All sports are divided into two types: popular and exhibition.
Those that you can participate in yourself, and those that exist to be watched on television.
Football at the national championship level is not much different from backyard football. More precisely, it only differs in the level of the players. Probably, Dzyuba can beat eleven amateurs alone, but this is not certain. The main thing is that the ball is round and that the pitch is the same for everyone.
But biathlon is a typical example of an exhibition sport. After watching the race, it would hardly occur to you to get on your skis, grab a rifle and run to the shooting range. And you can’t buy a gun like that. Or synchronized swimming: don’t we jump into the pool after watching our stars?
For some reason, cross-country skiing is generally considered a popular sport. Indeed, most of our country is covered in snow, from Kamchatka to Khibiny (where I am currently). It seems that he put on good skis – almost like Bolshunov. This is probably some kind of memory of the time when the great Galina Alekseevna Kulakova won a factory race without training, and four years later – her first silver medal at the Olympics.
And the very first Olympic cross-country ski champion, usually trained for fun, working as an electrician. Bravo, honor and praise to them! Only, we don’t look like them at all and for a long time we haven’t looked much like amateur skiers.
Since my childhood, I have been prepared, trained, taken to various exotic places with one goal: to win. This is my official profession – athlete. From the age of 15.
I have about 50 pairs of skis. Maybe more, maybe less – I didn’t think so, it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t buy a single pair – all were issued by the sponsoring company. The sponsor has a clear objective: I must win with these skis.
No matter how custom the skis are, they’re just pieces of wood covered in plastic. You can’t just lean on them and win. A special machine applies a special structure and pattern to each pair. What rolls to the top of Teya will not roll to Tyumen and will definitely not go to the Khibiny Mountains. This is why you need 50 pairs (for some champion skiers, it is well over 100). The world’s best specialists in this field are responsible for the preparation and testing of my skis.
We don’t take special, so-called “pharmaceutical” drugs, and we certainly don’t inject drugs – it’s a stubborn and stupid myth. But all my vitamins and minerals are checked and tested for purity and compatibility by FMBA professionals. Literally every day after training I go to a doctor or massage therapist, often both.
Yes, I am a “botanical garden mimosa plant”.
Without the work, help and support of the best specialists, I would not have won the water pumping championship. I am a specially trained “ski artist” whose job it is to win or lose so the audience has something to talk about. The more interesting I make it, the more love and hate there is. The most important thing is a wider audience.
It is logical to compare today’s best skiers not with the heroes of yesteryear, but, for example, with a concert pianist: he also has the best teachers in the world, for children and adults. And he hardly ever personally tunes or prepares his Steinway for the concert. At the same time, this wonderful pianist most likely works at the State Philharmonic.
If he has a sharp tongue or bites someone at a bar, you definitely won’t forget his name. This is part of the modern image: whoever doesn’t like it, let him sigh in indignation. It is important that he(s) does not forget his piano and that “Fur Elise” or “Moonlight Sonata” in his interpretation impresses you and awakens your emotions.
Let’s return to popular and exhibition sports.
Skiers have been deprived of international competitions for two seasons now. Enough time to create a new exhibition-style competition format.
Television doesn’t need a hundred people at the start of a ski race to get audiences: it needs one of them to be Puzanov, 18, from Khabarovsk, who will beat Bolshunov -even.
And so that around thirty skiers maximum take part in the race. Or better yet, twenty. Ten – according to the ranking, ten others – based on the results of the regional selections of this “major league” of skiing.
Elite competitions must be commercial from start to finish. If Alexander Legkov finds sponsors for all the best skiers and biathletes to come to his race, then there will be other candidates. Do we need to explain why all the leaders came to Peresvet this year?
Four or five such starts per year are enough. Such a series could complement and partly replace the stages of the National Cup in its current form.
I understand less and less why we hold competitions in which Terentyeva, Sorina, Stupak and I run together with top athletes. Our slopes are not suitable for them, not only can they not handle the slopes that we absolutely need, but that is already reason enough to divide us into different leagues.
At the conservatory, concerts of famous and honored pianists take place separately from “junior pianists”. Or I’m wrong?
What does the average 17-year-old skier think when she looks at Faleeva’s power? RIGHT. “I could never do that.” And of course he won’t achieve that if he doesn’t qualify for the national team, and at a young age, and if he doesn’t get all the support I’ve already listed. May he shine better in his own region.
Pekletsova, Nikitina and the same Puzanov are not an example, they will easily win in the qualifying races, for the most gifted you can always make a special invitation, like in wild card tennis.
We must use the time and the situation to reform ski racing. And so that Norwegians and Swedes watch us and learn. This is all real.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
