 42 | 18 | 34 | 38 | 42 | 37 | 54 | 33 | 34 | 36 | 37 | 32 |
Hockey | 33 | 36 | 30 | 23 | 33 | 30 | 35 | 35 | 32 | 30 | 31 | 40 | 33 | 29 |
Zagitova | 27 | 22 | 32 | 16 | 22 | 27 | 32 | 28 | 37 | 23 | 27 | 28 | 26 | 25 |
Figure skating | 22 | 20 | 24 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 25 | 28 | 15 | 24 | 29 | 26 | 21 | 21 |
Cross country skiing | 10 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
Bolshunov | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 5 |
Kaprizov | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
Kovalchuk | 4 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
Spitsov | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Luge | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Gusev | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Curling | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Datsyuk | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Disciplines not related to the OG 2018/not admitted/ athletes who finished their careers | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Koshech- kin | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Everyone | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Biathlon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Krushel- nitsky | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Larkov | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Other | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
Don`t know | 22 | 24 | 20 | 49 | 26 | 24 | 15 | 19 | 14 | 24 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 29 |
What performances were most disappointing to you? (open-ended question, not more than 3 answers, % of those who watched the Winter Olympics, shown are answers that gained more than 1%) | |
| % of respondents |
None/everyone is young | 10 |
Biathlon | 4 |
Curling | 2 |
Krushelnitsky | 2 |
Akimova | 1 |
Kolyada | 1 |
Babikov | 1 |
Figure skating/ pair skating | 1 |
Cross country skiing | 1 |
Zavarzina | 1 |
Disciplines not related to the OG 2018/not admitted/athletes who finished their careers | 1 |
Other | 4 |
Don`t know | 77 |
Do the results of the Russian athletes meet your expectations? (closed-ended question, one answer % of those who watched the Winter Olympics) | ||||
| Torino 2006 | Vancouver 2010 | Sochi 2014 | PyeongChang 2018 |
They performed better than I expected | 26 | 1 | 33 | 48 |
They performed the way I expected | 47 | 14 | 38 | 37 |
They performed worse than I expected | 16 | 70 | 21 | 9 |
Don`t know | 11 | 15 | 8 | 6 |
How do you generally assess the performance of the Russian athletes in the 2018 Winter Olympics? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of those who watched the Winter Olympics) | ||||
| Torino 2006 | Vancouver 2010 | Sochi 2014 | PyeongChang 2018 |
Perfect | 28 | 1 | 29 | 27 |
Likely successful | 55 | 9 | 53 | 62 |
Unlikely successful | 10 | 38 | 14 | 7 |
Failure | 1 | 39 | 2 | 1 |
Don`t know | 6 | 13 | 2 | 3 |
In your opinion, will the Russian national team be a full participant at the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of all respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
All IOC’s claims against Russian sport will be lifted, and the Russian national team’ rights will be fully restored for the Tokyo 2020 | 55 |
All IOC’s claims against Russian sport will still be preserved and Russia will fail to be a full participant at the 2020 Olympic Games once again | 28 |
Don`t know | 17 |
TOP 10 Russian Olympic athletes in OG 2018 in social media | |||
Rating position | Person | Sport | Number of mentions, ths. |
1 | Evgenia Medvedeva | Figure skating | 190.5 |
2 | Alina Zagitova | Figure skating | 116.3 |
3 | Ilya Kovalchuk | Hockey | 81.5 |
4 | Kirill Kaprizov | Hockey | 79.5 |
5 | Nikita Gusev | Hockey | 61.8 |
6 | Aleksandr Bolshunov | Cross country skiing | 61.6 |
7 | Andrey Larkov | Cross country skiing | 51.5 |
8 | Denis Spitsov | Cross country skiing | 42.5 |
9 | Pavel Datsyuk | Hockey | 39.2 |
10 | Vyacheslav Voynov | Hockey | 32.3 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory! The use of the Medialogia system content, fully or partially, must be accompanied by the reference to the Medialogia Company.
Photo: Depositphotos, автор efired