Russia (bbabo.net) - But he will not be remembered for this. In each of the three cases, instead of bronze medals, there could be gold ones. The most tragic moment is the men's relay. Latypov's teammates in the relay four did a great job: at the last stage, Eduard just had to not lose a giant 50-second advantage. But five misses on the decisive “stand” forced to forget about the golden dreams and almost threw the Russian team off the podium. When Latypov tried to close at least some targets, I stood literally 20 meters away from him. I have never been more shocked at this Olympics. I can't imagine how Edward felt at that moment. After the finish, he cried.

All that remains for Latypov now is to write a new history. And Edik himself understands this. "Without mistakes, you will not become a champion. All great athletes have had mistakes. They became great because they did not stop, moved on and won the Olympics."

Knee-deep mountains

As you know, life does not end with sports. But it can start with sports. The story of skier William Flaherty from Puerto Rico for me is the most amazing in this Olympics. At the age of three, William was diagnosed with a rare and serious illness. Chemotherapy, more than 75 blood transfusions - all this was not enough. A bone marrow transplant was required. William's brother Charles, who was four years older, became William's donor.

It is hard to imagine that after this, in principle, you can lead a normal life. William did it. Alpine skiing helped, the love for which the boy instilled in his father. Sports activities strengthened bones and helped to cope with the effects of treatment in childhood. And then to endure the untimely loss of his father.

The transferred covid did not prevent Latypov from going to his debut Olympics and bringing three bronze medals from Beijing. Although these awards could be gold

Passion for sports has grown into a serious occupation. In 2018, brother Charles was selected for the Olympic Games, and 17-year-old William went to Beijing. A full participant in the competition. In the giant slalom Flaherty showed the 40th result, in the slalom - 44th. You say, does the result in this story matter? For William has. Because he is an athlete.

The guy will not come to the next Olympics, he has a new operation according to the plan. But the fact that he can handle it seems beyond doubt.

Eight years later

When I heard the announcer announce Vic Wild at a parallel slalom competition, I was overcome with nostalgia. I think other Russian sports fans too. In 2014, an American with a Russian passport won two gold medals at the Sochi Olympics and for a long time became synonymous with the word snowboarding. Since then, new stars have lit up in this sport, but somehow they forgot about Vic. This is due to severe injuries and poor results. In December, the general public was reminded of Wilde by a completely unsportsmanlike news about his divorce from snowboarder Alena Zavarzina.

But sometimes a person needs difficulties to look at himself from the outside and start all over again. It seems that this is what happened to Vic. He qualified for the Olympics, although three years ago he wanted to quit sports.

In Beijing, they did not expect much from him, as, indeed, eight years ago in Sochi. And in vain. En route to the semi-finals, Wild eliminated top contenders, including two-time world champion Dmitry Loginov. A small but fatal blot prevented me from reaching the final.

The third place race was a new experience for Vic: you lose, you get nothing. He won and could not hold back his tears. Eight years later, Wild again has a medal, albeit a bronze one. The Russian language is still difficult for Vik. But he is not going to leave Moscow.

Lesson for adults

Most of the teams of the men's Olympic tournament relied on experience. Severe men came to fight for the “gold”, who played at more than one world championship and saw the views at the Olympics. And it's great that a 17-year-old schoolboy became the main star of such an age tournament.

It's about the Slovak child prodigy Juraj Słafkowski. The coaching staff took the risk of taking the junior to a high-profile tournament and made the right decision. In six games, Juraj shot seven goals. He threw two of them to the Swedes in the match for third place and helped the Slovakian hockey team to take the first Olympic medal - bronze. Slafkowski himself, at 17 years old, became the youngest medalist in the last 50 years.

How can you not remember about our child prodigy Matvey Michkov. But the coaching staff of the Russian national team either did not dare to take the young man to Beijing, or did not see how to build him into their schemes. But, perhaps, in the final, we lacked just such a player.

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