The deputy spoke about the lucky mascots of Russian athletes

Olympic champion and State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova spoke about the lucky mascots of athletes.

In conversation with aif.ru On Wednesday, February 4, she noted that Ilya Malinin, a figure skater from the United States, plans to compete at the 2026 Olympics in skates with bright yellow laces, which were presented to him by Alexander Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals NHL club.

"Athletes, of course, have mascots. For example, I used to run in a watch that was given to me by two-time Olympic champion Sveta Masterkova. I ran around in this watch for a very long time, in my opinion, I didn't even take it off until the strap completely broke. So there are moments like this, someone has toys, small talismans that are so soothing, and they are on backpacks or on bags with which they go to the stadium, someone even takes them with them," Zhurova shared.

She also said that in her practice there was an athlete who for a long time went to the start in socks, in which he became a champion at a junior age. Despite the fact that they eventually tore and holes appeared on his heels, he continued to run in them, considering them happy, and even performed in them at the Olympic Games. She also gave other examples of sports mascots, noting that Malinin's shoelaces from Ovechkin are considered such, and Elena Vyalbe's is the famous pink cap.

Zhurova added that Malinin plans to use Ovechkin's "lucky" shoelaces only in exceptional cases.

American figure skater with Russian roots: biography of Ilya Malinin

In March 2025, the ISU recognized him as the best figure skater of the year.

On February 3, a video from Ilya Malinin's first pre-Olympic training appeared online. The figure skater took to the ice in skates with bright yellow laces, the same ones used by Alexander Ovechkin. Malinin confirmed that the shoelaces were a gift from a Russian hockey player, and said that he plans to skate in them throughout the Olympics. The athlete represents the U.S. national team.

Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin announced on January 29 that Russian Peter Gumennik is able to compete for leadership with American figure skater Ilya Malinin at the Olympic Games. At the same time, Yagudin agreed with Tatiana Tarasova's position, noting that at the moment the athlete from the United States remains inaccessible. 360.ru .

On January 22, the Russian figure skating champion Pyotr Gumennik shared a similar opinion. At the same time, he stressed that the dominance of the American does not affect his own training, since he has already determined the optimal set of elements for himself — quite complex and at the same time confidently executed.

Ilya Malinin is a two-time world champion, won the Grand Prix final three times and became the US champion four times. In addition, he entered the history of figure skating as the first athlete to perform the quadruple axel at official competitions, writes RT.

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