Rio de Janeiro: Nikolai Snesarev, India’s Belarusian coach for long and middle distance athletes, was detained at a police station in Maracana here for a few hours, before the officials of the Indian consulate here intervened to get him released.
The coach was taken to the police station after a lady doctor at the Games Village complained that Snesarev had misbehaved with her at a polyclinic.

“Nikolai is famous for being rude,” said an official of the Indian contingent. “He behaved badly with the doctor and paid for it.” 

The official, however, made it clear that the doctor did not press charges in writing. 

“The coach was also not accused of any sexual harassment. He was simply rude. We called up people at the Indian consulate and they took up the matter immediately. The issue was sorted out amicably,” he said.

It was learnt that Snesarev, known to be committed towards the well-being of his wards, got excited when marathon girl OP Jaisha was exhausted and nearly collapsed after finishing the race at 89th place. 

She was taken to the polyclinic at the Games Village and Snesarev was very worried as he thought he could not feel Jaisha’s pulse.

But the lady doctor at the polyclinic did not allow the coach to accompany Jaisha inside the hospital. The doctor said only one person will be allowed to go with her.

Radhakrishan Nair (deputy head coach) was allowed to accompany Jaisha and Snesarev was denied permission. He had heated arguments with the doctor and it led to an unpleasant situation. The doctor got upset with the Indian coach and lodged a verbal complaint.

The officials of the Indian contingent then contacted the Indian consulate, who spoke with top people in the ministry of external affairs in Brazil. Once the lady was pacified the issue was sorted out amicably.

This is not the first time an Indian official has been detained by police at a multi-event Games. 

Things turned worse during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow when the secretary of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Rajiv Mehta, was arrested by police for sexually harassing a local woman. Arrested along with him was a wrestling referee from India.

The Indian embassy people in Glasgow then swung into a damage control act and the case was withdrawn when the arrested duo was taken to court. 

Interestingly, the IOA secretary general returned home to claim his innocence. None in the IOA asked him to resign and the matter was never taken up in the executive committee meeting of the parent body of Indian sport.  

Though Snesarev is known as a top coach, his short temper has left him with few friends in the Indian athletics circle. 
On many occasions, he spoke against the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and had offered to resign.