I never did notice the growing trend of Eastern European women dominating sport these days but it suddenly just became so apparent to me when I look at the semifinal lineup of the women's singles tournament in the French Open....It's a Russian woman versus another Russian woman and a Serbian woman against another Serbian woman. The domination of the Iron Curtain ladies is back!!!
For someone who grew up idolizing the sporting glories of the Soviet Union turned Unified Team turned Russia, this is an ideal lineup for me. I think i became conscious about the excitement sport brought into my life during the onset of the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. And this was the last Olympics where Russia and a couple of other Soviet States last dominated the Olympic medal count. As a result I grew up idolizing czarinas and screaming, thick-browed, intense Russian coaches and ice denizens from the Iron Curtain Capital. I became increasingly curious about the so-called "scientific training" their countries offered to their world-class athletes as well as the sporting camps that house these superpeople. What went on behind those walls that they have produced world-record holders and superhuman performers? How were they sculpted and moulded to become larger-than-life figures?
We may never know the secrets behind the Communist sporting regime but controversies continually surround the development of these superstar athletes. First of all the popular belief that there was systematic and immense encouragement of the use of performance-enhancing drugs is very common and has been proven many times I believe. Second the severity of the emotional stress caused by the plucking of very young individuals with a high sporting potential from their families is widely circulated among sports psychologists and analysts. Third, the uncertainty of a financial career outside their sporting glories was almost always inevitable based on many athlete's personal accounts and stories. Think about the emotional distress these people felt when they were showered with attention and revered almost as gods when they could break records and do anything better than us and then being brought back to a humiliating position after their physical flames have died...
For the outsider like me who can do little to help, the best I can do is perhaps admire from a distance these beings who can and were able to run, jump and throw faster, higher and further than me, a mere human being. To wish I were in that position many years ago is perhaps one of the greatest tributes I can give them. To pore over sporting almanacs, articles and read about their invincibility and to afford my admiration would probably be good enough eventhough these people would not have an inkling that from this Third-World, struggling athletic nation, a great admirer lives to revere their sporting glories yesterday until the present....
For someone who grew up idolizing the sporting glories of the Soviet Union turned Unified Team turned Russia, this is an ideal lineup for me. I think i became conscious about the excitement sport brought into my life during the onset of the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. And this was the last Olympics where Russia and a couple of other Soviet States last dominated the Olympic medal count. As a result I grew up idolizing czarinas and screaming, thick-browed, intense Russian coaches and ice denizens from the Iron Curtain Capital. I became increasingly curious about the so-called "scientific training" their countries offered to their world-class athletes as well as the sporting camps that house these superpeople. What went on behind those walls that they have produced world-record holders and superhuman performers? How were they sculpted and moulded to become larger-than-life figures?
We may never know the secrets behind the Communist sporting regime but controversies continually surround the development of these superstar athletes. First of all the popular belief that there was systematic and immense encouragement of the use of performance-enhancing drugs is very common and has been proven many times I believe. Second the severity of the emotional stress caused by the plucking of very young individuals with a high sporting potential from their families is widely circulated among sports psychologists and analysts. Third, the uncertainty of a financial career outside their sporting glories was almost always inevitable based on many athlete's personal accounts and stories. Think about the emotional distress these people felt when they were showered with attention and revered almost as gods when they could break records and do anything better than us and then being brought back to a humiliating position after their physical flames have died...
For the outsider like me who can do little to help, the best I can do is perhaps admire from a distance these beings who can and were able to run, jump and throw faster, higher and further than me, a mere human being. To wish I were in that position many years ago is perhaps one of the greatest tributes I can give them. To pore over sporting almanacs, articles and read about their invincibility and to afford my admiration would probably be good enough eventhough these people would not have an inkling that from this Third-World, struggling athletic nation, a great admirer lives to revere their sporting glories yesterday until the present....
1 comment:
When I was growing up the USSR was always the enemy. As school children we used to practice hiding in the basement of the school in case we were under attack. Most Americans considered Eastern Bloc athletics to be Professionals in unfair competition against amateur athletes from the rest of the world. Olga Corbett was the first athlete from the USSR that was admired here in the states (as far as I can remember).... and I think she it was because she was so very small, very young and extremely talented.
John
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