Russia Aims for Top Medals

M O S C O W, Aug. 3, 2000 -- There are few people in the world as intimidatingas Russian Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin.

At 286 pounds, with a thick neck, giant forehead and sunkeneyes, along with the enormous muscles coursing up his legs, armsand back, he is not a man you’d like to meet in a dark alley.

Or on the wrestling mat, for that matter.

Famous for a move in which he tosses his opponents over hishead, the three-time Olympic champion has never lost aninternational match and is one of the few athletes going into theSydney Games all but guaranteed to win gold.

Olympics Powerhouse?

Karelin is probably the biggest — literally and figuratively —of Russia’s medal hopes. But the country has many more, and Moscowis predicting it will recapture the Olympic dominance its athletesand coaches enjoyed under the Soviet Union despite money woes thatmean many training facilities are crumbling or out of date.

The Russians have strong swimmers, gymnasts, runners, volleyballplayers, boxers, divers, shooters and fencers.

The government has predicted Russia will win 36 gold medals, upfrom 1996 when it was a distant second to the United States with26. The Americans, they say, will trail just behind.

If the medal count turns out to be accurate, it would be anamazing reversal for the team that was crippled after the 1991 fallof the Soviet Union, when some of its best athletes, coaches andtraining facilities suddenly belonged to other countries.

Some had predicted the Russian sports machine would graduallydecline because of cash and equipment shortages. But its athletesonly appear to be getting stronger.

“It’s really a surprising phenomenon,” said Olympic historianValery Shteinbakh. “The sports ethic that was instilled many yearsago remains.”

Russia’s Strength in Many Sports

Aside from Karelin, the country is counting on world championhigh jumper Vyacheslav Voronin; Svetlana Masterkova, the 1996Olympic running champion in the 800 and 1,500 meters; and worldchampion gymnasts Alexei Nemov and Svetlana Khorkina.

Then there are Dmitry Sautin and Yulia Pakhalina, two of theworld’s premier divers, and 800-meter runner Yuri Borzakovsky,nicknamed “Yuri the Kenyan” for his ability to challenge the EastAfricans who dominate the middle-distance events.

While Russia remains powerful in Soviet-era strengths likefencing, wrestling and gymnastics, it has also risen to dominancein other sports like synchronized swimming and handball.

Russian coaches and athletes attribute their success to therigorous training programs developed during the Soviet era thatimmerse children in their sport early on. The system remains inplace, while many trainers have stayed on despite abysmal salariesand equipment shortages.

“In other countries, there isn’t the same quality of trainers,even though our trainers are the worst-paid in the world,” saidhead diving coach Alexei Yevantulov. He said his team didn’t haveenough money to buy new springboards and will be training for twoweeks in Italy before the games because of shortages at home.

Recognizable Wrestler

One of the biggest threats to Russia’s sports prominence hasbeen the exodus of athletes abroad in search of lucrativeendorsements rarely offered at home.

While some athletes have endorsements from Western companies,the only athlete with any major visibility inside Russia is the32-year-old Karelin, whose image glowers out from juice cartons,heaps of medals slung around his neck.

Karelin is also a parliamentary deputy with the pro-KremlinUnity party, apparently picked for his image as unshakable andeven-tempered but lacking any real political program.

Even Alexander Popov, the world’s top male short-distanceswimmer, doesn’t get nearly the recognition at home that he does inAustralia, where he trains. He would likely be a national herothere, and making millions of dollars each year in endorsements, ifhe had citizenship.

“I don’t want to say anything bad here, but I have a streetnamed after me in Sydney, but not in Russia,” Popov said at arecent meet in Russia.

Bonuses for Winners

The government has moved to make sports a larger priority.President Vladimir Putin, a black-belt in judo, appointed himselfthe head of the committee preparing Russia’s athletes for theSydney Games. The move likely means Russia will avoid theembarrassment of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, when themedal winners saw their cash bonuses delayed for months.

The bonuses remain unchanged this year, with the governmentawarding gold medal winners $50,000. Silver medal winners will get$20,000 and bronze winners $10,000.

For many athletes, the lack of endorsements and poor conditionsin Russia provide extra competitive spark, driving them to provethat they don’t need the plush conditions many other athletes takefor granted.

“Yes, we don’t train under proper conditions,” said Voronin,the world champion high jumper, who said he sometimes must wait inline to lift weights because there isn’t enough equipment to goaround.

“The thing that props me up is that I’m a Russian. And we haveto prove that we’re still stronger than anyone else. They should beafraid of us.”