Russia bullish on Beijing medals outlook
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
MOSCOW, July 21(AFP): Confidence is running high among Russia's Olympic athletes that they can win more medals this summer in Beijing than they did four years ago in Athens, the country's top Olympic official has said.
"It would be very hard to surpass in the medals table the very strong teams of the United States and China," Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) chief Leonid Tyagachev said in a recent interview.
"However, our athletes have worked hard to prepare for the Games in the best possible way and, I believe, will perform very well at Beijing and improve the result they achieved four years ago at Athens," he said.
In Athens, Russia finished third in the medals table after the United States and China, coming home with 92 medals (27 gold, 27 silver and 38 bronze).
The ROC boss said he was looking forward to Russian successes notably in various ball games, where Russian teams and individual athletes have already racked up impressive achievements this season.
"It would be very hard to surpass in the medals table the very strong teams of the United States and China," Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) chief Leonid Tyagachev said in a recent interview.
"However, our athletes have worked hard to prepare for the Games in the best possible way and, I believe, will perform very well at Beijing and improve the result they achieved four years ago at Athens," he said.
In Athens, Russia finished third in the medals table after the United States and China, coming home with 92 medals (27 gold, 27 silver and 38 bronze).
The ROC boss said he was looking forward to Russian successes notably in various ball games, where Russian teams and individual athletes have already racked up impressive achievements this season.