The first gold

Russian Alina Zagitova became the Olympic champion in women's figure skating. Her main rival Yevgeny Medvedeva, also a representative of Russia, took silver.

In the arbitrary program of Zagitov and Medvedev scored 156.65 points each, but 238.56 turned out to be 238.56 in the sum of two programs, and Medvedeva had 237.25. The competition was extremely emotional: Medvedeva first burst into tears at the side immediately after the end of the program, and then could not hold back the tears when they announced her assessment, and it became clear that she won silver, not gold.

The fact that in the female single program in Pyeongchang the main struggle will unfold between the 18-year-old Medvedeva and 15-year-old Zagitova was clear in advance. Before the Olympiad, Medvedeva won two world championships, two European championships, twice won the Grand Prix series and became a two-time Russian champion. Zagitova won the European Championship in January 2018, won the Grand Prix finals and became the champion of Russia. During her short career in “adult” sports, she has not lost a single fight yet. Before the Olympiad, the athlete together spoke only at one competition, the European Championship, which won Zagitova - but Medvedeva at that time had just begun to recover after a serious injury, a fracture of her legs.

Both athletes train under the leadership of Eteri Tutberidze. She worked with Julia Lipnitskaya in preparation for games in Sochi, when the athlete became a champion in team competitions. Now the coach has already begun to train new skaters.

It should be noted that Evgenia Medvedev represented Russia when the International Olympic Committee decided the issue of the future of Russian athletes. As a result, even teams were allowed to the games, although initially no one could exclude the option in which the Russians would be prohibited from participating in competitions. It is possible that Medvedev, which in a sports environment, has an impeccable reputation, which has influenced the IOC.

Also, do not forget that figure skating is now one of the most popular types of winter sports in East Asia, and the excess confirmation is almost complete stands during the training of skaters, which began at 7 in the morning local time. It is difficult to say which of the Russian skaters fans love more. By the way, they themselves, in the “real” life, are friends and spend a lot of time together.

Zagitova won the first gold medal for Russia, silver Medvedeva became the fifth. Moreover, Medvedev and Zagitov became the medalists of the Olympics in Pyeongchang for the second time - both athletes won silver in team competitions with the Russian national team. In this form, Medvedev rolled out a short program, Zagitova - arbitrary.

Now, in an unofficial team standings, the Russian team (which, formally, does not exist at this Olympics) takes 15th place. The Norwegians are leading, who won 35 medals (13 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze). Three days are left until the end of the Olympics. Medal to the Russians can also bring a male hockey team led by coach Oleg Znark. On Friday, February 23, hockey players reached the final, beating the Czech team. Interestingly, the Russian team for the first time can give in to the team of another post -Soviet country, since now Belarus has two gold medals.