Translated material
Golden Mountains
Sports officials make plans for the Olympics
Leaders of sports organizations make it clear a month before the start of the Summer Olympic Games that Russia intends to fight for second place in the team event. And they continue to determine the lineups, recognize opponents and try on sports uniforms.Fetisov wants 28 first places
The head of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports, Vyacheslav Fetisov, said: in Beijing, the Russian team is capable of winning at least 28 gold medals. And this despite the fact that, according to forecasts, the team that wins the first overall team place will take 38-40 gold medals. “We do not have a medal plan, but we assessed the previous season, and it turned out that our athletes won 28 gold medals in Olympic disciplines,” RIA Novosti quotes the head of Rossport. — I hope that our team’s results in Beijing will be no worse. There really aren't that many miracles. After the failure we had, we will try to perform successfully at these Olympic Games and lay the foundation for more successful results at subsequent Olympics.”
Representatives of combat sports also made their predictions. The head coach of the Russian women's freestyle wrestling team, Sergei Beloglazov, said that he expects three medals - one gold and two bronze. In turn, the Russian judo team intends to win one more award: one gold, one silver and two bronze.
Handball players recognize their opponents
The draw for the handball tournament took place in Beijing, during which the Russian teams recognized their opponents at the Olympics. The men's team led by Vladimir Maksimov ended up in Group B, where they were joined by Germany, Denmark, South Korea, Iceland and Egypt. Group A included the teams of Croatia, France, Poland, China, Spain and Brazil.
The Russian women's team, led by Evgeniy Trefilov, will face teams from Germany, Hungary, South Korea, Sweden and Brazil in the group stage. Norway, Romania, France, China, Angola and Kazakhstan will play in the other group.
In order to qualify for the playoffs, both the men's and women's teams need to take fourth place. And starting from the quarterfinals, the teams will advance to the finals according to the usual Olympic system with knockout games.
God help you
The organizers of the Olympic Games promise to provide free copies of the Bible to all interested athletes. Thousands of volumes with Olympic symbols have already been printed for this purpose, and they will be brought to the Olympic Village and other places where athletes live.
In addition, it is planned to erect temporary religious buildings in the village especially for believers of various faiths - Protestant, Catholic and Buddhist temples, as well as a Muslim mosque. It is also planned that an Orthodox priest will be part of the Russian delegation.
Cheburashka shed again
Meanwhile, an Olympic equipment center opened in Moscow. In the near future, 1,300 athletes and members of the Russian Olympic delegation will acquire sports and dress uniforms there. The latter was sewn specifically for the opening ceremony and consists of seven items. The sports equipment set contains 55 items. The collection is again designed in contrasting red and white colors. But if earlier it had a “floral ornament”, now it has a stylized firebird. Cheburashka, traditional for the Olympians, has also changed its color - now it is red, although four years ago in Athens it was, as expected, brown, and two years ago in Turin - gray.