Alexander Popov

Popov did not start swimming until he was 8, because of his fear of water. "I was afraid of the water," explains Alex. "My father sent me to the pool and I have been stuck there ever since."

He began attending overseas swim camps at age 11 and by age 14, he was Russian junior champion.

He spends over 6 hours a day in the pool at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, where he has trained since his coach moved there in 1993, and swims 80-90km a week, much more than most sprinters do.

Unknown to many, Popov started out as a backstroker first, only switching to freestyle after joining the squad of highly respected coach Gennadi Touretski in October 1990. Alex hasn't given up backstroke altogether and occasionally competes in backstroke events for fun. But it was with his freestyle that propelled Popov to the number one ranking.

Following his tremendous successes at the 1996 Olympics held in Atlanta, where he snared multiple gold medals, Alexander returned to his Russian homeland to celebrate and to meet with various dignataries who were obviously eager to congratulate him. On his way home from one such reception in Moscow he was stabbed in the stomach, damaging his kidneys and grazing his lungs. It turns out that he was attempting to purchase some fruit from a street vendor, and they got into an argument over the price of some inferior quality watermelons. The crazed shopkeeper stabbed Alexander, causing him to be temporarily hospitalised.

Thin and drawn after his ordeal, Alex nevertheless kept up with the star's schedule that awaited him, including meetings with journalists and city officials, and the lengthy award ceremony in Volgograd.

Obviously touched, Alex admitted that the avalanche of get well wishes that he received while in hospital meant a lot to him. His doctor explained that Alex was very lucky that the damage had not been worse: the knife had damaged his pleural lining, but not his lungs. Surgery had lasted more than two hours.

Despite the serious nature of the setback, he says he prefers to put it behind him. He is as determined as ever to be in Sydney in four years, and says that nothing will stop him.

He started skating when he was four years. Being the youngest of all in the skating group, was very hard for him. He used to cry, hit hard the ice, but he kept on going. He trained every day with his coach Mikhail Makoveyev. He was a good student, learnd very quickly all sort of elements, like the Biellmann Spin. Now, the Biellmann Spin is his trademark.

Evgeny Plushenko is the only senior male figure skater in the world who is capable of doing the Biellmann Spin.

When he was 11, Evgeny did all triples, which means that he was already a figure skater of a very high level. But at the same age, the local area was closed down due to financial problems and Evgeni had to quit figure skating. His mother tried to make him play other sports, like soccer and karate. For a while he agreed, but quickly pulled out. Ice and figure skating became a part of him during the 7 years of hard work. His mother and coach Makoveyev took him to St. Petersburg to meet the famous coach Alexei Mishin. It was obvious to Mishin that Evgeny was very talented.

Evgeny and his mother moved together to St. Petersburg. They lived in an austere apartment and were supported by Mishin. But soon they found out that they could not afford to live in St. Petersburg both. His mother went back to Volgograd and from there, Evgeni had to do everything on his own. It was hard for him, being just 11 years old and living by himself. Mishin helped him, fed him and gave him money. A year later, his mother, who could not bear anymore being away from her son, went back to St. Petersburg.

It was hard for him to reach the top. He worked hard for so many years, had to overcome a lot of problems in his childhood. But still, we have to believe that it was faith, him becoming one of the world's best figure skater. Maybe it was faith too that he had to reach the top by overcoming so many problems. It taught him how to fight and not to give up to easily. He skates with his hearth, with so much passion.

Kournikova, at age 15, qualified and made it to the fourth round of the 1996 U.S. Open, her first Grand Slam. A year later, she became only the second woman in the Open era (after Chris Evert) to reach the semifinals in her Wimbledon debut. In ’98 she beat four Top 10 players in as many days to reach her first career final, in Miami. Three months later, she beat Steffi Graf on grass, something only two others accomplished in the 1990s.

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"I don't think there's animosity. My gosh, that's a strong word to use," Seles said after the exhibition match. "She's dedicated her life to this sport. She's one of the hardest workers on tour."