10 August 2021. VCIOM presents the data of a survey devoted to the Tokyo Olympics.
About half of Russians (47%) followed the Tokyo Olympics; 11% regularly followed the broadcasts of all sports; 5% watched only the competitions the Russian team could win medals in; 31% watched only those broadcasts they were interested in. Half of Russians (50%) did not follow the Olympics. At the same time the viewers’ interest in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is much lower than their interest in the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics and Rio 2016 Olympics (69% and 64% of Russian viewers, respectively).
Russians felt pride and admiration when they were watching the performances of Dina and Arina Averina (14%), Russia’s synchronized swimming team (10%), gymnasts (10%), wrestlers (7%) and Mariya Lasitskene (5%). Most of Russians who followed the Olympics (72%) could not answer the question about the performances of the Russian athletes that disappointed them; 16% said every athlete performed well.
Watching the performances of the Russian athletes in Tokyo, most of Russians experienced pride for the country (53%), joy (18%), and excitement (11%), as well as satisfaction, insult and disappointment (6%, each).
Most of Russian Olympic viewers (63%) consider the Russian teams’ performance successful; 30%, excellent. Five percent of Russians gave negative assessments. Half of those who watched the Olympic Games (51%) say the Russian team’s performance met their expectations; 30% say the team performed better than expected; 11%, worse.
The performance of the Russian athletes in Tokyo received higher assessments than their performances in Sochi in 2014 and in Pyeongchang in 2018 (29% of respondents consider the performance in Sochi excellent; 53%, successful; 27% consider the performance in Pyeongchang excellent; 62%, successful).
According to those who watched the Olympics, to perform better at the next Olympics the athletes should get more training and train more intensively (26%), it is also important to develop sport in Russia (12%) and to give the athletes back their flag and anthem (10%).
Russian nationwide VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on August 8, 2021. A total of 1,600 of Russians aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Results are based on telephone interviews. Stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of Russian landline and mobile phone numbers was used. 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%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Did you follow the Olympics? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||
| Rio de Janeiro2016 | Pyeongchang 2018 | Tokyo 2021 |
Yes, I watched broadcasts of all sport events regularly | 17 | 13 | 11 |
Yes, I watched the broadcasts of the competitions the Russian athletes could win medals in | 9 | 8 | 5 |
Yes, I watched the broadcasts of the competitions I am interested in | 38 | 48 | 31 |
No, I did not watch the Olympics | 32 | 28 | 50 |
Don’t know | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Name the Russian athletes whose Olympic performances you admire or are proud of. Several athletes can be named (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of those who followed the Olympics; answers of at least 3% of respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
Averina Dina and Arina | 14 |
Synchronized swimming | 10 |
Gymnasts | 10 |
Wrestlers | 7 |
Mariya Lasitskene | 5 |
Volleyball players / beach volleyball | 4 |
Svetlana Romashina | 3 |
Swimmers / swimming | 3 |
Abdulrashid Sadulaev | 3 |
Nikita Nagornyy | 3 |
Evgeny Rylov | 3 |
Fencers | 3 |
Other | 35 |
Don’t know | 46 |
Name the Russian athletes whose performances disappointed you | |
| Total respondents |
None / everything was fine / everyone performed well | 16 |
Volleyball players | 3 |
Gymnasts | 1 |
Football players | 1 |
Averina Dina and Arina / it hurts, they were railroaded | 1 |
Handball players | 1 |
Wrestling | 1 |
Darya Klishina | 1 |
Sergey Shubenkov | 1 |
Everyone | 1 |
Other | 3 |
Don’t know | 72 |
What emotions did you mostly feel watching the performances of the Russian athletes at Tokyo Olympics? (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of those who followed the Olympics; answers of at least 4% of respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
Pride for athletes, for the country | 53 |
Joy / happy for the athletes | 18 |
Excitement / sympathy | 11 |
Disappointment | 6 |
Positive emotions / liking / I was glad / it was nice / satisfaction | 6 |
Insult / frustrating | 6 |
Admiration | 5 |
I cheered for the athletes / support / I wanted them to win / I hoped they would win | 5 |
Bitterness / grief / pain / sadness / displeasure | 4 |
Other | 28 |
Don’t know | 7 |
| How would you generally assess the performance of the Russian team at Tokyo Summer Olympics? | |||||
| Torino 2006 | Vancouver 2010 | Sochi 2014 | Pyeongchang 2018 | Tokyo 2021 |
Excellent | 28 | 1 | 29 | 27 | 30 |
Likely successful | 55 | 9 | 53 | 62 | 63 |
Likely unsuccessful | 10 | 38 | 14 | 7 | 4 |
Failure | 1 | 39 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Don’t know | 6 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
How would you generally assess the performance of the Russian team at Tokyo Summer Olympics? | |
| Total respondents |
Excellent | 30 |
Likely successful | 63 |
Likely unsuccessful | 4 |
Failure | 1 |
Don’t know | 2 |
| How much do the results of the Russian athletes’ performance meet your expectations? | |
| Total respondents |
They performed better than I expected | 30 |
They performed the way I expected | 51 |
They performed worse than I expected | 11 |
Don’t know | 8 |
In your opinion, what should be done to make the Russian team perform more successfully at the next Olympics? (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of those who followed the Olympics; answers of at least 3% of respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
Athletes should train more intensively / take care of their health / have proper diet | 26 |
To develop sport all across Russia / to develop children’s sport / to build sport facilities | 12 |
To give the anthem and flag back to the Russian athletes | 10 |
Sport is mixed up with politics / wiser policies are needed / foreign policy | 5 |
To increase funding | 4 |
To attract more kids, youth/ to search for talents in the regions / better team composition is needed | 4 |
To pay attention to coaches / to change coaches / professional coaches are needed | 4 |
To support athletes morally / help / wishes | 4 |
To make sport available / free hobby groups, sport classes | 4 |
To protect our athletes / to protect their rights | 3 |
To figure out the doping issue / to give access for athletes | 3 |
Fair refereeing | 3 |
To believe in the victory / to strive | 3 |
Other | 17 |
Don’t know | 24 |