FYI

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Russian leaders involved in another racquet

Posted: 10/29/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

BADMINTON is kind of like Ping-Pong. It doesn't just look easy to the spectator, it looks absurd. Only the people who are really good at it understand how hard it actually is to play.

It's not a game a politician looking to buff up his image for an upcoming campaign would use as a photo op, at least not under usual political circumstances. There is nothing "usual," however, about Russian politics and so it was this week that we saw Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in shorts and a T-shirt batting the birdie around against an anonymous opponent in an otherwise empty Moscow gymnasium. Whatever else it may be, badminton is not particularly appealing as a spectator sport.

It's hard to look presidential when you're wearing shorts. In fact, if you are a middle-aged man, it is hard to look even dignified in shorts. About the best look you can hope to pull off is ridiculous, and if you think anything else when you look in the mirror, it's simply because you are becoming delusional.

So why, you might well ask, is the president of the world's second-greatest superpower doing this? Well, according to Medvedev himself, badminton is a lesson in life. "Those who play badminton well can make quick decisions, which means they have the will to achieve success."

And then he went on to prove his point in a way that perhaps he never intended. After beating his anonymous opponent handily, he was confronted on the court by former president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Last month, Medvedev and Putin agreed to swap jobs. Medvedev will step down as president to clear the road for Putin's return to that office after the presidential election. Reciprocally, after the legislative elections, Putin will appoint Medvedev as prime minister. It is all so cosy, so democratically Russian; or should that be Russianly democratic?

In either case, we soon learned that Medvedev is right -- badminton is a lesson in life. Putin trounced him in the game they played and, topping the humble pie with a little dash of humiliation, showed the world that he looks better in shorts as well.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 29, 2011 J13

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