Alexander BokulevDeputy editorial manager SportAll materialsLake Placid, 1980. The USSR men's cross-country skiing team won Olympic gold in the relay. And then how cut off … But after 42 years, domestic sports are again marked by the triumph of skiers. Alexey Chervotkin, Alexander Bolshunov, Denis Spitsov and Sergey Ustyugov are Beijing Olympic champions in the relay. The excellent classist Chervotkin, as expected, ran the first stage of the race. Having passed the starting kilometers in the group of leaders, on the second lap the Russian began to create a gap. At the peak moment, the athlete “brought” his rivals for more than half a minute, but at the finish line he was ahead of the German and Italian by 24 seconds — of course, also a worthy reserve for Bolshunov. It is important that Emil Iversen fell off at the first stage. The Norwegian, who is having an extremely difficult season, nevertheless joined the team for the Olympics, but already in Beijing he initiated a scandal. The talkative skier criticized the leadership of the national team for not being put on an individual race, although they allegedly promised. In the relay, Iversen did not back up his loud statements with deeds, lagging behind Chervotkin by 34 seconds.
