Russians Step Up in U.S. Tour : Running: Markova and Pushkariova, who will compete Sunday in Carlsbad, have been impressive as they prepare for Olympics.

Sit close enough to Shamu at Sea World, and you get what’s coming to you.

Drenched.

Russia’s Olga Markova did just that on an early weekday visit, and was doused from head to toe.

“Big whale,” she said.

Big splash. But instead of a change of clothes, Markova opted for a change of shoes. Because when the shoes get wet, so do the feet, and when the feet are carrying you to world-class prominence in running, you don’t take chances.

Markova and Inna Pushkariova were whale-watchers for a day, but most of what they are seeing in their 10-day stop in San Diego is asphalt. The St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) residents will run Sunday in the Carlsbad 5000, their fifth race in a whirlwind tour of the United States.

It is the first time either has run here, and they are using this and the preceding races for training toward the goal of their first Olympic appearance. For Markova, who hopes to compete in Barcelona this summer in the marathon, this distance is a sprint. For Pushkariova, who is attempting to make the team in the 3,000 meters, the 5K is more like an endurance event.

“A soldier is not a good soldier if he’s not trying to become a general,” Markova said of their racing flexibility, through an interpreter. “For sure this is our first time here, but we hope it will not be our last.”

Nor will it likely be the last anyone hears of Markova, 23. Although she has had past modest success on the U.S. road-racing circuit, her breakthrough came in the fall, when she finished second in the New York City Marathon to Liz McColgan, last year’s Carlsbad winner.

“I was very surprised,” Markova said of her showing. “Now it seems that everyone knows me.”

ESPN commentator Toni Reavis said he didn’t know much about Pushkariova--she was sixth in the St. Patrick’s Day 10K race in Torrance--but that “Markova’s the stud.”

And more than delighted with her performances of late. Markova proved New York wasn’t a fluke when she outran a tough field in the Jacksonville River Run in Florida early in March. A week later she sent a wake-up call to world champion Wanda Panfil with a victory at the St. Patrick’s race.

“She has to have a good feeling about that,” Reavis said. “A victory against Wanda, the No. 1 marathoner in the world, is a good sign. . . . I’d have to say she’s a real contender for a medal in Barcelona.”

Markova didn’t put odds on her chances in Spain, but the stars have.

“I read in the horoscope that this would be a good year for me,” she said. “I should have read it much more often.”

But the past 12 months haven’t been so good to their homeland. St. Petersburg was spared the terror of tanks moving through the city, “In Leningrad, it’s more civilized,” Pushkariova said. Nevertheless, the collapse of the former Soviet Union last summer had a profound affect on the women.

“I felt paralyzed,” said Markova, who watched on television from abroad. “I couldn’t believe it. My mind was just running around, ‘What would I find when I went back?’ ”

Fast and furious reforms for one, some of which affected their running, both financially and philosophically.

“Now we have the freedom of choice,” said Pushkariova, 27. “We can set our own goals and pursue the things we want.”

Given the choice when she started running 14 years ago, Pushkariova said she might have pursued a dancing career. Instead, she married her coach when she was 18.

“He seduced me into running,” Pushkariova said with a laugh.

Markova probably would have chosen a running career, “because it is what I’m good at,” she said.

Changes have also forced the women to become good at money management, or to entrust it to a manager who can. Until recently, the government subsidized their efforts and divvied up their earnings.

“Before, the government would pay and we’d get small part of the prize money,” Markova said. “Now, it’s all ours, to give as we please.”

But unlike the past, the athletes are responsible for their own travel and living expenses, which puts the runners in the peculiar position of fending for themselves.

“It’s our job to win,” Pushkariova said. “If we don’t win, we go back with empty pockets.”

Even their approach to competition has changed. The women carry with them a renewed sense of pride.

“Before you relied on the approval of the government,” Markova said. “Now we are inspired, there is more stimulus inside ourselves to do better.”

Said Pushkariova: “There’s more honor when we have control.”

That is a change over previously successful Soviet athletes.

“We are more fortunate than they were,” Markova said. “We feel bad that famous athletes had to leave our county and go overseas to be in control. They had no choice.”

Because they are part of the perestroika generation, these women had privileges previously denied.

“We had opportunities, we weren’t as confined,” Pushkariova said.

Said Markova: “We feel very fortunate. It’s like a breath of fresh air.”

Reavis said the timing couldn’t have been better for Markova, who was “coming into her own as the program was falling apart. She had already made the transition,” and was gaining invaluable experience running in America.

“She was in a good position to take advantage of the system,” Reavis said.

Unlike many who make a name for themselves on the European or South American circuits, Markova has done it in here. She finished third in the L.A. Marathon last year, and won the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., in 1990.

Markova’s future appears bright, in part, because of the way she’s steered her career. She chipped away at the various levels to get where she is now.

“What I like about her is her ability to focus, set goals, reach them and not move too far ahead of herself to get there,” Reavis said. “They tell you to set realistic goals, and she seems to do that intelligently. She has a good idea of how to go to each level.”

Sunday’s race will be another good indicator as she heads for the next stop: Boston.

“These girls are strong and fit,” Reavis said of her competitors. “It will be interesting to see what she does.”