Step back, two steps forward

1. Turin

Is it possible to unequivocally evaluate the Olympics if, on the one hand, the Russian team has not entered the top three of the team event, and on the other, has made a breakthrough in many sports? One thing is certain: the Turin Olympics has become an event. The XX Winter Games had the largest representation - 82 powers - and the medal package increased from 78 to 84 sets. For the first time in history, prizes were won in the team race for speed skaters, the mass start for biathletes and the singles slalom for snowboarders. 22 medals were brought from Turin to Moscow: eight gold, six silver and eight bronze. Better than the Russian national team were the teams of Germany, the USA and Austria.

Compared to the Salt Lake City Olympics, where 13 medals were won (five gold, four silver and four bronze), a huge step forward was made.

Traditionally, figure skating looked very strong, where our masters won three of the four gold medals. At the same height, our girls were in biathlon. Two-time champion of the Games was Svetlana Ishmuratova, and Albina Akhatova, who has gold and two bronzes, won a record number of awards in the Russian team.

Strong traditions of the ski school allowed us to hope for medals of the men's and women's national teams, but so that in such quantity - seven awards, two of which are gold ... This is almost a third of the total number of our awards! The unpredictable victory in the 30-kilometer duathlon of Evgeny Dementyev will excite the fans for a long time, and the silver won by him in the 50-kilometer marathon will mark the birth of a new strong rider.

A surprise was the performance of Russian skaters. Before the Games, the calculations said that they were unlikely to take one planned award. But here our athletes made significant amendments, surprising them with gold and silver, obtained by sprinters Svetlana Zhurova and Dmitry Dorofeev, and the third place in the women's team race.

The successes of Russian bobsledders and sleigh rider Albert Demchenko became historical. They first climbed the Olympic podium. Sledochnik Albert Demchenko lost only to the main favorite, the Italian Armin Zoggeler, and the bobsledding four Alexander Zubkov - to German opponents from the crew of Andre Lange. And the young freestyler Vladimir Lebedev, who landed after his acrobatic jump with the third sum, was absolutely amazed.

The next Winter Olympics in Vancouver will present new requirements for us. But with the attention of the state, with the funds that are now invested in sports, we certainly should look much stronger.

2. Davis Cup: Truly Team Success

Tennis events of the year for the “Newspaper” commented on the captain of the Davis Cup and Federation Cup, President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev.

“The victory in the Davis Cup is a great event on a national scale, but I would like to say first of all about the team as such, about its formation in 2006. Four matches, four weekends - it would seem that against the background of the whole season they are not too noticeable, but it was in team games, I think Dmitry Tursunov managed to open up. It was his year in the national team, his victories in matches with the French and Americans are hard to overestimate. And it is no coincidence that Tursunov made progress in individual results, and rose in the rating list. I think in the future he may become a player of the first five. And in many ways - thanks to the training and training camp next to Safin, Davydenko, Yuzhny.

The fact that the team has two leaders is also a big plus. And for the team, and for themselves. Safin began to return to his level precisely after the April match with France, and in all subsequent meetings he proved his readiness to play at the highest level. In general, Marat can now be considered an ideal figure for the Davis Cup: unfortunately, it’s difficult for him to go through a big tournament without recessions, to win six or seven matches in a row, but when you need to get together and give one or two games, Safin can solve any problem.

Davydenko - on the contrary, a player who needs long rhythmic distances. It was very difficult for him to recover from the April match in France; for him, playing for the Russian national team was at that moment, as we say, a knockout factor. Nevertheless, he played in the finals with Argentina, brought the first point, he wanted to play, for him it was the most important emotional stimulus. I want to remind you that the most important point in the semifinals with the US team was brought by Misha Yuzhny, beating James Blake, who was in great shape in the fall. In general, it was a truly team victory, and this is why it is especially valuable. In such a purely individual sport, which is tennis, to have a real team is a great happiness for a coach. ”

3. Volleyball: Italian vs Italians

Admiring the victories of the Russian women's national team at the World Volleyball Championship in Japan, it was most interesting to watch the reaction of Nikolai Karpol. The permanent coach of the national team for 30 years, who drove the national teams of the USSR, CIS and Russia to six Olympics, two of which he won, said that he intends to leave after the Games in Athens, whatever their outcome. The fact that the girls lost in the finals only confirmed the inevitability of parting.

