Thu, Jul 10, 2008 page18

• FEATURE: Russia jumps for joy over Beijing medals outlook

  • AFP
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  Confidence is running high among Russia’s Olympic athletes that they can win more medals this summer in Beijing than they did four years ago in Athens, the country’s top Olympic official has said.

  “It would be very hard to surpass in the medals table the very strong teams of the United States and China,” Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) chief Leonid Tyagachev said in a recent interview.

  “However, our athletes have worked hard to prepare for the Games in the best possible way and, I believe, will perform very well at Beijing and improve the result they achieved four years ago at Athens,” he said.

  

  Dancers perform during the first official presentation of the sports wear collection created for the Russian team at the Beijing Olympics during the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 8.

  PHOTO: AP

  In Athens, Russia finished third in the medals table after the US and China, coming home with 92 medals (27 gold, 27 silver and 38 bronze).

  The ROC boss said he was looking forward to Russian successes notably in various ball games, where Russian teams and individual athletes have already racked up impressive achievements this season.

  Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams won the European championships this year and are among red hot favorites for the Olympic tournaments.

  In volleyball, both country’s squads are also strongly favored and are capable of going all the way to the top spots of the Games’ podiums, Olympic officials and sports commentators said.

  The Russian women’s handball team, who are the reigning world champions, are expected to win their tournament, while the men’s squad coaching staff were also targeting Olympic medals.

  In women’s tennis, Russia is confident of success as the country’s players have dominated the top echelons of the WTA rankings in recent years.

  Russian stars Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina will all be gold medal prospects in China and no one doubts they are capable of winning the event.

  “The Olympics are the most important event for me this year,” said Dementieva, who earned an Olympic silver medal at Sydney eight years ago.

  “It will be very hard to win there as everybody wants to win the Olympics. But I will do everything I can to perform at my best at the Games.”

  The ROC chiefs were also hoping for a medals boost from the athletics squad and in particular the women’s team.

  Yekaterina Volkova in 3000m steeplechase, Olga Kaniskina in 20km walk, Yelena Isinbayeva in the pole vault and Tatiana Lebedeva in long jump had already assured themselves of places in the Olympic selection after winning golds at last year’s world championships in Osaka, Japan.

  Meanwhie, in the men’s section of the squad only Yury Borzakovsky, who won 800m Olympic gold in Athens, could be considered to be among the favourites.

  There were outside hopes, however, for Yaroslav Rybakov in the high jump, Sergei Makarov in the javelin and pole vaulter Yevgeny Lukianenko, who cleared 6.01m earlier this month.

  Russia also hopes to dominate the Olympic tournament in wrestling as all of the country’s teams (freestyle, greco-roman and women’s) are currently in top form.

  For instance, the national greco-roman wrestlers swept all the golds at the Grand Prix at Madrid, Spain, earlier this month winning in all of the seven weight categories.

  The country’s boxers, who dominate European amateur boxing, are also expected to add weight to Russia’s medal table.
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