MEDICAL SUPPORT OF SPORTS COMPETITIONS IN RUSSIA: ISSUES OF LEGAL REGULATION

Abstract

There is an imbalance in the normative regulation of the duties of the organizers of sports competitions in Russia. In particular, according to the current legislation, the organizer himself decides whether a medical officer is needed during the competition or whether a medical team is needed. There are several methodological approaches that help to make this decision, but discrepancies in the application of these often mean the absence of a full-fledged team of medical workers at the venue. In neither the current legislation, nor subordinate normative legal acts is there any clearly defined list of duties of organizers of sports competitions. In practice, this complicates the work of organizers and creates uncertainty as to limits of their legal responsibility, including an assessment of their actions in case of harm to life, health or property in the course of carrying out competitions and actions. The requirement for obtaining medical personnel is mandatory for all participants of popular races and marathons. In Russia, more than fifty such events took place in September 2019, and all participants were supposed to provide a medical report upon admission confirming good health. Many participants did not realize this. The organization of medical examinations for such reports is objectively difficult due to the large number of participants (sometimes several tens of thousands). Specialized medical institutions cannot cope with the volume of requests, and non-specialized ones do not have the necessary specialists and medical equipment. The issue of the organizational control over the state of health of foreigners has not been resolved, the requirements for admission to certain sports in which the state of a potential participant is not threatened by increased physical activity (for example, chess) have not been differentiated. This article presents the results of discussion on the mentioned and some other problems.