MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti sports writer Mikhail Smirnov) - This year the traditional, third national sports prize GLORY shall be for the first time awarded for the results of the Olympic year. It is not surprising, therefore, that outstanding Russian athletes - winners of the Olympic Games in Athens - are listed among the contenders for the prize in ten nominations.

Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Khasan Baroyev and Olympic champion in the 800-metre race Yuri Borzakovsky will vie for the prize in the Best Man Athlete nomination. They will compete with world champion in figure skating Yevgeny Plushchenko and world champion in boxing Konstantin Tzyu.

Double Olympic champions in synchronized swimming Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Yermakova, Olympic champion in pole vault Yelena Isinbayeva, and also champion of the Athens Olympics in the broad jump Tatyana Lebedeva will vie for the GLORY prize in the Best Woman Athlete nomination. They will compete with tennis player Anastasia Myskina who did not register a major success at the Olympics but won the French Open and the Fed Cup.

The heroes of the Athens Olympics - the men's rowing quadruple sculls crew - is likely to be unmatched in the Best Men's Team nomination, though it has worthy competitors - the Lokomotiv-Belogorye men's volleyball team which won the Euroleague-2004, the KAMAZ-Master squad which emerged victorious in the Telefonica-Dakar-2004 race, and European champion of 2004 - Russia's national four-men bobsleigh team.

An impressive company of contenders has assembled also in the nomination Best Women's Team. It includes the Olympic champions - the synchronized swimming, modern rhythmic gymnastics and epee fencing squads, and Russia's national tennis team - the winner of the world team championship, the Federation Cup.

The winner in the Best Coach nomination must be chosen from-among Irina Viner (modern rhythmic gymnastics), Valery Kulichenko (athletics), Tatyana Pokrovskaya (synchronized swimming), and Shamil Tarpishchev (tennis).

Interesting names figure in the Discovery of the Year nomination. They are Olympic champion in track cycling Mikhail Ignatyev, champion of the Athens Olympics in modern pentathlon Andrei Moiseyev, Olympic champion in the high jump Yelena Slyusarenko, and Wimbledon winner Maria Sharapova.

Olympic silver medallist in the 50 km walk Denis Nizhegorodov, bronze medallist of the Athens Olympics in judo Dmitry Nosov, Olympic champions from Russia's national synchronized swimming team, and Olympic silver medallists from Russia's national women's volleyball team will contest the prize in the For Will Power nomination.

An Olympic silver medallist in cycling, legendary Vyacheslav Yekimov, champion of the Olympics-2000 in trampolining Alexander Moskalenko who competed in Athens with an unhealed injury, and famous gymnast Alexei Nemov, who calmed down the Olympic audience in Athens displeased with the judging, deserve top honours in the Fair Play (Sportsmanship) nomination.

Two-time champion of the Paralympic Games in athletics Artem Arefyev, Champion of the Paralympic Games in swimming Igor Plotnikov and Paralympic champion in swimming Olga Sokolova will compete for the prize in the Overcoming nomination (invalids' sport).

It is noteworthy that some contestants - Nemov and Moskalenko - will retire from competition sport in the same evening of May 21. The others will further uphold the titles they have won.

And, lastly, legendary Lidia Skoblikova, a famous Soviet woman speed skater and the only six-time Olympic champion in women's speed skating, figures in the Legend nomination this time.

The prize was instituted by the SLAVA Academy of Outstanding Sports Achievements which includes famous coaches, athletes, cultural figures, scientists and sports journalists. All in all, they number 320.