Nikolai Patrushev, who came to the post of head of the national federation, facilitated the invitation of a foreign specialist. In March 2005, the team was introduced to the friendly and calm Giovanni Caprara, the clear opposite of Karpol. Prior to that, he led the strong club “Bergamo”, and if he was familiar to the team, it was more like the husband of the binder Irina Kirillova. For a year and eight months, Caprara transformed the team beyond recognition: “At the first training, they were frightened, squeezed. Even they were embarrassed to sing the hymn - they were silent. I told them: don’t be afraid - be what you are!” If anything remains of their former ones, then these are sporting ambitions.

The fact that Kaprara may be better than Karpol, it became clear after the European Championship, where the Russian team received the “bronze”. And a month and a half later, the Italian won the World Cup. He did it beautifully and masterly: 10 victories in 11 meetings! And curtsy towards Karpol - a victory over the Olympic champions from China. And a step on the throat of national interests: the resistance of the active strongest volleyball players of the planet - the Italian team is broken. The wards of Kaprara suffered the only defeat just in a duel with Brazil ... The price of the experience of this defeat became clear after the revenge in the final, which the young Russian team literally pulled on its core!

Karpol, as it were, does not seem to see the triumph of his former wards, does not call, does not congratulate, and they also do not show their emotions when they meet. Only dry greetings with a former mentor at the games of the championship of Russia. For the first time, by the way, his “Uralochka”, weakened by the departure of leading players, remained outside the prize troika.

4. Football: Liberation by Hiddink

The outgoing year has become fully historical and epoch-making for the Russian football team. No, she did not win the World Cup, she was not even among its participants. The historical epoch of 2006 was given by another event - for the first time a foreign coach was invited to the post of coach of the national team. The results so far cannot be called unambiguously successful, but the victories in the last two matches - over Estonia and Macedonia - have added optimism to football fans. Russian fans, it seems, are now ready to believe in Hiddink, as the players of the national team believed in him a little earlier. The captain of the Russian national team Yevgeny Aldonin shared his opinion about the new coach with the Gazeta correspondent.

“Communication and work with Guus Hiddink is a great pleasure. It's simply interesting to be with him! This applies to both training and regular communication. Moreover, Hiddink is a great joker. Husband is usually the one to pin one of the players or his assistants Somehow, Igor Korneev came to training in brand new red boots, which I probably regretted soon - how many jokes, including quite sharp ones, Igor heard that day from the Dutchman! They say that the boots are not only fashionable and beautiful , and even special - no matter how you hit, in It’s exactly right on target, and so is the whole workout.

This approach to work - relaxed and at the same time calm - is to my liking, because even one successful joke relieves the situation so much that the hardships of intense training fade into the background. Moreover, if Hiddink is dissatisfied with something, he can easily shout at the players. All sorts of variations of the most famous English obscene word - not so rare in the vocabulary of Gus. And you know, this also helps, allows players to release negative energy. In general, I am sincerely sure that Hiddink’s invitation is an important step that can lead the team to serious progress. "

5. Football: Ivanov - a warrior in the field

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was remembered for the incredible atmosphere in the stadiums and the large number of scandals, amazing intrigue and defensive, boring to the teeth grinding game of many teams. Modern football is controversial, and the World Cup brilliantly demonstrated this. The victory of the Italian national team is still lively discussed at the football forums - not everyone like this champion.

