The results of the Olympic Games in London, which ended on August 12, should be considered very successful for the Russian national team. Having won a total of 82 medals, including 24 gold, 26 silver and 32 bronze medals, the Russian team confidently took 4th place. And in terms of the total number of medals, the Russians were far ahead of the hosts of the Olympics - the athletes of Great Britain, who took 3rd place only thanks to a large number of top-quality awards.
Of course, any award at the Olympic Games is very honorable for both the athlete and the country he represents. But even among them there are those who came as a pleasant surprise, and therefore are especially valuable. For example, in the very first days of the Olympics, when our team as a whole did not perform very well, Russian male judokas showed excellent results. It is no exaggeration to say that our athletes literally shocked the judo experts and especially the Japanese, who are traditionally very strong in this sport. The gold medals of Arsen Galstyan, Mansur Isaev and Tagir Khaibulaev were a particularly pleasant surprise.
An indisputable surprise was the gold of Elena Lashmanova, won in race walking competitions at a distance of 20 kilometers. As the Olympic champion herself admitted, she did not even dream of such a success. After all, all sports commentators and experts in this sport believed that the main contender for the first place was another Russian woman - Olga Kaniskina. Nevertheless, in the final segment of this most difficult distance, Lashmanova was able to bypass Kaniskina and win an Olympic gold medal.
And, of course, one cannot fail to mention the gold of the Russian pair of rowers-kayakers Alexander Dyachenko / Yuri Postrigai at a distance of 200 meters. The British, traditionally strong in rowing, were considered the undisputed favorites in this discipline, especially since Russian athletes began to train together quite recently. Nevertheless, it was the Russians who got the gold, and the hosts of the Olympics ended up being content with only the third place.
The bronze medal received by the Russian badminton pair Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova, who defeated the experienced Canadian duo Alex Bruce / Michelle Lee in the match for third place, was also a pleasant surprise. And exactly the same impression was made by the bronze medal of the runner Ekaterina Poistogova, who took third place at a distance of 800 meters. Talking about this race, the athlete did not hide that it was very difficult for her. “But I was able to reach the bronze, won literally a few hundredths of a second at the finish line,” smiled Ekaterina.
