Gleb Galperin, from Russia, performs during the Men's 10 Meter Platform preliminary dive at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, Aug. 6, 2006.
Photo: AP
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Russians Dive to Victory
The European Aquatic Championships in Budapest ended by another gold medal for Russia. Gleb Galperin won the men’s platform diving Sunday. It was the fourth gold medal of our divers and the 16th gold of the team.
Chief coach of Russia’s divers Alexey Yevangulov has every right to think he made good work. Four gold medals in Europe are not bad at all, the more so that Galperin had to perform in less than a month after he broke the instep bone. Despite the injury, his duet with Dmitry Dobroskok finished first in the men's 10m synchronized platform diving competition Saturday and Galperin won individual platform diving even on the next day.
Yevangulov said the European championships made him sure our divers can compete with the team of China in Beijing Olympic Games. The Chinese dominate in this kind of sport.
Chief coach of our swimmers, Alexander Klokov, may say the same but for the United States and Australia. The victories of Arkady Vyatchanin in backstroke, Elena Bogomazova and Roman Sludnov in breaststroke, medals of Nikolay Skvortsov in butterfly stoke and the victory of the men’s medley relay team have shown we are rallying from the crisis, when no gold was won at the last two Olympic games.
But the final conclusion could be made only in two years, once the world championships and Olympic Games are held. Europe leads neither in diving nor in swimming now.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 08, 2006
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