Five Caps competing in Winter Olympics
They were not the usual trinkets that little kids get to play with. Then again not everyone’s mom is a former Olympian.
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But every so often, Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin would pull out the two Olympic gold medals won by his mother, Tatiana, as a basketball player for the Soviet Union at the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games.
The medals were not for show. Tatiana Ovechkin has always been modest about her success, keeping the medals in the garage of her family’s country house outside Moscow. But her achievements have long fueled her youngest son, who has always followed in his mother’s footsteps — right down to the famous No. 8 he wears for the Caps.
Ovechkin and four of his Washington teammates have another chance to match Tatiana when they head to Vancouver this weekend for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Ovechkin, forward Alex Semin and goalie Semyon Varlamov will play for Russia. They desperately want to avenge a hideous ending in Turino in 2006. The Russians beat rival Canada in the quarterfinals, but then were shut out a combined 7-0 in the semifinals and the bronze-medal game. They finished fourth.
Joining that trio is forward Nicklas Backstrom, who will play for Sweden. Forward Tomas Fleischmann will contribute to a darkhorse medal contender — the Czech Republic. The Caps have no Canadians — defenseman Mike Green was a controversial late cut — or Americans competing.
“We don’t talk about it actually. It was a long time ago,” Ovechkin said about his mother’s triumphs as a young woman. “Our family, we never look back. Of course I want to win two gold medals. I had one chance [in 2006] but it was bad time for us. This year I have another chance. But I want to win only one [kind of medal].”
Ovechkin and Semin helped Russia win the 2008 World Championships — clinched with a 5-4 overtime win over Canada in Quebec City. But they aren’t the only ones who have waited for this moment. Fleischmann, 25, watched his country win gold at Nagano in 1998.
“I was just a young guy and I was so excited for it,” said Fleischmann, who will likely play center for the Czechs. “But I didn’t say to myself ‘I hope to do that someday.’ I said ‘I have to do it. I’m going to do it.’ It’s all I’ve been thinking about.”
The Czechs took bronze in 2006. But the best bet to beat out Canada or Russia for the gold medal is Backstrom’s Swedish team — the one that actually finished on top in Turino. Backstrom already has worn his country’s classic blue and yellow jersey two times at the World Juniors — the prestigious under-20 tournament. He’s also played for Sweden at the World Championships on three separate occasions, but this is the first Olympic Games for the 22-year-old center.
