Hockey

Alexander Ovechkin has told a Russian news publication that Russian NHL players missing the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics would be "a tragedy".

In an interview with Sovietsky Sport that is scheduled to run next week, the Washington Capitals star says he would be devastated if he couldn't participate in the Games in his home country.

"It's the matter of [my] entire life," Ovechkin says in the Q-and-A style article, parts of which have already surfaced in an English translation on the internet. "How can I be forbidden from playing for my country, especially at home? "

The NHL has committed to allowing its players to participate in Olympic hockey through the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, which involves the league taking a two week break from its season. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has publicly said that the league will re-evaluate after the 2010 Games, since taking a two-week break is difficult logistically and causes some of its teams to return from the break with a competitive disadvantage.

Bettman has said it is much easier for the NHL when the Olympics are in North America because of travel and the wear and tear on players.

"I don't even want to hear the talks of someone not letting me go to the Olympics," says Ovechkin. "If I don't make it to Sochi it will be a tragedy for me."

Ovechkin talks about the prestige of the Sochi Olympics for Russian players and questions the fairness of letting NHLers play in the Vancouver Olympics but changing the rules before 2014.

"It seems that we are raising the ratings of a tournament that will take place in Canada," says Ovechkin. "And they don't want to let us go to Russia?"

Bettman has said the NHL will have discussions with the NHL Players Association after the Vancouver Games and make a decision about 2014.

"If we are prevented, I won't understand it," says Ovechkin. "This shouldn't happen. It is not nice. It is wrong."