Athletistic / Hockey. Whatever the relationship between Russia and the United States, it is simply impossible not to recognize the greatness of our country in many areas. Russian ballet continues to fascinate the Western elite. Russian literature is recognized all over the world, and its classics – Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Mikhail Bulgakov and many others – are translated, published and read in almost all languages ​​of the world. The same can be said about Russian sports.

The American sports channel ESPN has prepared a ranking of the 100 best athletes of the 21st century. At the moment, the names of athletes ranked from 50th to 100th place have been published. And among them was a representative of Russia. It was the captain of the Washington Capitals, Alexander Ovechkin.

Ovechkin ranked 54th on ESPN’s list. The 38-year-old Russian became only the second hockey player to make the list – Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who ranked a modest 98th.

Ovechkin’s figure has long gone beyond the world of sports: thanks to his passion for victories, wide smile, special emotionality and honesty, Alexander has become not only a great athlete, but also a very famous person. He is constantly invited to various entertainment shows, even in the current political realities, he appears in American advertising, and is also the face of several charitable organizations.

Photo source: screenshot from the video

Ovechkin is definitely not the best player in the NHL anymore, but he is undoubtedly considered its main star. And this is the era of Crosby, McDavid, Kucherov and MacKinnon. The reason is that the Russian is chasing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL regular season goals record.

Gretzky retired in 1999. On March 29 of that year, The Great One scored his last regular season goal in the NHL, which became his 894th. Then it seemed to everyone that this bar was set forever and that no one could even come close to it. It’s not only the greatness of Gretzky himself, but also the fact that the league and hockey have changed a lot since the late 1970s, when Wayne started playing in the NHL. The main changes affected the game and equipment of goaltenders, as well as the actions of defenders – hockey has simply become more tactical.

But Alexander Ovechkin managed to prove that anything is possible. The Russian is now the second-leading sniper in NHL history, with 41 goals behind Gretzky’s record. Considering that Ovi has a contract with Washington that is valid for two more years, there is a good chance that the first hockey player who managed to cross the 900-goal mark in the regular season will soon appear in the North American League.

Photo source: Washington Capitals HC

Ovechkin contributed even more to his recognition in 2018, when, despite all the problems and failures of the previous years, he managed to lead Washington to the first Stanley Cup victory in the club’s history. This triumph and his correspondence dispute with Gretzky greatly influenced the perception of Ovechkin himself and the NHL. Americans love stories like this: when a person pushes the boundaries of what is possible and destroys stereotypes with his work. There was a time when the term “American dream” was even invented for this. Today, a Russian citizen is making the dream of many Americans come true.

It is noteworthy that in the ESPN rating, Alexander Ovechkin overtook the 2018 Golden Ball winner, Croatian footballer Luka Modric (55th place), world champion and captain of the French national football team Kylian Mbappe (65), the author of the “golden goal” of the Spanish national football team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Andres Iniesta (70), his friend and senior comrade Xavi (75), as well as two legendary Brazilian footballers – Ronaldo (87) and Ronaldinho (94). The Russian was ahead of many geniuses and rightly so. And note that for this, Ovechkin did not need to get involved in politics, teach or reproach Russia for something.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic



Athletistic