Andrei Arshavin named Russian Athlete of the Year

Zenit Saint Petersburg is proud to announce that Andrei Arshavin has been named Russian Athlete of the Year. Organized by Sport Express the Russian international edged out Olympian Elena Isinbaeva, who successfully defended her Gold Medal in the Pole Vault at the Beijing Games while establishing a new world record and Alexander Ovechkin, a product of the Dynamo Moscow system who plys his trade for the Washington Capitals of the NHL.

In accepting the honour, Andrei graciously noted he felt Alexander Ovechkin was more deserving:


"Any kind of voting reflects opinion of some group of people, so you should treat these things calmly. If I had an opportunity to vote, I would have chose Alexandr Ovechkin as the best athlete of the year in Russia. He was leader of our hockey team at the World championship in Canada"