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- PEOPLE, Page 106RESTING ON HIS LAURELS
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- By Howard G. Chua-Eoan/Reported by Sally B. Donnelly/MOSCOW
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- You want medals? He's got medals. You want speed? He's got
- speed. In fact Vyacheslav Fetisov, 30, has just about
- everything a modern Soviet man might want: a Mercedes-Benz,
- high-top sneakers, Olympic gold. And why shouldn't he? Fetisov
- is Marx's gift to hockey, an ice-rink demigod Wayne Gretzky has
- called "one of the greatest players in the sport." But there's
- one thing Fetisov can't do: play. For two months, ever since he
- brought glasnost to hockey and publicly criticized his coach,
- Viktor Tikhonov, for poorly managing the Central Army Sports
- Club, Fetisov has been benched. Tikhonov insists on an apology.
- No, says Fetisov. "The coach pretends to take care of his
- athletes, but he cares only for himself." The icy battle has
- held up plans for Fetisov to play for the New Jersey Devils. But
- perhaps spring will bring a thaw. Last week another player,
- Sergei Priakin, was allowed to join the Calgary Flames.
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