Word: russian
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...competition is likely to come from the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland. Team USA and Switzerland are both regarded as dark horses, while Russia--a longtime nemesis that hadn't been expected to be a threat--has been playing in Torino as if it has nothing to lose. The Russian team is young, assembled by former NHL star Pavel Bure and led by rising players, including NHL rookie-of-the-year candidate Alexander Ovechkin. That can't be reassuring for the Canadians. In Olympic history, Canada's record against Russia (and the former Soviet Union...
...silver (Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao), bronze (Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo) and fourth place (Pang Qing and Tong Jian)?all in a sport China first entered little more than two decades ago. And China's emerging dominance of pairs skating is about to receive a powerful boost: the Russian pair will not be skating in the world championships in Calgary next month because they plan to go pro, leaving the door open for a Chinese sweep in Canada...
...Tarasova and Tamara Moskvina both settling in America. Russia went from 23 medals at the 1994 Lillehammer Games to 13 at Salt Lake City in 2002. After Russia's uninspired showing at the last Winter Games, President Vladimir Putin lamented the country's parlous medical state?half of all Russian children and teenagers were in poor health?and emphasized the need for sports to improve the situation. Calls were made for 20% of former Soviet sport facilities that had been turned into markets to be restored. Four years on, many markets have been shuttered, but few have been converted back...
...system relies on private money to bankroll athletes once taken care of by the state. Big Russian businesses like Lukoil and Sberbank have coughed up at least $300,000 each as sport sponsors. Eminent coaches like Tarasova and Moskvina returned from overseas to a Russia where some parents were now willing to pay lavishly for private lessons. Even the Russian Olympic Committee stepped in, offering a $50,000 reward to gold medallists. In figure skating, at least, this commercially driven program is churning out champions. Three nights after the Russian pair claimed gold, Siberian native Evgeny Plushenko, whose childhood rink...
...exclusive mountain getaway first opened its doors in 1901, attracting the likes of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and Albert, King of the Belgians, until its first dark spell, when it was turned into a military hospital during World War I. History repeated itself during World War II, but the hotel rebounded both times. It re-established its place in the winter sun as a dormitory for Winter Olympics athletes in 1956, and prominent guests returned in droves. Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov visited with his butterfly net as his constant companion, to the amusement of fellow residents. When Frank Sinatra...