The Russian team did not pay attention to such a "miserable and insignificant" event, and our country was represented at the mundial by referee Valentin Ivanov. It was he who had the honor to work at the most provocative match of the tournament - the “friendly” meeting of the teams of Holland and Portugal. On this mundial, many teams tried to disguise their own game impotence with brutal brutality or brutal brutality, and this match gave a hundred points ahead to any possible opponent. Ivanov, on the other hand, found himself in the position of a writer whose talent is only evaluated after leaving. Both the team coaches and the FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, brought down a hail of damnations on Ivanov’s head, and he didn’t receive an appointment for decisive matches. Now, when the passions subsided and the heads returned to at least relative balance, it became clear that it was almost impossible to judge that match better. Ivanov minimized the damage - that's all, he was not able to achieve more.

And in the final of the World Cup difficult decisions had to be made by another judge - the Argentinean Horacio Elisondo. The removal of Zidane will remain in history forever - as a symbol of the 2006 World Cup.

6. Shah, checkmate and toilet: Kramnik is the world champion among people

In the past year, the chess world finally got the real king. After many years of squabble and tear, the FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov and the “classic” champion Vladimir Kramnik held the same unifying match. Kramnik won in a tense struggle - the 13th chess king Garry Kasparov had a legal successor. True, then this same successor lost the match to Deep Fritz computer, but the car has not yet encroached on the title of champion among people.

It was foolish to hope that many years of ugliness would not leave an imprint on the main match of the year - the facsimile turned out right. The level of tension turned out to be much higher than the level of the game - outstanding practitioners made mistakes that were excusable for Grandmaster O. Bender, who played chess for the second time in his life, but completely unthinkable for the Crown Prince. And the level of controversy completely exceeded all expectations. The Battle of Elista will go down in the history of chess as a match, the participants of which calculated not only the chess options, but also the number of enemy visits to the toilet room. The champion was determined in the blitz - in classical chess, the forces of the rivals were equal. Having defeated Topalov, Kramnik immediately got involved in a battle with the car and lost this battle. In one of the games, the world champion among people received a checkmate - a unique event for matches of this caliber. Now Vladimir Kramnik can calmly prepare for a new match with Fritz, and he will somehow find a human opponent.

7. Basketball Euroleague: Successful defeat experience

In the past year, in the past sports season, CSKA basketball players won the ULEB Euroleague - the basketball Champions League. This has not happened since the time of the great Alexander Gomelsky. For three consecutive years, CSKA stopped at one step, in one, as they say, throw from the coveted prize - entered the Final Four, but lost there. Many believed that the army team would lose for the fourth time, especially since the arrival of a new head coach inevitably led to the restructuring of the team.

The place of the resigned Serbian specialist Dusan Ivkovic was taken by the Italian Ettore Messina. A rare coach in his first season achieved great success. Messina himself did not immediately believe in victory, which he honestly admitted after the Prague final. But CSKA won. Many associate the army successes of recent years, primarily at the international level, with the name of CSKA President Sergei Kushchenko. He himself, without detracting from his own merits, nevertheless believes that victory is a common thing.

Sergey Kushchenko: “ If everything depended only on management, if I could win the Euroleague alone, I would do it the first, second, third time, and then fourth. But in team sport, one person cannot something to win. However, I do not consider the previous three Final Fours to be unsuccessful. It was just the experience that allowed us to win for the fourth year. The team that won all the titles last season is a team of real personalities who together with me, first in Perm, and then in Moscow gained experience - managerial th, "igrotskoe" if you want a sports-political. CSKA forced himself to respect in Europe, not only on the basketball court. "

8. Tennis: Grand Slam Finals

According to the president of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev, the year 2006 was “male year” for Russian tennis, and in the next one we can expect the progress of the fair half. At the same time, our girls played in the past year in the two finals of the Grand Slam tournaments, one of which - in New York - ended with the victory of Maria Sharapova. Shamil Tarpishchev comments to “Newspaper” the success of tennis players.

