Word: irina
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Feeding the cows, cleaning out the pigpen and weeding the potato beds - that's the routine Irina Zhbanova grew up with in Perkhlyai, a desolate village of 740 souls in the depressed Russian republic of Mordovia, 600 km southeast of Moscow. But for the past three years, Zhbanova, 14, has been following another daily routine: for two hours early in the morning and two more after school, she practices her aces and backhands, flat serves and chip shots, footwork and block volleys. "Trying harder makes up for my starting in tennis too late," she says. "All right...
...conversations between Tokhtakhounov and a woman believed to be Anissina's mother Irina Chernieva--a former Olympic figure skater who strenuously promoted Marina's career--were startling if not downright incriminating. In one, the Uzbek promised, "We are going to make your daughter an Olympic champion. Even if she falls, we will make sure she is No. 1." In another, a Frenchman called Chevalier (presumably a cohort) is heard assuring the Uzbek, "Even if the Canadians are 10 times better, the French with their vote have given them [the Russians] first place. You understand...
Since Hughes was the first of the medal contenders to skate, she didn't know exactly what she had done. Or that her program would weather assaults from Sasha Cohen, favorite Michelle Kwan and Russia's Irina Slutskaya to stand, at the end of the evening, as worthy of Olympic gold. As she came off the ice, none of that mattered. "Going in, I didn't think I had a chance for gold, let alone a medal, given who was skating here," Hughes says. "So I didn't hold back...
...DOES IT BEST Irina Slutskaya is powerful enough to hold the outside edge entering the jump, while Sasha Cohen probably turns more quickly...
...DOES IT BEST Last year Irina Slutskaya, right, landed an unprecedented triple-triple-double. The Russian powerhouse and American medal contenders Sarah Hughes and Sasha Cohen all perform more difficult combinations than perennial favorite Michelle Kwan, who is planning a triple toe-triple toe. Hughes plans to launch two triple-triple combinations in her long program...