Glad to see you, Свен. Obviously, you`re passionate fan of  Svetlana Sleptsova – a russian biathloner, your signature and avatar indicates this. Also, Sandrine Bailly. And besides your compatriot Magdalena Neuner, I suppose, because this site is russian fan-club of her. Whose your favorite, or they are in equal degrees? Especially, if they are competitors.

You`re lucky in this case – you`re a fan at once for four athletes which are in top of biathlon list, and, accordingly, should win often. We too. As we are all from Soviet Union (from Russia, from Ukraine, from Belarus and others) we are a fans of russian sportsmen. Including Sleptsova, Iourieva, Akhatova, ......russian men.... Some of us also fans of another foreign biathlete – O.E. Borndalen, K.Wilhelm, M.Glagow, K.Hitzer (like you) and others. I don`t know, will the participants of the forum agree with me, but I believe that Magdalena Neuner for us on the top place.
(sorry for English – long time had no practise)

Yes, we have a lot of German team admirers, Lena`s especially of course. On a first glance it seems to be really strange, because Germans always were and are our (Russians) competitors. Nevertheless it so.
Olya Zaitseva – one of my favorite biathlete. It`s a pity, she passed a lot because of  her motherhood. Hope to see her coming back at time, next season.
Want to learn russian? Perfect intension, dare. But I warn you: russian is very difficult language even for us. Difficult in grammar. In school it was the hardest subject.

Hallo Azalija - hey, du kannst ja richtig gut deutsch!
Das ist ja super für den Fanclub - da kannst du alles, was es an Neuigkeiten über Lena gibt, gleich direkt ins Russische übersetzen.
Ich wünschte, ich könnte so gut russisch.... zurzeit bin ich noch drauf angewiesen, dass mir jemand alle Sveta-News übersetzt.
Aber ich werde es lernen. Wichtig ist die Motivation - und die habe ich!

@Altair: Yes, the Russian language is difficult for me, because it is structured very different from the Central European languages I know.
The most important thing is to have the will to learn it. And with my Svetlana fanpage project, I have the best motivation I can get.
You are right - the Russian athletes are the strongest competitors of the German ones, and vice versa.
So this makes our border-crossing fan projects even more exciting!

Прикольно. Немец, который болеет за русскую биатлонистку "против" русских, которые болеют за немецкую. Представляю себе спор:
- "Ваша Светлана - лучшая биатлонистка"
- "Нет, это ваша Магдалена - супер!"
- "Не пытайтесь меня переубедить (ИМХО)"
- "Да мы-то точно знаем"

Куда катится мир?!
(шутка, конечно)

I wonder: the german, being fan of russian biathlete "against" russians, being fans of german. Imagine myself debates:
- "Yours Svetlana is the best biathlete woman"
- "No, it`s yours Magdalena - splendid!"
- "Don`t make me change my mind (imho)"
- "We know certainly"

Oh, God!
(joke, of course)

Azalija, точно. Самое главное, что он (талант) у нас. Нам чрезвычайно повезло. А они, со "своей" Светой Слепцовой, пусть сами распутываются. За нас и за наш талант!!! Ура!!!

Wir wollen in Hochfilzen fahren.
In 2007/2008 wir fahren in Kontiolahti und einige in Holmenkollen.

Свен
In welchen Etappen warst du früher schon?

Es ist noch interessant, zu erkennen - wie sich in Deutschland im Stadion zu den russischen Sportlern verhalten?

Offen gesagt, war ich noch nie vor Ort dabei.
Bisher habe ich Biathlon immer vor dem Fernseher verfolgt.
Das soll sich jetzt aber ändern!

Frankly, I've never visited a stage before.
So far, I've watched biathlon on TV only.
However, this shall change now!

Die deutschen Fans sind durchaus patriotisch, und es gibt auch ein paar, die russische Sportler/innen grundsätzlich nicht mögen. Das sind vermutlich Überreste aus dem "kalten Krieg", als Deutschland in zwei Teile geteilt war, und die damalige Sowjetunion von den US-Amerikanern als Inbegriff des Bösen dargestellt wurde. Das haben manche West-Deutsche vermutlich allzu sehr verinnerlicht. Andererseits kenne ich aber auch viele deutsche Fans, die russische Sportler/innen sogar ausgesprochen gern mögen - insbesondere die russischen Herren scheinen bei jungen weiblichen Fans sehr beliebt zu sein.

The German fans surely can be called patriotic, and some of them even don't like Russian athletes by the rule. I think those are relics of the "cold war", when Germany was separated in two parts, and the former Soviet Union was pictured as incarnation of the evil by the US Americans. Some Germans seem to have internalized this habit. On the other hand, I know many German fans who particularly like russian athletes - especially the Russian men seem to be quite popular among young female fans.

Отредактировано Свен (2008-04-22 00:49:25)

I`m very much doubt that it is relics of the "cold war". All is easier – it`s just a big eagerness, desire to help “own”, which sometimes appears too excessive. It isn`t bad to worry about "own", it is bad to take pleasure of failures of others, at least publicly.

Hello Sven !
I am pleased to meet you ! I have just seen your messages in our forum and I want write you. First of all, excuse me for my bad English. It is far from perfection. But I hope it will not hinder us to understand each other.

and

I partially agree with you. Russia and (United) Europe is the different centres of economical and political force. Between these centres of force always had been confrontation. The confrontation had appeared long before the term "cold war" had emerged. The confrontation is nowadays. And unfortunately, probably, it will be in future. I mean general problem in relations, not only behavour some of the fans. It is sad but it is inevitable. In Europe there are many people (many of them are high-ranking official) who consider that Russia is still enemy. And, unfortunately, there are many people who has habit to mix up sport and politics. You wrote that this position was neither acceptable nor understandable for you. It is GREAT words. I hope such people as you and we in future will change relations between Russia and Europe.

That is good !!   It would be very good if you go to Hochfilzen. It is place where UBR (Union Biathlete of Russia) is going to organize collective departure of Russia fans in December 2008. I am sure that our meeting there will be very productive for all of us and give us plenty fine moments. I hope to see you there !

Отредактировано Mandor (2008-04-25 17:22:34)