On February 27, the Russian Olympic Committee hosted the solemn Silver Doe awards ceremony of the Russian Sports Journalists’ Federation, which is annually organized following the results of a vote by sports media representatives for the best coach, team and athletes.
The laureates for 2018 are Alexander Bolshunov (skiing), Artur Dalaloyan (artistic gymnastics), Pavel Datsyuk (hockey), Artem Dzyuba (football), Alina Zagitova (figure skating), Kliment Kolesnikov (swimming), Maria Lasitskene (athletics), Ekaterina Rumyantseva (Paralympian – skiing, biathlon), Abdulrashid Sadulayev (freestyle wrestling), Daria Shmeleva (cycling). The coach of the year is Stanislav Cherchesov and the team of the year is the Russian national football team.
Opening the ceremony, the president of the Russian Sports Journalists’ Federation and deputy Editor-in-Chief of Rossiyskaya Gazeta Nikolai Dolgopolov thanked the Russian Olympic Committee for its support.
– The Silver Doe ceremony was established two decades ago and since that time it has become an integral part of the country’s sports life. Every year in February we sum up the past season and award the laureates with elegant statuettes. I would like to express my deep gratitude to our long-term partner – the Russian Olympic Committee for assistance in organizing and conducting today’s ceremony.
The President of the Russian Olympic Committee and four-time Olympic champion in fencing Stanislav Pozdnyakov handed the Silver Doe award to the Undisputed 2018 World Champion in artistic gymnastics Artur Dalaloyan and talked about how he had once received the same award.
– I remember feeling anxious during the ceremony and as I stood on this stage as an athlete. I think that the current laureates, who glorified the country with their brilliant victories last year, have similar feelings. I sincerely congratulate Artur Dalaloyan with a wonderful performance at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Qatar, where he won the first ever Russian all-around gold since 1999.
The leader of the men’s national team of Russia in artistic gymnastics expressed his hope that the list of Silver Doe laureates would never run out.
– Thank you for the high assessment of my contribution to the development of Russian artistic gymnastics. I hope that the organizers of the competition will always have a rich selection of worthy candidates representing different sports, – said Artur Dalaloyan.
The renowned TV commentator Viktor Gusev presented three Silver Doe awards: to Stanislav Cherchesov who was the winner in the nomination Coach of the Year and as Mentor to the best team of 2018, and to Artem Dzyuba, who excelled during the FIFA World Cup, and was one of ten athletes who awarded the Federation of Sport Journalists of Russia.
Viktor Gusev expressed the general opinion that ″no one would understand us if this prize were not won by Stanislav Cherchesov, whose leadership paved the way for the football team to reach the quarterfinals of the world championship, beating the Spaniards.″
– I have nothing to add, – said the head coach of the Russian national football team with a smile while the audience applauded. – Of course, it is nice that our work has been highly appreciated. But looking back, we need to think about the future. The Euro-2020 qualifying tournament starts very soon, and the Russian national team will be met with strong contenders there. The summer of 2018 turned out to be very good and I hope we can repeat that success.
Three-time European champion in swimming, Kliment Kolesnikov, said that the Silver Doe award would have a special place in his extensive home collection of awards.
– I want to thank all the sports journalists who voted for me. This is a very important event in my sports career. I am grateful to my coach Dmitry Lazarev, thanks to whom I managed to show excellent results in many competitions last year. I will be preparing for new contests, and the Silver Doe award will undoubtedly be a great addition to my collection of awards and prizes.
Ekaterina Rumyantseva, three-time Paralympic champion of the Games in Pyeongchang in cross-country skiing and biathlon, came up to the stage accompanied by the legendary coach Irina Gromova, who trained several famous Paralympians.
– I have always been lucky with students. Any coach is happy when an athlete has to be forced out of training. That was the case with Katya Rumyantseva, – noted Irina Gromova. – And, of course, it is twice as pleasant to receive an award in such stellar company.
The President of the Russian Wrestling Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili received the award for three-time world champion in freestyle wrestling and Olympic champion of Rio de Janeiro Abdulrashid Sadulayev.
– Sadulaev’s Silver Doe award is the result of the work of our entire federation, – said the head of the Russian Wrestling Federation. – We are pleased that the foreign press calls the Russian wrestler the “Russian Tank”, and I would also like to highlight Abdulrashid’s victory last season at the World Championships in Budapest where Sadulayev beat the most popular US athlete and Olympic champion Kyle Snyder beforehand.
Immediately after the fight, I started scolding the wrestler as a joke for putting his opponent so quickly on his shoulder blades and not letting us enjoy the fight. The answer was: ″I thought, what if our President wants to see this fight. I know that he is very busy and I didn’t want to waste his time.″
– I am happy that we have such talented guys in our team, – summed up the 1988 Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.
The Olympic champion in figure skating Alina Zagitova arrived last at the ceremony due to traffic jams in Moscow. However, as ROC spokesman Konstantin Vybornov aptly noted, Alina is no stranger in performing as the last in the strongest group.
– I want to congratulate Alina on a well-deserved award, – said Stanislav Pozdnyakov. – For her performance on ice in Pyeongchang, she earned the highest marks from figure skating fans all over the world. As the head of our Olympic delegation at the Games in South Korea, I am extremely pleased to recall her amazing performance. Moreover, Alina won the gold medal on February 23, thereby presenting a great gift to all Russian men in honour of Defender of the Fatherland Day. Her victory will go down in the history of world sports and she will always be remembered.
– I have watched my free skating Olympic program several times, and each time I had the same feelings that I experienced in February 2018, – admitted the figure skater. – But now I am busy preparing for the World Championships in Japan. From here I’m going straight to the next training session!
In addition to the winners of the Silver Doe award, the best sports journalists received awards as well (diplomas from the Moscow Sports Department) following last year’s results.
The Silver Pen award from the World Sambo Federation for the best coverage of this sport was presented to Dmitry Kirilovsky, editor-in-chief of the sports editorial staff of the Interfax news agency.
President of the Children’s Football League, Viktor Gorlov, was awarded a diploma of the International Fair Play Committee.
Furthermore, veterans of national sports journalism, who celebrated their anniversaries in 2018, received commemorative certificates and awards from the Federation of Sport Journalists of Russia.
