PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN has promised that gay and lesbian athletes and guests at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in February will feel at ease despite Russia’s new “homosexual propaganda” ban.
“We will do everything to make sure that athletes, fans and guests feel comfortable at the Olympic Games regardless of their ethnicity, race or sexual orientation,” Putin told visiting International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach in remarks broadcast on Russian television.
Russia’s adoption in June of a controversial law that prohibits the dissemination of information about homosexuality to minors has sparked protests from international rights groups and calls for a boycott of the country’s first post-Soviet Olympic event.
The scandal has already cast a pall over an event closely associated with the powerful Russian leader’s image and dubbed by some media as the “Putin Games”.
Russian businesses and the government have already spent a record $50 billion on preparations aimed at turning Sochi — a leafy Soviet-era summer resort on the Black Sea — into a global magnet for winter activities.
Putin declared Monday that “the objective associated with building Olympic facilities has been met.”
This list is a disgrace. Balotelli? Busquets? Drogba? No Kompany? This thing is based purely on reputation not on merit.
As for the winner it should be Iniesta or Ronaldo. It should be for a player who has achieved something, Messi won nothing this year, Iniesta led Spain to the euros and Ronaldo won la liga for Madrid. People hate Ronaldo for various reasons but no one can deny his record or talent.
The award is for the Player, not the team or the trophies that were won.
If Messi played for Getafe he’d still be the best player in the world.
People used the same logic for Messi over Ronaldo for the last two years. Time for Ronaldo to get the recognition he deserves.
Again the award is for the best player
No one gets it to give them the credit they deserve, it’s a totally fair voting system
The day Ronaldo wins it is the day he deserves it. It’s as simple as that.