The President said, in particular, in his message:
“You helped to develop Russian skiing’s victorious traditions and wrote your name in the chronicles of world sport and Olympic history.
Your active civic position and the constant attention you give to professional training for young sportspeople and promoting mass physical culture and a healthy lifestyle deserve our great respect”.
Raisa Smetanina won four Olympic gold medals (1976, 1980, 1992) and was five-times world champion.