Russians Strong in Reserves
European Track-and-Field Athletics Championships start in Gothenburg today, August 7, 2006. Even though the team of Russia is not in the best strength, it is expected to win with obvious advantage in Sweden.
The 800m Olympic champ Yury Borzakovsky skips these European championships to recover to the world competitions. Long-jumper Tatyana Kotova won’t participate either. Javelin thrower Sergey Makarov suffers from injury, same as hammer thrower Ilya Konovalov. Athens Olympic discus champ Nataliya Sadova was disqualified for doping. A string of famous female athletes took maternity leaves.
This list of losses would be fatal for any other team of Europe, but for Russia. Before the championships, chief coach Valery Kulichenko said the minimum task in Gothenburg is winning from six to eight medals of each value. For comparison, Sweden that hosts the championships is resolved to take five gold medals and is tipped as the silver favorite in the team’s setoff.
Russia's six to eight gold medals could be secured even in the women’s part of the championships, thanks to pole vaulter Elena Isinbayeva, long-jumpers Lyudmila Kolchanova and Oksana Udmurtova, hammer throwers Tatyana Lysenko and Gulfiya Khanafeyeva, 800m leaders Svetlana Klyuka, Svetlana Cherkasova, Olga Kotlyarova and 1500m runners Tatyana Tomashova, Yulia Chizhenko, Elena Soboleva and triple jump leader Tatyana Lebedeva.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 07, 2006
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