What do Boy George, Stephen Fry, Peter Tatchell and yours truly have in common?

No, I am not gay - but we have all been branded "Russophobes". In my case, it follows my recent piece in insidethegames, critical of Russia's anti-gay stance over the next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi (Gay Pride-more like Gay Prejudice) and subsequently in the Independent on Sunday.

A splenetic email from Russia - with no love lost - insists that their Foreign Ministry permanently bans me from entry into the country. While there appears to be no official endorsement, the ways things are you begin to wonder who is behind it.

I am described as a "Pathological Russophobe" and listed as such in a pictorial "rogues gallery" with Georgie boy, luvvie Fry - who petitioned the Prime Minister for a British boycott of Sochi 2014, Gay Rights campaigner Tatchell and a host of international luminaries said to be similarly disposed.

Well, sorry to disappoint you tovarich Levatomov - for that apparently is the identity of the sender according to his email address - but not only am I straight but I actually love Russia, which I have enjoyed visiting several times, even though before the Moscow Olympics they did try to confiscate a sports magazine, in which I had interviewed Sebastian Coe, as "bourgeois propaganda" and bugged our rooms.

I am described as a "Pathological Russophobe" and listed as such in a pictorial "rogues gallery" online


Good sense of humour though.

I still dine out on recalling how at the end of the Games a few of my colleagues and I threw a farewell party at the now demolished Rossiya Hotel, once the world's largest, where I had been strangely upgraded to a suite after my protest at the attempted confiscation of my magazine - against International Olympic Committee (IOC) regulations.

As the Georgian champagne popped, someone suggested that as we suspected the room might be bugged we should offer a toast. Jokingly we raised our glasses and said: "To all our listeners - Cheers!"

A few seconds later, the phone rang and a Russian voice chuckled: "And cheers to you too, tovarich!"

Yet it must be said that away from the Olympic arena the atmosphere was depressingly sterile. No birds sang in Red Square, no kids clamoured for autographs outside the Lenin Stadium or Olympic village.

Our hotel corridors were patrolled by KGB men with loose suits and blank stares. Although there wasn't a gun in sight, there was no shortage of armoury, tanks rolling monotonously along the banks of the Moscow River.

The sport provided a golden lining to the cloud that hovered over Moscow.

How different it will be if the Games were to be held in this beautiful, energising city now.

The Moscow 1980 Olympics camouflaged a very different lifestyle


Some of the Russian student friends I made hastened to point out that the Olympics - like those later in Beijing - camouflaged a very different lifestyle, one of grim austerity. They murmured about an escalating "war of ideology" with their nation.

One wonders now whether those Olympics sparked the thought processes among the younger generation that led first to glasnosts and the eventual throwing back of the Iron Curtain.

Even now, a wooden replica of Mischa the Bear, the mascot whose teardrop provided such a moving farewell to the Games, is among the most treasured of my Olympic souvenirs

Since my first visit there with Sir Alf Ramsey's England football team in the early seventies, I have always found Russian sportsfolk helpful and hospitable.

That's one reason why I oppose any proposed boycott over Sochi as fiercely as I did over those Summer Games 33 years ago, which in the circumstances, with half the world staying away because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - what an ironic twist to that tale now - I thought were brilliantly orchestrated.

As no doubt, Sochi will be too.

Mind you, after that missive from the rancorous Russian I now might think twice before accepting any invitation to a cup of Earl Grey at Mayfair's Millennium Hotel with one of their diplomats. Especially if his name ends in "ov".

However, it does seem that the Russians are backtracking somewhat from the original vehemence of that anti-gay legislation and that there will be no discrimination against gay competitors, of whom Russia have always had a fair quota of their own in sport, not least in skating.

But any suggestion of anything "abnormal" in public view remains a no-no.

Konstantin Altunin is reportedly seeking asylum in France


Take this instance. Recently four satirical paintings by artist Konstantin Altunin were removed from the Saint Petersburg Museum of Power during a raid by Russian police. The Associated Press reported that the artist behind the controversial works fled Russia in the aftermath of the raid and is reportedly seeking asylum in France.

His paintings apparently were confiscated due to their mocking depiction of Russian political figures. One featured President Vladimir Putin, who has as summer residence in Sochi, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in women's lingerie. Oh dear!

The museum has not reopened since the incident.

On the subject of Sochi. Gay Blades may be the least of Russia's Winter Games worries in view of the latest sports scandal, in which a prospective American Olympian short track speed skater has been banned for two years by the International Skating Union (ISU) for sabotaging the skates of a rival Canadian during an international event.

Simon Cho, a bronze medallist in Vancouver, claimed he had been pressured by a coach, Jae Su Chun, who was also suspended, into tampering with the skates of Canada's Olivier Jean.

Simon Cho has been banned for sabotaging rival's skate


Those who follow the sport say it is not the first time that attempts have been made to blunt or bend the blades of rivals in both speed and figure skating.

And in the past it has even been known for itching powder to be put into the costumes of other competitors in the dressing room. Might this have led to St Vitus Dancing on Ice, we wonder?

No doubt cheating in all its forms plus any lingering concerns over Sochi will be on the agenda of the IOC Session in Buenos Aires, which begins this week.

But the priority will be the triple-pronged election that will see a new President installed, a host city named for the 2020 Games and a decision on which of three sports - wrestling, squash or baseball-softball - is on the road to those Olympics in seven years' time.

As a strictly personal footnote I hope we get a wind of change - or at least a stiff, refreshing breeze, with Singapore's progressive Ng Ser Miang ending Europe's domination of the Presidential office, continent-straddling Istanbul finally rewarded for their perseverance and squash receiving a deserved Olympic berth after being squeezed out for too long.

But I am not holding my breath.

The bookies say the smart money is on the favourites, Thomas Bach, Tokyo and wrestling - and they're not often wrong.

Alan Hubbard is a sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.