Moscow Open

FOUNDER:
Automated Systems
and Technology Ltd.
Editorial Board
Chairman:
Mikhail Stepanyants
Deputy Chairman:
Yuriy Nagornykh,
Oleg Kurbatov
Council:
Evgeniy Bondarenko, Vadim Zelichenok,
Pavel Voronkov, Nataliya Ivanova,
Sergey Klyugin, Svetlana Masterkova,
Oleg Matytsin, Irina Privalova,
Svetlana Pleskach-Styrkina,
Nikolay Chesnokov, Marina Kuzina
Editor in Chief:
Oleg Kurbatov
Deputy Editor in Chief:
Elena Gulyaeva
Editors:
Andrey Kharchenko
Vladimir Spichkov
Elena Alekseeva
English Editing:
C.W. Wrigglesworth
Translation:
Tatyana Shirokova
Design:
Natalia Babikova
Photo:
Robert Maksimov, Nikolay Ivanov,
Alexander Kiselev, Reuters, IAAF
Cover:
Page 1 – photo by Alexander Kiselev,
pages 2, 3, 4 – photo by Robert Maksimov
This magazine is registered in the Federal Service
for the Supervision and Observance of the laws
on Mass Communication and the Protection of
Cultural Heritage.
Registration Certificate ПИ № 23314
dated 5th May 2006.
Circulation 1500 issues
Editorial office address:
Office 108, Bldg 3,
9, Malaya Semenovskaya Street
107023, Moscow, Russia
Tel/Fax: +7 495 363 3251; +7 495 363 3250
E-mail: subscribe@athletics-magazine.com
Web Site: www.athletics-magazine.com
Printed by:
“Galeon”, House 16, Bldg 6,
Chasovaya Street,125135, Moscow
The editors are not responsible for the accuracy
of information published in advertising materials
and “quotations”. The reprinting or use of materials
from this magazine in any way is only permitted
with the Editor in Chief’s written consent.
Oleg Kurbatov
Editor in Chief
Dear Readers,
Weird weather! Sometimes,
you hear that it is impossible to have
athletics without rain.
But this year was something quite extraordinary;
there was rain everywhere;
Paris, Zurich and Zhukovsky were all
underwater. Not many of the competition
organisers were lucky with the
weather this year. With less and less
time remaining before the main athletics
events in the 2009 season, almost
every day I looked at the weather
forecast for the prognosis for the World
Championships in Berlin and asked
the question. “Is it really going to be
raining at the World Championships?”
I remembered 2005, when Helsinki
was literally flooded and the pole vault
competition had to be postponed until
the last day so that the spectators could
witness Elena Isinbaeva’s jumping. As
an organizer of a competition,
I am aware of how dependant outdoor
athletic results are on weather.
But God’s Office in heaven presented
us with perfect weather at the Olympic
stadium in Berlin so that the athletes
could not help but respond with outstanding
results.
Read in this issue of “Athletics”
magazine, the most interesting things
that happened in the athletic stadiums
of Europe this summer.
Mikhail Stepanyants
Chairman of the Editorial Council
Dear Friends,
This season I have watched with great interest
sportsmen gradually get into shape
whilst the Athletes’ Representatives tried
to offer them the most effective schedule
in order that they could earn money and
also get into their best form for the main
tournament of the season.
Competitions are held all over the world,
and the athletes move from city to city,
from country to country. Thanks to the
Internet and television, we can watch
how the competitions develop in almost
any part of the world. But, I have to
admit, I am always impatiently looking
forward to the arrival of the World
Championships, the main event of the
season. This year, these competitions
were warmly hosted by Berlin. I think
that this championship could rightly be
called the ‘Usain Bolt Championships’.
The images of his races were incredible
and Usain has probably become the
most famous athlete in the world. Usain
opened the Spanish football season by
making the first symbolic kick of the
ball in the Bernabeu stadium of the Real
Madrid football club. The spectators
were ecstatic.
Read all about how athletes prepared for
Berlin, and what then happened at the
World Championships, in this fresh issue
of our magazine.
Good luck!