Team Russia Leads In Paralympic Medal Standings After Day 1 In Vancouver
Team Russia, from Flickr stream of Sochi 2014 Winter Games
How ironic. Russian Paralympic team is leading in medal standings with three gold, three silver and two bronze medals after one day of competition. By comparison, Russian Olympic team earned one medal on the first day of the Games. In fact, that medal remained the only one for Russia for another three competition days. Overall, Russian Olympians won 15 medals, only three of which were gold. Deemed a fiasco, the performance of Russian Olympic athletes became the subject of many a headline in Russia throughout and after the Games. The country is still trying to understand what happened and who is to blame.
But, Russian Paralympians made a powerful statement with their performance today. It is not about the funding you get. It is not about being treated as royalty at the Russia House. It is not even about the support you get (as the dwindling numbers of team Russia supporters for the Paralympic Games in Vancouver have shown). But, as cliche as it sounds, when you do not have fat contracts and promotion deals to fall back on, you just tend to perform like there is no tomorrow.
Here are the names of the amazing Paralympians who won medals for Russia today:
Liubov Vasilyeva
Mikhalina Lysova
Nikolay Polukhin
Anna Burmistrova
Alena Gorbunova
Kirill Mikhaylov
Maria Iovleva
Irek Zaripov
To them, "impossible is just a word and a distraction..."
Go, team Russia!
P.S.: I will be going to Whistler to see the cross-country skiing events tomorrow. I am super excited to cheer for the Paralympians. Stay tune for my report featuring the members of the Russian volunteer teem who are here to help out with the Paralympics and gain the valuable experience ahead of Sochi 2014.