Andrei Kirilenko (“AK-47”) (1981- ), star basketball player for the NBA Utah Jazz, captain of the Russian Olympic men’s basketball team. Ura, Andryusha!
Basketball player Andrei Kirilenko, the captain of the Russian men’s basketball team, will carry the Russian colours at the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games. “I am glad that my old dream has come true… to bear the Russian colours at the opening ceremony. This is an enormous honour to any sportsman”, Kirilenko said.
Andrei Kirilenko swiftly broke into the world of basketball, not only Russian, but, international as well. The ease with which he conquers one professional peak after another is impressive. At sixteen, as a player of St Petersburg’s Spartak club, he became the youngest member of the Russian super-league. A year later, in 1998, he joined the Moscow-based TsSKA (Central Sports Club of the Army) team. Another year went by, and Andrei Kirilenko became the youngest European player to be drafted by the Utah Jazz club of the American NBA. He has repeatedly been honoured as the best and most effective player of the month, joined the symbolic teams of Europe, the world, and the American Basketball Association. Furthermore, as a member of the Russian team, he won this year’s championship of Europe. Today, he aims to win a gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games.
In his view, “We are going to Beijing to fight and conquer the field. Very strong adversaries are facing us, such as the 12-man team of the United States of America, all of whom play for the NBA. There will be the champions of the previous Olympics, the Argentineans, and the present world champions, the Spaniards. It will be extremely difficult to win the gold medal. Each game will be important. We will focus on doing our best to win each game, instead of thinking of the final result”.
There will be no easy-to-win games because the field includes such tough teams as the winner of the Athens games, Argentina, the fairly strong Lithuanians, and the dark horses, Australia, Croatia, and Iran, which may turn out to be aggressive and persistent players. Kirilenko sees “America, Spain, Lithuania, and Argentina as our strongest adversaries. The Spaniards are quick and fast-moving, they like to hold their adversaries under pressure; the Americans prefer the power play; they have more individually-trained players who prefer one-on-one standoffs. The fairly aggressive Argentines are good in team effort. Each team boasts a style of its own, and no game is a repetition of a previous meet. We must win all of them, too”.
The Olympic basketball matches will begin in Beijing on 10 August. The best teams of this planet have sixteen days to prove their worth. As it always happens, the strongest team has the best chance to win. Which exactly? This question will be answered on the last day of the Olympic basketball season… on August 24.
28 July 2008
Svetlana Andreyeva
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=78353&cid=25&p=28.07.2008 (in Russian)
Andrei is really good player carry them in beijing is unlike,spain, usa are prolly da 2 favortie to win it…U know
Comment by DEE Weekz — Tuesday, 29 July 2008 @ 19:36