SPORT The Minsk Times Thursday, February 13, 2014 11 Greeting To the members of the Medals charm with sports delegation of the Republic of Belarus at the 22nd Winter Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi (The Russian Federation) their Olympic shine Dear friends! Twenty years have passed since the Republic of Belarus was 22nd Winter first represented by an independ- Olympic Games ent team at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, where Belaru- in Sochi claim sian athletes won two silver med- als, opening the tally of Olympic many new awards. Courageous, determined records even and strong-willed people choose sport, and are able, in the course before official of consistent struggle, to continue the glorious traditions and protect opening the sport honour of our country. I am convinced that you are By Dmitry Baranovsky the best representatives of Bela- rusian sport, able to show your For example, the cost of preparing will, skill and perseverance in and realising the tournament, which achieving set goals at the Olym- exceeded $15bn, also belongs to the pic venues. category of records. Geographically, Participation in the Olympics the Russians have also managed to is a significant event, preceded by surprise the world by organising the hard work and careful prepara- winter competitions in subtropical tion of both athletes and the rel- Sochi. However, these and many oth- evant organisations. Every detail er nuances connected to the Olympics was provided and done, now the have already been discussed. Today, only thing remaining is the effort the ceremony of the opening of the by each of you to ensure a suc- Games, which was awesome in its BELTA cessful performance at the Olym- grandeur, became history, and gave Belarus’ team at Olympiad opening pic competition. way to the main characters of any any resistance to irrepressible Bjo- I sincerely wish you good luck Olympics — the athletes, whose quan- erndalen. However, Sergey conced- and great victories for the glory of our country. tity is also a record. Over the course of ed, not only to the Norwegian, but the Games 98 sets of medals will be up also his young team-mate Vladimir The President of the Republic for grabs, and among the contenders Chepelin, who became the only Be- of Belarus, The President of the there are 26 Belarusian athletes. larusian, who appeared in the list of National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus, The current composition of the thirty strongest athletes. However, Alexander Lukashenko. Belarusian delegation is the smallest the situation with the girls was differ- in the history of country’s participa- ent… Before the start of the Olympic tion in the Olympics. But four ath- sprint, none of the biathlon experts After the finish, Darya did not letes have already got on the Olympic could recall the name of the winner hide her disappointment, “I am very podium before, and have a hope to do of the Vancouver event, Anastasiya sorry about my first inaccurate shot. it again. The reality of this possibility Kuzmina. Even four years ago, her Just at that moment of my prone has already been shown during these victory was perceived as a sensation. shooting, the wind changed. Unfortu- early days of the Games by Slovak It was hard to believe in the possibility nately, at the first shooting, I lost a lot biathlete Anastasiya Kuzmina and of its recurrence. Nevertheless, it was of time. I had to work hard on the last BELTA Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. Darya Domracheva the Slovak biathlete who appeared on lap, but too much time had been lost.” Kuzmina became the first female bi- the pedestal, and who was confident- Meanwhile, Belarusian fans lay athlete to win the Olympic gold twice, in 34th place in the final standing. distance. So, it is not surprising that ly ahead of all the original favourites, their medal hopes on more than just and defend her title in the sprint. Bjo- Even Dolidovich, the most experi- hopes for medals are connected which left a desperate fight for the the biathletes. Let us recall that four erndalen repeated the record of the enced athlete in the team, called the with this sport in Sochi. And if No- two remaining positions, in which years ago in Vancouver, the first ‘gold’ legendary Bjorn Daehlie and won his début race a warm-up, after the fin- vikov, for the last four years, failed competitors were separated by tenths, of the Winter Olympics was brought to seventh Olympic medal — this one a ish, noting that he puts his emphasis to even come close to his Olympic and even hundredths of a second. But us by the Belarusian freestyler, Alexey gold. Alas, the Belarusians could not on the marathon. result, Domracheva won regularly in this ‘crush’ there was no place for Grishin. And in previous Games, ski come close to the podium during the However, biathlon is quite an- and came to the capital of the cur- Darya Domracheva. The Belarusian acrobats have invariably occupied ped- first days of the Games. other matter. Four years ago, at the rent Games as one of the favourites. biathlete already lost her chance at the estals since 1998. While only Dmitry The ‘Belarusian’ part of the pro- Vancouver Olympics, the podium Unfortunately, the complicated and first shooting line. The first shot did Dashchinsky and Alexey Grishin gramme was opened by the skier received two shooting skiers from unpredictable track of the Laura not hit the target, adding a 150 metre from the current team, have managed Yelena Sannikova. In skiathlon, the Belarus. Sergey Novikov finished Sports Centre turned all predictions penalty lap to the distance and, as it to do this, Anton Kushnir has a seri- woman was only 53rd, but Belaru- the individual race in second place, and hopes upside-down in the first turned out, more than half a minute ous chance of success. He became the sian fans have not expected any med- conceding only to the great Ole Ei- few meters. to her final result at the finish. Darya owner of the Big Crystal Globe at the al hopes from her, nor from Sergey nar Bjoerndalen, while Darya Dom- In the men’s sprint neither No- conceded 10.1 seconds to the bronze World Cup a year ago, and Alla Tsuper Dolidovich, who ended his skiathlon racheva was the third at a similar vikov, nor anyone else, could offer medal of Ukrainian, Vita Semerenko. can easily create a surprise. Results of the third Dakar MAZ-SPORTavto team was pleased with the results which the Belarusian crews showed on rally raid Dakar-2014, held in South America By Georgy Shablyuk The team gave itself the task to season lies ahead of us, during which getting into the top 20. “One year ago, we should correct areas which impede “We are happy with the team re- we were close to this result, and this our progress. Besides, the crew will sults. It has been the third year we time Sergey Vyazovich’s crew took the also gain additional experience and I have participated in Dakar. During 11th position. It is a more than wor- am sure that next year, the team will BELTA the first year our best result was 31st thy performance. Therefore, we can please fans with an even more persis- Alexey Neverovich, Pavel Garanin, Sergey Vyazovich (from left to right) place, the next year our best result say that the team fulfilled its task. At tent struggle against the leaders, and was 21st place, while this year our some stages, our crew showed very with even better results. I hope that always difficult to make plans before 10 of the best at separate stages of the best result is at the turn of the first good results, getting into the first ten. success will not be long in coming,” the start. We achieved a desirable re- rally, probably, we did not maximise and second, 10 places higher. We have On one of the intermediate stages, the the Head of the team summed up. sult. However, I am sure that it is not our potential. But if we progress, as we progressed year on year at these com- Vyazovich crew was even first,” said The pilot of the MAZ-SPORTavto the maximum we can achieve, and the have been doing it during these three petitions, rising ten places,” said the Mr. Kozlovsky. team, Sergey Vyazovich is happy with team will aspire to rise higher in the years, at Dakar-2015, we will be seri- head of the team MAZ-SPORTavto, As he said, the team has serious his crew’s final 11th place. “We count- league standings at future competi- ous competitors for the leadership of Valery Kozlovsky, at a briefing. potential for development. “The whole ed on a result close to top 10, but it is tions. Quite often, we were in the top the race,” noted the driver..