The Russian National Team is in Vancouver to WIN!
The main sporting event of the year, the 21st Winter Olympics, starts in Vancouver, Canada on 12 February and runs until the end of the month. Athletes from over 80 countries will take part in it, competing in 15 sports. Compared with the 2006 Games in Torino, the number of medals in play at the winter Olympics has increased by two sets, up to 86. Male and female freestyle ski-cross are now included in the programme of the competition.
The winner of the unofficial team championship at the 2006 Games was the German team, whose athletes won 29 medals. In second and third places were the Americans and Austrians. Russian Olympians finished fourth with 22 medals. The Canadians beat the Russians in the number of medals by two, but were only in the fifth spot as they had one fewer gold medal. The same five teams are the favourites at the current Games.
The Olympic torch relay is now complete in Vancouver. The torch arrived at the end of its route at the “Pavilion of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada” in downtown Vancouver. In a few hours, the fire will be brought into the BC Place arena, where the torch will light the fiery bowl of the 21st Winter Olympics. It was the longest in Olympic history, the 106-day torch relay travelled to all 10 provinces and three territories of Canada, it visited 1,037 Canadian localities, covering a total distance of 45,000 kilometres (27,962 miles). The torch was transported in aeroplanes, dog sleds, canoes, bicycles, kayaks, wheelchairs, skateboards, in the cab of a timber lorry, on a schooner, and, occasionally, in autos. Some 12,000 people participated in the torch relay. Each person was allotted a stage length of 300 metres (985 feet). The organisers studied the case so thoroughly that they even calculated the average time required to finish the distance, which was 3 minutes, and the average speed over that distance was 7 kilometres (4.4 miles) per hour. There is suspense until the last moment as to who exactly will take the Olympic torch into the BC Place arena.
As always, the details of the opening ceremony are a secret, although we know that, for the first time, the Olympic flame will be lit indoors. Aleksei Morozov, the captain of the hockey team, will be the Russian banner-bearer during the opening ceremony of the Games. Many think that he was a natural choice for this honour. In two consecutive years, Morozov, the captain of the Kazan Ak-Bars team, led the national team to the “gold” in the World Cup. “I understand how this is a privilege, not everyone gets such an honour. So I’m a little worried, because it will be the first time that I’ll be at this ceremony”, he said. Morozov isn’t concerned about the superstition of some athletes who believe that if you’re the banner-bearer at the opening, you’ll choke in the clutch. “I’m not afraid, but I better ask Vladislav Tretiak, who was the banner-bearer twice for the USSR national team, whether he was lucky or not”, he said. Well, we can report that the legendary Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak carried the Soviet flag at the opening of the Games in 1976 and 1984, and, both times, the hockey team won the Olympic gold. Morozov, who on the day of the first game of the Russian team at the Olympic Games (against the Latvian team), on 16 February, will celebrate his 33rd birthday, emphasised that his part in the opening ceremony won’t hinder his preparations for the opening match, according to IRAR-TASS.
Forward, Russia! A great Russian sports vid…
Our Russian national team in Canada should win about 30 medals of all denominations, 7 to 11 of which should be gold. Expectations were, above all, on the biathletes, who can win three gold medals, in the sprint, the pursuit, and the relay. Our skiers are confident of victory in the men’s sprint, relay, and mass start. The skaters also expect to garner two golds for Yevgeni Plyushenko in men’s figure skating and one of the two dance duets. Of course, everyone expects our boys in the hockey team to steamroller the competition. According to experts, the composition of our team in this sport is perhaps the most powerful in the history of the Winter Olympics. Therefore, although the principle of sport says, “The main thing is not to win, but to compete [with honour]”, the fans expect our Russian athletes to win stunning victories at the Olympics, as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pointed up. He said, “We all look forward to your competitions and hope you do well. We’re aware of what sort of psychological pressures our Olympic team has to face. But I’m sure you can handle all the emotional difficulties, and overcome it all to make even greater achievements”.
At the last Olympics in Torino, Russia did not have many problems with doping in its team. An exception was the scandal over biathlete Olga Pyleva, who lost her silver medal. Over the past month, Western publications published articles claiming that the majority of Russian athletes take banned substances. {After the scandals in USA over steroids use by American athletes, I find this a bit overblown: editor} Certainly, the International Olympic Committee is concerned about cases of doping scandals involving the Russian team. However, and this is confirmed by President Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian leadership has the political will to end the practise of using illicit drugs by Russian athletes. Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said, “Therefore, there is no reason to worry. All our guys are in good condition, they’re in good spirits, and they’re happy to be here. Yes, it’s a celebration of sport, but it’s a very tough competition… If you take our whole team, almost half of our team has already passed the anti-doping tests. Now, the girls of from our curling team told us that they drove to the gym and forced them to take more tests. That’s a tough situation”.
We must view the Winter Olympics in Vancouver through the prism of the preparations for the Sochi Olympics in 2014. On home ground, Russian athletes will have to win the maximum number of medals. There are quite a few newbies on the current team. However, four more years of competition shall harden them into experienced athletes. Moreover, and most importantly, in Vancouver they will be able to earn recognition from the fans. Former Olympians say that there is an almost a 50-50 chance of future sporting success for the fresh faces.
Episcopal blessing on board the sail training ship Kruzenshtern
The famous Russian sailing ship Kruzenshtern, which over its 83-year life visited many countries and different parts of the world, is now moored in Vancouver. The famous barque, named after a legendary Russian navigator, has become a kind of branch of the “Russian House” at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Vancouver residents and guests of the Olympic Games will have a unique opportunity to visit one of the oldest and largest sailing ships in the world. They will be able to visit the chart house with the navigation bridge, classrooms, libraries, and the ship’s museum, which recounts the glorious history of the Kruzenshtern and its victories in international regattas since 1974. Vladimir Volkogon, the rector of Baltic State Fishing Fleet Academy, which operates the ship, said, “Our barque is the pride of the school sailing fleet of Russia. This ship was built in 1926 in Germany. It’s 114 metres (374 feet) in length, the masts are about 50 metres (164 feet) in height, and the sail area is more than 3,500 square meters (37,674 square feet). After the Great Patriotic War, it was transferred to the Soviet Union, and it was used for many decades as a training ship for the education and training of merchant fleet officers, who often got their first sea experience aboard her”. To support the Russian team at the 2010 Winter Olympics, some 120 cadets came from St Petersburg, Kaliningrad, and Astrakhan, along with 60 members of the permanent crew. The “Kruzenshternovtsy” will support our Russian athletes as they compete in various sports. The ship shall invite Olympians from other countries to come to the next Winter Games in Russia, as the Kruzenshtern brought to Vancouver the flag of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
12 and 13 February 2010
Armen Gasparyan
Maria Domnitskaya
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/02/12/4385665.html
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/02/12/4391923.html
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/02/12/4394955.html
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/02/12/4409775.html
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/02/13/4413571.html
