O, sport, you are peace!

Summer, June, football… The most usual association of 2006. The World Cup is clearly more than a regular sporting event. This is the Game, a sea of emotions, agitation, and excitement. Hundreds of thousands, if not tens of millions of people worldwide forget their likes and dislikes, different values and political adherence for the sake of the Game. The sacramental words of Baron Pierre de Coubertin “O, sport, you are peace!” never sound banal, and the World Cup is the best proof. Belarusian footballers still have a lot to learn from their western and eastern colleagues, and the best way to learn is to watch all matches live. As for other sports, Belarusians are often in the lead and may easily teach any other nation a lesson.

In his article “Genuine Team, Beautiful Play” Sergei Kanashits writes about the success of the Belarusian national hockey team at the world championships in Estonia. The world seemed quite impressed by the fair play of the Belarusians.

“The Belarusians were the pet of the public since the first days of the tournament. First, the team reached its best ever result by getting to the 6th place ahead of recognized professionals such as the USA and Slovakia. The Belarusians showed a modern hockey…”

“The Belarusian national team wrote another page of its history. Never before the team had played so beautifully. Will they be able to improve their achievements the next season? The coaches believe they will. Belarusian fans, too, started believing.”

Here is another example. Very impressive, too. “Belarusian women gymnasts are conquering the world,” concludes Dmitry Komashko in his article “Power in Beauty”. He quotes the former gymnast Albina Deryugina as saying “without ‘the jury factor’ and ‘influence of certain countries’ the unofficial world rating of gymnasts would look like that: Anna Bessonova at the top, and Inna Zhukova the second”. The rhythmic gymnastics tournament of the Grand Prix series, which is traditionally held in the Belarusian capital city every spring, proves that Belarusians are truly the best.

Belarus is on the very top in many sports, but this news can really be called the top story: Belarusians have conquered Everest!

Mountaineering is not an Olympic sport. The “scale of values” and peaks are different here, the main challenge being Everest, the 8,848-meter skyscraper that was for the first time conquered by man back in 1953. Since then Everest has been a sort of examination, a pedestal that, once you step on it, serves as proof that you are worthy. On May 23, at noon, Minsk time, the national banner of Belarus found itself fluttering on the very top of the highest mountain of the world. The flag was unfurled by the leader of the mountaineering expedition, Vladimir Telpuk.

“A truly great victory! exclaims the head of the Belarusian Federation of Mountaineering, Alexander Godlevsky. Viktor Lutov, Vladislav Kagan, Vladimir Telpuk and Mikhail Melnikov performed a real miracle.”
Sport is not the key column in this issue. It simply helps us to have a better look at the scope of possibilities that allow all of us to be proudly called “humans”.

[b]Viktor Kharkov[/b]

[i]Editor of “Беларусь.Belarus”[/i]