From manpower to horsepower; the face of sporting Russia in Russian sports documentaries

Hosting an Olympic Games and World Cup has seen a resurgence in interest in Russian sports. The country excels at the mainstream such as football, athletics, and gymnastics, and many more specialist sports besides. Whether it’s racing cars or bikes on ice, snowboarding down near-vertical slopes, to diving beneath the freezing waters of the Arctic Russian sportsmen and women, take amazing risks to become champions at what they do. However, excellence can also bring tragedy as happened with the plane crash that wiped out the Yaroslavl ice hockey team.