The President congratulated the athletes and wished them continued success.
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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon, friends,
It is a great pleasure to see you and to congratulate you on your brilliant results in Sheffield. You achieved excellent results on the ice in England, to the delight, of course, of the millions of Russian fans who were longing to see victories once more.
It was a captivating show as always, with the share of drama and passions that we usually see at such events. I hope you will say a few words about your experience today. I just want to say that I invited you all here in order to express my personal feelings and the feelings of your many fans, who love figure skating and had long hoped to see a return of Russia’s victories.
Of course, I note in particular Yevgeny Plyushchenko’s return to the ice. He demonstrated his best qualities, firm character and determination to fight to the end, which are important things for any athlete, especially when you have to defend your position.
Our skaters did very well in the pairs skating events, taking all the medals, and this is a cause for celebration for all fans of figure skating. Our athletes did well in the pairs ice dance events too, taking the bronze and silver medals.
In short, you all did a great job. Once again, we congratulate you sincerely and believe in your talents and your future.
The Olympic Games are not far off now, and in this respect it is very important to see how our young people are performing and get an idea of their future potential. I hope that we will see good results ahead.
Just a week ago, I met with medallists at the first Winter Youth Olympics, and I said on that occasion that we have a good talent pool and the main thing is to use it properly. I congratulate you, your trainers, and your team, and I congratulate your families too, for there can be no victories without them.
These meetings also send a signal to our boys and girls who are only just starting to take up figure skating, perhaps, or are not involved in any sport yet, but are just watching the TV and thinking about who to take as their models in life. Your examples are the best demonstration of how young people, young men and women, boys and girls, achieve success at these kinds of sports competitions. I hope that we will see more and more such examples in our country.
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Friends, this is an excellent occasion for meeting and it is good that we have done it so soon.
I hope very much that your sports careers will continue to be as successful. Some of you are already famous, while others have only just now started scaling these heights, but have already achieved great results.
Whichever the case, Sochi lies ahead, and this is a great labour. We will do everything to give you the conditions you need for your training, the confidence and comfort you need. We will do everything necessary. The rest depends on you, your trainers, your families, and on luck. Luck is not in your hands, but we can combine the efforts of all the rest and achieve success. I hope we will see each other again soon.