Early Life
Smirnov was born in Shuchinsk (formerly of Kokshetau Oblast, now Akmola Oblast, Kazakh SSR. During the Soviet period, he trained at the Armed Forces sports society in Alma-Ata.
In 1994, he received the Holmenkollen Medal (shared with Lyubov Yegorova and Espen Bredesen).
Read more about this topic: Vladimir Smirnov (skier)
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)