A modest haul Grigory Pasko, journalist The Russian Olympic team, poor in gold medals, evokes a feeling of pity in me. The athletes are forced to be distracted by events that have nothing to do with the Olympics. For example, by the war of Russia with Georgia. For four days they were forced, as someone joked, to fight on two fronts. And then to participate three days in hypocritical mourning for those killed during the time of the Russo-Georgian conflict. Who can think about medals…? But there are yet other certain circumstances to which I would like to bring the attention of readers. A silver prizewinner of the Beijing Olympiad, Nastya Pozdnyakova, lives and trains in Houston. She goes to school there too – at the University of Houston, in the department of the theory of the arts AND her boyfriend – is a Canadian. Before moving to Houston, the young woman lived in Elektrostal. It so happened that I have been there. A small town on the outskirts of Moscow. Houston, of course, would be more interesting. And Nastya herself on one of the interviews said that living in Houston is better. (Photo: Silver prizewinner of the Olympiad Nastya Pozdnyakova (front), with teammate Julia Pakhalina (rear) – source)