“Sharapova’s victory at the US Open is evidence of her final formation. In 2004, she won Wimbledon thanks to the talent and problems of most of the favorites, this time success was absolutely logical. It was very difficult for Sharapova to play the last two years: her body continued to form, speaking in a professional language, her muscles did not have time to adapt to changes in the skeleton, which caused Masha to be injured. Now, her rivals are dealing with the player in the prime of life, and in the near future Sharapova may become number one in the world.

Svetlana Kuznetsova has no less prospects. The problems of its formation lie, rather, in the field of psychology. She has a difficult relationship with her parents, a difficult situation with coaches, but in 2006 Kuznetsova finally began to play at her level. Like Sharapova, she had a recession after a brilliant, but perhaps a bit premature success in 2004, when Sveta won the US Open. But she managed to cope with problems and was the first among the Russians to reach the finals of the big tournament. It’s very difficult to beat Justin Henin at Roland Garros, and yet Kuznetsova had a great match then, making us all hope for her future successes.

We will not forget about the successes of Nadezhda Petrova, who won four major tournaments in the spring and generally held her best season, despite the injury. In general, our girls rather confirmed their potential than achieved adequate success. So we have the right to count on new victories in 2007. "

9. Shooting: Accuracy - Courtesy of Champions

At the World Championships in Zagreb, where the Russian team passed the test in all respects, speaking in two squads - adults and youth - in two types of shooting: bullet and stand, we managed not only to observe the trend of recent years, but also to surpass the Chinese team in the number of awards. Our team chalked up 60 awards, 23 of which are gold. This is six more awards than the Chinese.

And just three weeks after the Zagreb championship, the Russian team again confirmed its high level. Despite physical and psychological fatigue, Russians excelled at the European Championships in Slovenia. Competitions were held only in trap shooting, where our athletes won 14 medals. The most favorable impression in Maribor was made by young people: young shooters won five medals in the individual competition and two in the team.

And at the final tournament of the season - the World Cup finals in Spanish Granada - the shooters surprised themselves. Of the 15 Olympic exercises, they won nine! They climbed twice to the second step of the pedestal and four times to the third.

Number one team this year, the newspaper "Unity" unanimously recognized the Lipetsk shooter Vitaly Fokeev. He began this year with a victory at the World Cup stage, which brought him an Olympic license, then won the World Cup and, finally, the World Cup final, which gave him the right to take first place in the world ranking.

10. "Escape" Evgeni Malkin: A new hockey conversation

In the past year, Russian hockey lost the World Cup in Riga, but took first places at all stages of Euro hockey. Alexander Steblin, who headed the hockey kingdom for many years, resigned, and the famous Vladislav Tretyak came in his place. The main thing is that the new president of the FHR has so far managed to do: they talked about hockey again, about Russian hockey. Not so, of course, as in the old days, but still ...

The Russian stage of Euro Hockey has shown that interest in domestic hockey is reviving among our audience. What the President of the FHR has not been able to do, among other things, is to establish relations with the NHL. Rumor has it that the Tretyak became a hostage to his own authority. He counted on him very much, but the overseas league is a purely commercial enterprise, regalia are of secondary importance. There is still no treaty having legal force on both sides of the ocean, and therefore Russian hockey players happen to flee to America.

How Evgeni Malkin, the best young player of the 21st century, escaped last summer. The story with Malkin lasted a long time, the Russian side threatened the courts of all instances, but due to the absence of the aforementioned contract, Malkin still began the season in Pittsburgh, and not in Magnitogorsk. And a great start! His statistical indicators are already at the level of NHL old-timers. The conclusion suggests itself. Malkin paid off one hundred percent. Nevertheless, I would like everything to happen legally and without unhealthy hype. Although Malkin did not do anything wrong. Quite the contrary: his game once again made the whole world talk about the inexhaustible talents of Russian hockey.