| Yesterday our athletes won four gold medals at the Games in Sydney “And I’m going to Russia, I want to go home...” Not only our athletes participating in the Sydney Olympics, but also journalists would probably subscribe to this phrase. The last Millennium Games until yesterday brought mostly disappointments to our team. Even the winner in trampoline Irina Karavaeva shares this opinion: “I am happy that I became the first Olympic champion in our sport, but psychologically the atmosphere in the team, to put it mildly, is not very good...”
And yet yesterday, it seems, there was a turning point in the situation around the Russian team. Our athletes won four gold medals in Sydney. First, the gymnasts returned the “favor” to the fans. Elena Zamolodchikova took first on the vault, and Svetlana Khorkina took first on the uneven bars. Then it was the turn of the fencers: the saber fencers also confirmed the pre-Olympic forecast by winning the team tournament. And finally, in athletics we also have our first Olympian. The winner in the men's high jump was... No, not world champion Vyacheslav Voronin, but his teammate Sergei Klyugin. Voronin was clearly “burnt out” and remained tenth.
But the first half of the Olympics is over, and what is happening at the Games now can be described in one word - “fatigue.” In the main press center of the Olympics, a familiar picture has become: journalists sleeping at their computers. Indeed, the working day of many ends at three in the morning, an hour is spent on the road, and at seven or eight in the morning they already have to run to new competitions. A pretty woman at the cash register in the canteen where journalists are fed, seeing our names on the accreditation cards, asks in Russian: “Are you tired?” And sighing, he continues: “We too. You have to work 18 hours. On the one hand, this is good, because many of us do not have a permanent job, but here we received a uniform: raincoats, trousers, a hat and free food (the cost of a set of uniforms for Games staff is 1,500 Australian dollars. - O.E. ). On the other hand, we didn’t even imagine how difficult it would be. And even though we work in shifts, we still get terribly tired.” By the way, it is estimated that during the first seven days of the Olympics, journalists drank 3,527 liters of coffee and ate 985 kg of cookies. In this case, we are talking only about the “grazing” food that is available in the press centers. There is no need to talk about hot dishes or salads.
The past weekend brought Russians a little disappointment. In the overall standings, we got closer to the leaders, but did not reach third place: we are just a little behind the French team. Nevertheless, after the Americans, who, apparently, will not give up leadership to anyone, are the Chinese, who have won much more medals than ours. True, competitions in “Chinese” table tennis and badminton are almost completed and now our sports will take place at the Games: wrestling, boxing, synchronized swimming. Let's wait a little longer...
Meanwhile, the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Vitaly Smirnov, announced that he was moving to live in the Olympic Village. “I want to be closer to the athletes,” he explained. -- Communicate in an informal setting with everyone. Just the other day I was calming down Khorkina. Sveta was very upset after her failure in the all-around. She said that she was going to sue the International Federation because the vault apparatus was set 5 centimeters below the norm. Everyone saw how it could end: the gymnast from England was seriously injured after the first jump and was taken to the hospital. But I dissuaded our girls from thinking about any legal problems. They still have to perform. Meanwhile, we at the ROC filed a protest, and let’s hope that the results of the proceedings will support the girls morally. In the village I live in the same room as the athletes. The audibility is amazing. Sorry for the detail, but if someone goes to the toilet, the sound is stereophonic. In the evening, the guys have nowhere to go, so it’s only natural that stress accumulates. In this regard, a big problem in our team is the lack of psychologists. Coaches don’t always cope with this role, so the priest Father Vladimir takes on it.”
Speaking of entertainment. The organizers of the Games allocated two televisions for our entire team, although all the athletes expressed a desire to follow the progress of the Games. Therefore, ROC rented 30 more receivers, which cost 15 thousand Australian dollars. But now in every room of the Russians there is a monitor broadcasting all competitions.
Perhaps only ordinary spectators tirelessly rejoice at the Olympics. Every day from early morning until late at night, crowds of people occupy the Olympic Park. “These are mostly tourists,” Bernard, the owner of the house where we live, enlightens us. “Many Sydneysiders chose to leave the city during the Games, especially since students and schoolchildren are now on vacation, and prices have risen greatly.”
Despite the high cost, the queues for tickets are not getting shorter. And swimming, tennis and athletics cause a real stir. They start asking for extra tickets already at the metro exit, half a kilometer before the stadium. TV reports from the Games, which are conducted almost around the clock, do not help in this case. Like the Americans at the Atlanta Games, the Australians are trying to show only their own. Olga ERMOLINA, Sydney |
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