Alena Leonova's blog in English

[Ellen]

Ellen, since you are Russian and live in Russia, I've been meaning to ask you are preparations already underway for the Sochi 2014 Olympics? I know this will be the very first time in history that Russia will be hosting them, so I'm curious to know ALL, and I do mean ALL, as I plan on attending them with my baby niece.

You can PM me if you want. I honestly hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Nadine

p.s. sorry for going off topic, my apologies.

Nadine, I sent you an e-mail. Please check your mailbox.

[Nadine]

*thumbs up*

[Fashionista]

I know this will be the very first time in history that Russia will be hosting them,

Should we count Soviet times?

[Nadine]

Lol, I knew when I wrote that someone would bring it up (just as janetfan brought up my not being there from the very beginning in terms of Sonja Henie's advent into skating), but I didn't care, I knew what I meant.

However, for your & anybody else's clarification, yes, the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Olympic Games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics). However, this will be the very first time that Russia will host a Winter Olympic Games ever(http://www.mahalo.com/sochi).

p.s. and boy do I remember the boycott of 1984 because in my mind Mary Lou Retton's Gold Medal was never legitimate because she did not compete against the very best (Russia), which is why I've always considered Shannon Miller the best female gymnast the United States has ever produced (and, lol, it's no coincidence that she went to Russia to emulate them early on in her career; she was better than Tatiana Gutsu; that landing was the best I've ever seen 10.0!).

[Fashionista]

Lol, I knew when I wrote that someone would bring it up (just as janetfan brought up my not being there from the very beginning in terms of Sonja Henie's advent into skating), but I didn't care, I knew what I meant.

Then isn't it better to try to be clear so everybody could understand what you mean? It's easy, for example, you could write: "this will be the first time Russia hosts winter Olympic games" or something like that. Is it difficult?

[Nadine]

If you knew the answer, which you obviously did, you could've posted that yourself instead of saying "should we count Soviet times". It's no big deal. I chose not to.

[Olympia]

I think it's interesting and a bit of a surprise that this is the first time for Russia to be hosting the Winter Olympics. They have always been such contenders in the Winter Games, not just in skating but in other sports as well. It's high time they get to host a Games. Considering the fabulous Russian musical tradition, the opening ceremonies are sure to be memorable.

[Mikhail]

New blog entries:
Hello From China http://en.alena-leonova.ru/blog/hell.../2010-11-05-22
China, Day 2 http://en.alena-leonova.ru/blog/chin.../2010-11-05-23