Russia Shares Gold with Bulgaria
// World Figure Skating Championships
Russia missed its only chance to win at least one medal in the World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo on Friday. The Ice Dancing Free Dance program’s gold went to Bulgaria's Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski, who win the championship for the second time already. Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin took the fifth position.
Bulgaria loves and appreciates Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski. Right after winning the ice dancing championship, they received a text message with congratulations from Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov.
However, a considerable part of their success belongs to Russia as well. Staviski comes from Rostov-on-Don. The duet has been trained by Russian specialists, Alexei Gorshkov, and later – Natalya Linichuk. Perhaps, this fact might give at least some consolation to Russia.
Russian skaters will not win any medals in Tokyo, not even bronze. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were Russia’s only real hope. The duet skated well, receiving much applause from the public. Yet, the judges placed the duet to the fifth position.
Meanwhile, the Bulgarian duet, as well as silver medal winners Canada's Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, confirmed yesterday that they are likely to announce soon the end of their amateur career.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 24, 2007
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