Only one-fourth of Russians have negative attitudes towards letting foreign athletes compete for the Russian national team.
MOSCOW, June 4, 2014. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the information describing the attitudes of Russians towards Russian athletes to have competed for foreign countries during the Sochi Olympics as well as foreign athletes competing for Russia.
According to two-thirds of Russians (69%) there was nothing blameful in letting Russian athletes play for foreign countries during the Sochi Olympics. Russians aged 18-24 (78%), million cities residents (77%) and active Internet users (72%) say that any athlete has the right to decide. One-quarter of respondents (28%) oppose them stating that athletes should compete for the country where were born; most of those who think so are elderly Russians (34%).
As to foreign athletes being part of Russian team, most of Russians favor it: 72% think that Russian team needs good players no matter where they come from. Those who think so are young Russians aged 18- 24 (83%); they are opposed by elderly respondents (65%). Twenty-four percent of Russians believe that this is not good, and Russian national team does not need any athletes from other countries.
The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on March 1-2, 2014. 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 communities in 42 regions of Russia. Data are weighted by gender, age, education, working status and type of settlement. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
What is your attitude towards Russian athletes who played for foreign countries and even won gold medals during the Sochi Olympics? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
Total | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and over | |
It is normal; any athlete can decide what country to play for | 69 | 78 | 72 | 73 | 67 | 59 |
It is not normal; athletes must play for the country they come from | 28 | 21 | 26 | 25 | 30 | 34 |
Don`t know | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
What is your attitude towards foreign athletes (even medalists) being part of Russian national team? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 and over | |
It is normal; our team needs good athletes no matter where they come from, if they want to play for Russia | 72 | 83 | 73 | 74 | 70 | 65 |
It is not normal; we have our own athletes; we do not need foreign athletes | 24 | 16 | 25 | 24 | 26 | 29 |
Don`t know | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
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!