Any article that captures Alex Ovechkin’s awesome personality is a total win in our book. Hence why we sent Fedor off to translate this Sports.ru story where a reporter asked Ovi and several other famous Russians what they think the mascot should be for the upcoming Sochi Games. Take a look below!

Ambassadors of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, Alexander Ovechkin, Natalia Vodianova, Oksana Domnina and Maksim Shabalin, Albert Demchenko, and Alexey Voevoda, supported a website that accepts public designs for the new Olympic mascot. They also offered their own ideas.

“The mascot should be funny, ” Ovechkin said. “I suggest a sheep (Ovechkin’s last name means sheep) either with a hockey stick or on top of a snowboard.”

Model Natalia Vodianova said she’d like to see a white tiger as the mascot. “It’s an endangered species and it needs our support. I’ll draw my tiger not as a toy, but graceful and beautiful. I like the belt which was used for the Bear (1980 Olympics mascot), and I’ll borrow this”.

Former figure skating world champion Maksim Shabalin believes that the mascot should be a kind animal with a moving and shy glance. His partner, Oksana Domnina, is convinced that the mascot will be a dolphin who personifies the beauty of Sochi’s nature.

Luger Albert Demchenko chose the golden fish (Russian Folk Lore) which executes wishes and will bring a lot of wins for the Russian athletes.

Two-time Olympic medalist in bobsled Alexey Voevoda thought that the sea horse would be the ideal mascot. In Russian, “horse” means “skate” as well, and that’s why he offers this.

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

A full week after his first appearance on Russian radio this summer, Alex Ovechkin made his second appearance on the radio station Mayak, Saturday.  Ovi spoke with Regina Sevostyanova and their conversation covered a variety of topics including Russia’s failure at the Vancouver Olympics, how the Russian National Team should respond in Sochi, and the dreaded smoking scandal.

Below the fold, we translated the Sports.ru article which did a transcription of the interview.

Alex Ovechkin: “I don’t think our World Championship team was better than the one in the Olympics. But even if one version of the team was better than another, it doesn’t mean the first will win. Coincidence, they scored, we didn’t. Everyone wants to win. No, the result of the Olympics and World Championships aren’t haunting my dreams. I try to forget such moments.”

“I reacted positively to the contract extensions of [Russian coaches] Vyacheslav Bykov and Igor Zakharkin. If we’re looking towards Sochi, we need to do some preparation and we need to think about what we should do and how. What we need to take from the [gold medal-winning] Canadians is this: After the Torino Olympics ended, they began scouting the players they would face in Vancouver. And it worked. We must look to the best. The match with the Canadians, of course, is the most fundamental. It’s like dessert after a good dinner.” [Ed Note: Russian sayings are the best..]

“The National Team has a backbone, which is created by the coaches. Those guys are the leaders, the players team always need. Sometimes coaches choose players who are less talented, but can create a hard-working atmosphere. We need them, too. Every player on the team, including the coaches, completely trust and understand each other.”

“In regards to the story about smoking during the World Championships, I can say that everybody has their own life and does what they feel they should do. In America, for example, you can drink and smoke — you just have to provide the result. We didn’t get the job done in Germany, we were only second. But if you saw how hard we fought, you can’t say we lost due to that story. It’s ravings. People who publish this kind of stuff, don’t care for the Russian Team. They are traitors in my opinion.”

TJ of Alex Ovetjkin also found some more interesting Ovechkin quotes from the same show. In his translation Ovi talks about if he has a Facebook, which famous people he’d like to meet, and if he would ever run for public office. Check it out.