Ludmila Kostousova, a teacher of EnglishLyceum #1, Kungur, Perm Krai

*Vladimir Alikin

*I remember it as if it was yesterday. *In 1980 I entered Perm State Pedagogical Institute

and at the ceremony of the beginning of the school year the Rector of the Institute proudly told us about Vladimir Alikin, the student of Physical Training Faculty. By that time he had become an Olympic champion in Lake-Placid.

*He was my idol at that time. Born in the Urals, I was crazy about skiing and knew how difficult that sport was; but when I saw Vladimir Alikin skiing, and shooting, and winning I fell in love with biathlon.

The fact that Vladimir was from the Perm Region appealed to my heart. Besides, to my mind, he was as quick as a flash and was brilliant at shooting.

Vladimir was born in a small provincial town of the Perm Region Nytva and he was good at skiing in his childhood. In 1977 Vladimir started to go in for biathlon where he was a success from the very beginning.

*The 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid were the highlight of Vladimir Alikin’s sport career. There Alikin won a gold medal with the USSR relay team and a silver medal in the sprint event. *In the World Championships he has won four medals: *bronze in 10 km sprint in 1982,*three relay bronze medals in 1979, 1981, and 1982.*In 1980 Vladimir won the Biathlon World Cup in 10 km sprint and USSR Championships in the same event.

*In 1990 Vladimir Alikin became a coach. He started working in the skiing team of Armed Forces sports society. In seven years he became a chief coach of Khanty-Mansiisky biathlon team. *Nowadays the famous biathlonist is responsible for the main men’s biathlon team of Russia. *He believes in his sportsmen as he believed in himself in 1980 and I’m sure our sportsmen will win!