Judo today is tennis yesterday
The first party tournament in presidential sports took place
Yesterday, the anniversary of the 2000 presidential elections was celebrated by indispensable participants in Moscow parties. At the Atlantis sports club they attended the “Silk Kimono 2001” judo tournament. Representatives of the presidential administration and deputies of the Moscow City Duma, who received invitations to the event, did not appear on the tatami.

“I understand that the employees of the presidential administration considered it inappropriate to participate in the tournament, so as not to be caught in excessive servility,” noted one of the tournament participants, poet Victor Pelenyagre. “But why the “bears” didn’t line up here - that’s surprising!
During the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, the elite organized the Big Hat tennis tournaments. Even those who yesterday did not know which side to hold the tennis racket were in a hurry to take part in them. According to show business stars who came to the Silk Kimono 2001 tournament at the Atlantis fitness club, they honed judo techniques long before judo became a presidential sport. The poet Vishnevsky read the corresponding one-line poem:
— And I loved judo before...
It would be surprising if Moscow party-goers did not take advantage of the idea and the date, so as not to once again remind about themselves. It would be even more surprising if the president himself knew about this: the company gathered was clearly not of the presidential level, although there were also former athletes at the tournament. In addition to the above-mentioned poets, the poet Vadim Stepantsov, TV presenters from the TV-6 channel Arthur Krupenin, Elena Tutubara, Olesya Loseva, Anatoly Kuzichev, the head of the “Day by Day” program of the same TV channel Igor Shestakov, musicians of the group “Na-Na” without Mr. Alibasova, actor "Lenkom" Viktor Rakov, general director of "Rosagroprom" Vladimir Gavrilov, head of the recording company "ZeKo-Records" Viktor Markov, actor Mikhail Mamaev (from "Midshipmen"), Olympic champions in judo among veterans Viktor Zherdev and Andrey Tsupachenko , Honored Coach of the USSR Boris Mishchenko, Olympic champion in speed skating Lidiya Skoblikova, hockey player Alexander Ragulin, volleyball players Evgeny Popov and Tatyana Sarycheva, young judokas from the Shabolovka sports school.
Show business stars and TV presenters took to the tatami. The athletes sat on the jury and judged. Young judokas helped the participants - they supported them so that the stars continued to smile even at the moment when they fell to the floor. Some stars fought almost seriously without the help of young athletes - however, without forgetting to fix their hair. Everyone was won by TV presenter Olesya Loseva, whom TV-6 is now actively promoting as the face of the channel. Last month, Ms. Loseva posed for the cover of the men's magazine "Bear" in a bathtub with champagne (178 bottles were used for the shoot). Now the financial situation of the television company is not the best: there has been a sharp reduction in staff, salaries have been cut, new projects have been frozen and shares are being resold. In light of this, Olesya Loseva’s victory at such a tournament is an inexpensive but successful advertising move. And there was no need for champagne.
The tournament ended with a buffet at the nearby club "Infant-Terrible" and a karaoke show with the participation of the same people.

ALENA Kommersant-ANTONOVA

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 53 dated March 27, 2001, p. 9

Authors:

Alena Antonova

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