Russia’s women’s squad is loaded with Olympic experience!

Starting with this woman right here…

Outside hitter Evgenia Artamonova-Estes will participate in her 6th Olympic Games. Take note, she is the ONLY volleyball player in the world (or maybe the only ATHLETE) who has competed in 6 consecutive Olympics. Estes has already made history! BUT Estes has NOT win any GOLD. Zhenya made her Olympic debut with USSR at the 1992 Barclona Games and won a silver medal. Then finished 4th in 1996 Atlanta, silver in 2000 Sydney, silver again in 2004 Athens and a disappointing 5th in Beijing 2008.

No doubt London will be her final Olympics so we hope she will finally achieve her dream to win an Olympic Gold. 6th times the charm? We never know.

Joining Estes with the most Olympic experience are Lioubov Sokolova (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008) and Ekaterina Gamova (2000, 2004, 2008). Just like Zhenya, Lyuba and Katya are seeking Olympic Gold in London.

Anyways, the following 12 players will represent Russia at the 2012 London Olympics:

Setters: Evgeniya Startseva, Anna Matienko
Middle Blockers: Maria Borodakova-Borisenko, Maria Perepelkina, Iuliia Merkulova
Outside/ Opposite Hitters: Ekaterina Gamova, Goncharova, Sokolova, Evgenia Estes, Tatiana Kosheleva
Liberos: Svetlana Kryuchkova, Ekaterina Kabeshova

On the other hand, we’re so glad Kosheleva is going. Girlfriend was having physical problems within the last 6 months. Doctors finally gave her clearance to compete after that annoying knee injury which resulted to an injury and took longer to heal.

What Do You Think of Russia’s Roster?

Men’s Roster

As expected, the great Maxim Mikhaylov is on the roster and of course he will THE player to lead Russia just like what he’s done within the last year or so. Under Maxim’s powerful wings, Russia has won the 2011 World League and the 2011 World Cup to qualify for London.

Sadly, outside hitter Dennis Biryukov has been axed from the team. Rumor has it that BB got lazy and just pretty much stopped training hard. He might have thought he was already on the Olympic team because of his performance last season. Well Dennis, that’s not the case!

Without further ado, the following 12 athletes will represent Russia at the 2012 Olympics:

Setters: Sergey Grankin, Alexander Butko
Middle Blockers: Nikolay Apalikov, Dmitriy Muserskiy, Alexander Volkov
Outside Hitters: Taras Khtey, Sergey Tetyukhin, Yury Berezhko, Dmitriy Ilinykh
Opposite Hitters: Maxim Mikhaylov
Liberos: Alexander Sokolov, Alexey Obmochaev

As for the player with the most Olympic experience, it would be none other than Sergey Tetyukhin, who won a silver medal at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

In 2008, Russia won the bronze medal.

Being one of the top favorites to win gold but they choke during crucial matches, we hope they can finally fulfill their Olympic dream.

What Do You Think of Russia’s Roster?

(images: FIVB)