| Beginning of the Meeting with Champions and Medal-Winners of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing August 30, 2008 Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow Встреча с чемпионами и призёрами Игр XXIX Олимпиады в Пекине 30 августа 2008 года Москва, Большой Кремлёвский дворец PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Good day dear friends! I am very pleased to see you and I heartily welcome you back to the Motherland and, of course, I congratulate the team on your exceptional and very honourable performance at the 29th Olympic Games. You have competed against strong rivals and in conditions that were, frankly, not very easy. Everyone is very well aware of which problems existed. Although, perhaps, every Olympics has its own unique challenges which makes all of them unique events. But the Olympic Games represents the summit in which, of course, only the most outstanding athletes take memorable part. And Russia has just such masters who brought home 72 medals, of which 23 were gold. The title of Olympic champion is the highest award in sports. And, of course, when starting your event every one of you tried to get the best result, but this is possible only on one obvious condition - when you use all your forces to strive for victory. And I will not hide the fact that we were particularly distressed when one of you was literally a centimetre or fraction of a second away from a sought-after medal, and if our athletes really did breakthrough to the top step then we truly did rejoice. And you saw all ... |
