Also on Feb. 12, a week before the ice dancing finals, Tokhtakhounov told Anissina's mother in a telephone call that the Russian federation official "had called me from America" to assure that "we are going to make" Anissina "an Olympic champion." He told her that the Russian skating federation official "will help -- he has two or three judges." On or about March 7, in a conversation between Tokhtakhounov and Anissina, she said she would have won the event without his assistance because the Russian judge did not vote for her and her partner. She also apologized for not calling to thank him earlier, but that Gailhaguet had forbidden her. She told Tokhtakhounov that she knew the FBI had interviewed Gailhaguet because of information that Tokhtakhounov "was involved with the results" of the ice dancing. He assured her that it was nonsense, but that Gailhaguet "knows my name very well -- he tried to help me, and later he made stuff up to scare you so you would not connect me to him even more." The conversations seem to indicate a familiarity between Tokhtakhounov and Anissina. Tass, the official Russian news agency, reported that Anissina attended a ceremony in 1999 at a Paris hotel honoring Tokhtakhounov for his philanthropy. That Russian organized crime may have infiltrated international sport at the Olympics stunned Phyllis Howard, president of the U.S. Figure Skating Association. "This is a criminal act and it certainly puts things in a different league," Howard said. Lloyd Ward, chief executive officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said in a statement, "Competitors from all nations must be assured that they compete on a level playing field."

Who is going to help making Anissina "an Olympic champion"?

Little is known of the earliest Stone Age inhabitants of Europe's southwestern extremity. The ancient Greeks called them the Cynetes (or Cunetes). Whatever their origins, their culture evolved under the pressure and influence of foreign forces. Among the many invading armies that settled here and contributed to nascent Portuguese culture were Phoenicians, who settled in the area around 1,000 b.c., followed by the Celts, Iberians, Greeks, and Carthaginians. But it was the Romans, who arrived late in the third century b.c., who most greatly influenced all of Iberia. They built towns, industries, roads, and bridges, developed agriculture, and bequeathed the Latin language, of which Portuguese is a direct descendant. The Romans named the southwestern province of the peninsula Lusitania, oddly enough for one of the Celtiberian tribes they defeated, and by the third century a.d. had introduced Christianity. By the beginning of the fourth century the Algarve had a bishop in place, based in Faro. But Rome had already fallen into decay, and soon hordes of northern tribesmen took over the empire. The Algarve fell to the Visigoths in the mid-fifth century. Under Moorish Rule In a.d. 711, the Moors brought powerful armies from North Africa and launched a devastating attack on the Iberian peninsula, conquering much of what would become Spain and Portugal. They imposed Islam and left an indelible influence on the countryside and the population of the Algarve. The Moorish legacy can still be seen in the form of wells and waterwheels, squat white houses, the dark complexions of the people, and in the very name given the regiontaken from Al-Gharb, which means "country of the west" (when the Moors conquered the territory, it was the most westerly in the known world). The Moors governed their Iberian kingdoms from across the border in Seville, but the Algarve had its own regional capital and huge, invulnerable fortress. The capital was Chelb (or Xelb), and it was bigger and better defended than Lisbon. Today the town, known as Silves, is a provincial outpost whose only besiegers are busloads of tourists who climb the narrow streets up to the old Moorish ramparts.

Who imposed Islam on the population of the Algarve?

Tropical climates are found around the equator. These climates have warm temperatures year round. Tropical climates may be very wet or wet and dry. Tropical wet climates occur at or very near the equator. They have high rainfall year round. Tropical rainforests grow in this type of climate. Tropical wet and dry climates also occur near the equator. They receive less rainfall. Most of the rain falls in a single season. The rest of the year is dry. Few trees can withstand the long dry season. The main plants are grasses. Dry climates receive very little rainfall. They also have high rates of evaporation. This makes them even drier. Deserts can get less than 25 centimeters of rain per year. Thats less than 10 inches per year. How much rain do you get at your house?
Where does it rain less than 10 inches a year?