From queen to stepdaughter (on the difficult fate of athletics)

The article presents the current state of athletics in the Russian Federation. It was revealed that the isolation of Russian sports in the international community and the decreased attention to this sport on the part of those in power and responsible for material support negatively affect not only the dynamics of sports results of Russian athletes, but also the motivation of the country's leading athletes to continue their sports careers. The purpose of the study is to identify the problematic aspects of Russian athletics and to outline the authors' position on the rehabilitation of the domestic "Queen of Sports." Research methods: analysis and synthesis of scientific and methodological literature, protocols of the Olympic Games, World Championships, and Russian Championships, and statistical processing of quantitative indicators with their subsequent logical interpretation were used. Research results and conclusions. It was revealed that the state of domestic athletics is at an unsatisfactory level. An analysis of the reasons determining this situation is presented, which include: the isolation of our athletes from international competitions; early specialization; and insufficient promotion of what was once the most popular sport, which has led to a reduction in training facilities, a decline in interest in this sport, and, consequently, a decrease in the number of people engaged in athletics.