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Only foreigners will leave for Sochi from Azerbaijan to participate at the Olympic Games, but even the call for foreign- athletes under the Azerbaijani banner do not give Baku high hopes for victory and medals, this is stated in an article published on the website of the Russian BBC service.

As noted in the article, Azerbaijan has never been famous for victories in winter sports. Nevertheless, in 1998 Azerbaijan sent his team to the Winter Olympics for the first time; the group, however, included Russian athletes as well. Since then participation in the Winter Games became a tradition for Azerbaijan, as well as the fact that the names of the athletes representing Azerbaijan were not Azerbaijani.

Representatives of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan said in an interview with Azerbaijani BBC Service, that the main thing for Azerbaijan is participation in the Olympics.

"One of the biggest and most prestigious events in the world will be attended by multi-million audience. If Azerbaijan is mentioned, at least for three times during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, it will be a big deal for us. What else do we need besides the publicity? We work for this," said the head of the Azerbaijani delegation at the Sochi Games Kenul Nurullayeva. She also accepts that the members of the Azerbaijani team are not strong enough to qualify for a medal.

"Then why do you involve athletes from outside, if you know that they cannot win Olympic medals?" the author wonders. Sports commentator Elchin Jalilov calls this approach a self-deception. "We go into a northern country and find there athletes that are not even in the top ten or top five at home," the commentator notes.

According to him, this happens because many areas of sport are in the hands of bureaucrats. The existing situation Jalilov believes is shameful.

Elshan Mammadov from the Center of Sports Studies in Baku notes that the Winter Sports Federation country has its own responsibilities: "If the Federation treated the athletes’ selection process at Winter Games seriously, then they could find at least one Azerbaijani athlete, living abroad, and could help him in preparation process."