In July 2024, information spread in the media and social networks that hobbyhorsing - riding a wooden stick with a horse's head - was included not only in the list of sports recognized in the Russian Federation, but also in the program of the next BRICS games. We decided to check if this is true.
July 23, 2024 Telegram channel Shot (376,000 views at the time of writing the analysis) spread the news about the appeal that the organization “Veterans of Russia” sent to the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Mikhail Degtyarev. Activists reported that, according to their information, a meeting of the Ministry of Sports commission was recently held, where hobbyhorsing was officially recognized as a sport. Shot cited quotes from a letter in which “Veterans of Russia” demanded that this decision be reversed, since such hobbies, in their opinion, “are aimed at blurring the line between humans and animals and are ultimately destructive for the social structure.” The Telegram channel news was subsequently republished by websites Life, "Gazeta.ru", radio stations "Moscow speaks"and TV channel 360. At the same time, the last two media outlets wrote about the inclusion of hobbyhorsing in the BRICS Games program as a fait accompli. TV channel "Moscow 24"Took from "Veterans of Russia" a comment about their initiative, and "National News Service“- from the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Tatarstan, Irina Volynets (who, however, did not support the idea of the ban).
Hobbyhorsing is a relatively young sport that is mainly practiced by children. It is an imitation of equestrian sport, but instead of a real horse, a stick with a toy horse's head is used. It appeared in Russia in 2019. There is even a Hobbyhorsing Federation, which conducts competitions in traditional equestrian disciplines: horse racing, dressage and show jumping.
The appeal of “Veterans of Russia” about the inadmissibility of recognizing hobbyhorsing as a sport is valid exists and posted on the official website of the organization.
In their appeal, “Veterans of Russia” indicate that they learned about the controversial decision of the Ministry of Sports commission from “some sources.” And in the very first paragraph there is even a hyperlink to the Telegram channel in which this was reported.
The post referred to by “Veterans of Russia” was published on the evening of July 20 in the Telegram channel “The Empire is very evil”, which never hid the fact that most of the news posted in it was not true. This indicated and in the channel description: “What is written is a work of fiction, all coincidences are accidental.”
But this, however, is not the original source of the story. “The Empire is very evil” reposted the message from the channel “No spectators", which appeared on July 18 at 13:42 Moscow time. In the channel description it says: “Sporting events that never happened,” and all publications are satirical. For example, the channel has news about the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach, who allowed only Russian athletes belonging to the LGBT+ community to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games.
Thus, “Veterans of Russia”, and after them many Russian media, took seriously the frankly comic news published in the satirical Telegram channel.
Cover photo: Hobbyhorsing Federation
Read on topic:
- T - J. “This is the stage of growing up”: the head of the Hobbyhorsing Association talks about an unusual sport, bullying and money
- Delfi. Pregnant Ken, a brothel for zoophiles and a vaccine from Nazarbayev’s blood. Who writes satirical news and who believes in them?
- Rats, bedbugs, tuberculosis and financial problems. Russian propaganda fakes about the Olympics in Paris
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