In its sixth straight (!) Final Four appearance CSKA grabbed the second continental title in three years cruising past Maccabi Tel Aviv 91-77 in the final in Madrid. Hadn't they lost by a thread a year earlier to Panathinaikos, the Muscovites could have made it three in a row - a rare feat in modern basketball. For CSKA's Italian coach Ettore Messina it was the fourth European crown making him the second winningest coach in European club basketball, trailing only Panathinaikos' Zeljko Obradovic with six titles.
On the heels of its first domestic championship in 23 years, the St. Petersburg-based outfit bulldozed its way to the UEFA Cup final where it blanked Scottish giants Rangers. Three months later, the club's trophy cabinet accommodated another piece of silverware as Zenit stunned Manchester United in the European Super Cup tie in Monte Carlo. The impressive list of Zenit's ‘victims' en route to those titles, including FC Bayern, Manchester United, Olympique Marseille, Villarreal, Bayer Leverkusen, etc., added even more gloss to the Russian club's historic success.
It took 15 long years of expectations and dashed hopes for Russia to reclaim global supremacy in ice hockey. Back in 1993, when Yashin, Bykov & Co. triumphed in Germany Ilya Kovalchuk was a 10-year-old kid dreaming about becoming Russia's next Valery Kharlamov, his childhood idol. Fifteen years later in Quebec City, Kovalchuk first sent the final game against Canada into overtime with his maiden goal of the tournament, and then silenced the home crowd with his second strike that brought his country the coveted gold.
Having started its Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with a disappointing home draw against Croatia, Russia still looked set to qualify after sensationally beating favored England in Moscow. However, a couple of defensive blunders in the away tie against Israel (Russia lost 1:2) meant only a miracle could save it in the last round... and it did! Croatia downed England at Wembley, booking a place at the June 7-29 extravaganza for Guus Hiddink's squad, too. At Euro, Russia stormed out of its group and then staged one of the biggest upsets, ousting Holland in the quarters! Spain in the semi was just too good.
While its overall performance at the XXIX Olympics was just a distant cry from the impressive Soviet-era medal hauls, two Russian wins in the Chinese capital do stand out among others: the pole-vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva captured her second Olympic gold clearing a new world record of 5.05 m, while tennis star Yelena Dementieva led her compatriots Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonaryeva to claim the podium in women's singles.
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