2019 Euro Games Won't Be In Russia

It was almost a sure thing that the 2019 European Games were going to be held in Sochi and Kazan but sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, confirmed that Russia is pulling out, citing economic and political issues affecting the country. Mutko may well have had the allegations of state sponsored doping in mind when he decided to pull their bid. Economically, things are grim as well: the country has been saddled with sanctions from the US and EU since 2015, trade wars with Kazakhstan, inflation rates around 13%, slashed profits from global low oil prices, and the costly entrance of fighting ISIS in the Middle East. I want to keep this blog politics-free because nothing will ever diminish my love of Russian gymnastics, but let me say I'm gratified the Russian government knows its priorities and understands that hosting these Games would be irresponsible to the citizenry (unlike some other countries).

The remaining cities are Istanbul, Minsk, and Glasgow (them again? bleh). Turkiye should get the Games just because it would symbolically take over from where their brother country, Azerbaijan, left off. Actually, unlike most EU nations that banned it's entry, Turkiye is almost debt free (they're 5 years ahead of plan to pay off the last of its IMF loan) so this could work. In my opinion, Russia dodged a bullet. The Games aren't financially profitable anymore and most of the media would search for negative things, as they always do with this country, so I don't think there was anything to gain in that respect either. Read the official announcement here.