sport in russia

Ответ от Ђаня Бахтина[гуру]
Sport in Russia has always been popular. Perhaps more then a half of Russians have tried some kind of sport in their childhood. Some of them even in several types.
So which sports are better developed in Russia? Here can be seen the following pattern. Russia, as a rule, has good results in classical kinds of sport. This is in some ways connected with the period of Soviet Union when big attention was paid to physical education of the youth. But the lessons of Soviet school didn’t go without any influence.
Quite often foreign sportsmen, lead by Russian trainers, appear on world level competitions. Also often you can see Russian sportsmen fighting of medals for other countries. That of course upsets Russian supporters. But they have already learnt to treat this with humour. There are many jokes about it. For example when you watch international competitions you hear that the trainers and the sportsmen easily understand each other because they all speak Russian.
In modern kinds of sport Russians lag behind their contenders a little. We can refer here curling, springboard jumping etc. Frankly speaking some Russians still can't see these activities as a serious kinds of sport. But the situation has been changing nowadays.
Actually, a healthy way of life is again coming into fashion in Russia today. That is why people have started to take an interest in sport. Even those who perceived it only as something that they could watch on TV, now come to gyms and swimming pools. That is why Russians are beginning to open to new kinds of sport. Let’s hope that this will reflect in results of different level competitions.
Tennis has a large popularity. Some people connect that with the fact that this sport was a hobby of Russian ex-president Boris Yeltsin. Today Russian tennis players are famous all over the world. Sharapova, Kurnikova, Kafelnikov, Miskina are only the best known Russian tennis players. They play wonderfully at Wimbledon and other competitions.
Ice-hockey is another one successful sport in the country. The Russian team takes worthy places in competitions. The traditions of Soviet school are kept here too. Though unfortunately it isn’t as strong as in the past. In USSR there was a period when hockey team won 9 world championships in a row. Furthermore, there are only 2 hockey players which became championship winners 10 times. These are Russian sportsmen Alexander Rogulin and of course Vladislav Tretyak. Nowadays there are also good players in Russian hockey. Many of them train in NHL.
Another sport which is widespread in the country is football. It’s strange but in Russia there are still many amateurs of this game. But unfortunately there are only few professionals. Russians have already thought up a lot of jokes about their football team. The fact is that Russia hasn’t got any prizes in this kind of sport for a long time. Some people even think it is remediless. Although football matches are always broadcasted on central TV and find their spectators.