When Alex Ovechkin won the Stanley Cup in 2018, he made one of his biggest childhood dreams come true. Throughout his 15 years in the NHL, Ovechkin has scored 706 goals, tallied over 1000 points, and is the only player in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup along with the Conn Smythe, Calder, Art Ross, Hart, Ted Lindsay, and Maurice Richard Trophies. But there is still one thing that eludes Ovi, and it’s not overtaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record.

Ovechkin spoke about the topic with Russian Television International’s Tina Kandelaki earlier this month.

Elizabeth Winters has the translation.

Tina Kandelaki: Career-wise, you have achieved everything in sports.
Alex Ovechkin: Not everything. I still don’t have the Olympic gold.
Tina Kandelaki: Well, then you have to wait for two more years.
Alex Ovechkin: Who knows with the pandemic….

Alex Ovechkin’s mother, Tatyana, is a two-time Olympic gold-medal winner as a member of the Soviet Union’s basketball team (1976, 1980). Ovechkin has always wanted to emulate his mother’s success and wears the number eight in honor of her in the NHL. Tatyana constantly brought Ovi to the basketball court during his childhood, but hockey was always more of a natural fit for him.

Tina Kandelaki: I read about the fact that your parents did not want you to go into hockey. Is this really such a traumatic sport? That is, were they initially against it?
Alex Ovechkin: No. What do you mean they didn’t want me to? On the contrary, everyone wanted me to play hockey. My mom is a two-time Olympic champion in basketball. She would like me to be a calm basketball player. We spent 24 hours a day on the basketball court. But I think this is some kind of destiny. I immediately liked hockey, so to speak.

Ovechkin has participated in three Olympic Games for Russia: 2006 (Turin, Italy), 2010 (Vancouver, BC), and 2014 (Sochi, Russia). The team has not medaled any of those years, finishing fourth, sixth, and fifth respectively despite being one of the most talented teams in the tournament. Ovechkin has done his part scoring eight goals in 17 career games, five of which came in 2006.

One of the biggest highlights of his career is knocking Jaromir Jagr woozy with a big hit at center ice.

The only year Russia has had success recently was the 2018 Winter Olympics, but that was an anomaly. The NHL didn’t let its players compete in Pyeonchang and Russia was penalized due to state-supported cheating at the prior games. The 2018 Olympic Games didn’t recognize Russia as a part of the two-week tournament but did allow Russian athletes who weren’t doping to participate, thus the Olympic Athletes from Russia hockey team was born. Ilya Kovalchuk led the team gold.

Ovechkin’s next potential opportunity at the Olympics may be his last. The 2022 Winter Olympics is currently scheduled to be held in Beijing, China. Ovechkin will 37-years-old.