Runner Yuri Borzakovsky can’t say for sure if he has what Russians call “a speaking name”—borzoi/borzaya means wolfhound. But, true to his family name, he runs fast and light. And his style is not unlike a cunning hunter of wolves.

If it were not for 24-year-old Yulia Chepalova, Russia might have returned from the recent Nordic World Championships in Lahti, Finland without a single gold medal. True, Russia hasn’t lost the women’s 4x5 km relay race at a World Championship since 1989, but this time around Russia’s women’s team was not the odds-on favorite.

Russian computer wizards compare their American counterparts to intelligent, disciplined dogs, while their compatriots are unruly, freedom-loving tigers. So it is no small achievement that David Ian, 32, president of ABI, has managed to tame an elite band of Russian tigers.

Father Mark (born Sergei Golovkov) calls himself “deputy foreign minister of the Russian Orthodox Church.” He is responsible for protocol and arranging meetings between top leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and foreign leaders, secular and religious. So, in secular terms, one may call him a diplomat for Russia’s oldest social institution.

Thirty-year-old Maxim Larin is general director of Afanasy brewery (his wife Olga also works there). Under his tenure the company has pursued a unique pattern of growth and introduced a variety of successful brands, most notably a world-class porter, rich with oak and herbal undertones.

In Russian, the word proval means “a fall into.” So perhaps fate deemed that Denis Provalov, 32, would “fall into a cave” and become a spelunker—a “cave diver”.

In science, you don’t look for the easy ways.” This popular Russian maxim could well be applied to Yuri Visilter, who has never sought the easy path in his life or work.

In 1988, Natalia Vorobyova graduated with a degree in economic forecasting from the Applied Mathematics Faculty at Moscow’s Aerospace Institute. Four years later, as the Russian economy wallowed, Vorobyova applied her analytic skills to her family’s personal situation.

Aydyn Zeynalov is a very Russian artist with a very un-Russian name. A native of Moscow with roots in Azerbaidzhan, Zeynalov’s family history is typical of many former Soviet “subjects.”

"I was a very boisterous, frisky child,” recalled twenty-two year old Maria Alexandrova.

Dmitry Gudanov caught ballet fever in 1980, at the age of five, watching Bolshoi superstars Vladimir Vasiliev and Yekaterina Maximova dance The Nutcracker on television.

The British writer D.H. Lawrence once wrote “I hate the actor and audience business. An author should be in among the crowd, kicking their shins or cheering them on to some mischief or merriment.” Dmitry Lipskerov, 36, seems to have embraced Lawrence’s dictum.