Original Link: http://www.newizv.ru/news/2010-01-13/119562/
English translated by Alyona, but not the full version, the main parts of it and the whole part about
Zhenya!


If ever you stop a
Russian citizen in the street and ask him who his favorite sportsman is, the
answers of course will be quite different. Football fans will most likely
remember the name of Andrey Arshavin. Tennis fans will mention Marat Safin.
Those who like basketball will tell you about Andrey Kirilenko. But if the same
kind of poll were made abroad, the rating of popularity of Russian sportsmen
would be absolutely different. Let us imagine what it could be.

– The first place of the most famous Russian
sportsman abroad with no doubt belongs to Maria
Sharapova.

– Those citizens of Northern
America who cannot do without ice hockey without doubt would
choose the name of Alexandr Ovechkin.

– There are some examples of the “local” popularity
as well. For instance, tennis fans from France would most likely choose Marat Safin.

– Russian gymnast Evgenia Kanaeva has recently won not only lots of gold medals but
also the whole army of Japanese fans. In Japan there are dozens of Kanaeva’s
fan clubs; on her fan sites you can find all possible photos and videos of the
gymnast with ribbon, clubs or rope. It is not difficult to understand why
Evgenia is so popular among the Japans. Gymnasts on the carpet are the live
embodiment of anime heroes. It is well known that the target audience of the
Japanese animation are not children but teenagers and grown ups. That’s why our
Zhenya is perceived as “Seilor-Mun” who has descended on the Earth. For the
sake of justice let’s say that some other former and active Russian gymnasts
are loved by Japanese fans. Earlier the first place of the rating was taken by
Alina Kabaeva; and now it is given to the girl with a difference of only one
letter in the last name.

↓this picture was found here，so lovely
http://www.pixiv.net/tags.php?tag=%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8A%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AF