Raisa Smetanina personal life. Biography. Olympic records of Raisa Smetanina

Smetanina Raisa Petrovna (born in 1952) - took first place at the Olympics in cross-country skiing five times: 1976 - 10 km race and 4 x 5 km relay, 1980 - 5 km, 1988 and 1992. - in the 4x5 km relay race. became silver medalist Olympic Games: in 1976 - 5 km, in 1980 - in the 4x5 km relay, 1984 - 10 and 20 km, 1988 - 10 km. She received a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics in the 20 km race. Repeated world and USSR champion at various distances.

Born on February 29, 1952 in the village of Mokhcha, located in the northern part of the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Her parents were hereditary reindeer herders. Five boys and two girls grew up in a large family. From early childhood they learned to ski, which is one of the main means of transportation in the tundra.

The main fans of ski racing in this area at that time were two directors of neighboring schools, who organized training, competitions, and made amateur films about them.

Rai's first significant victory was an unexpected second place at the youth championship of the republic in Pechora. After graduating from school, the girl went to Syktyvkar, where she entered a pedagogical college. Here she began to seriously engage in skiing under the guidance of coach German Kharitonov.

After graduating from technical school in 1970, Raisa Smetanina remained in Syktyvkar and became a member of the national ski team of the Urozhay sports society.

In March 1971, at the suggestion of the USSR national team coach Ivanov, Raisa Smetanina was chosen among numerous applicants to participate in the Winter Olympics in Sapporo.

The hardest year for the young athlete was 1972, when she worked hard, learning the tricks of big-time skiing. She was coached by Viktor Ivanov, and Galina Kulakova took care of her in the national team. As a result, at the national championship, which took place in Murmansk, Smetanina took third place in the 5 and 10 km races.

In 1974, at the World Championships in Falun, a young skier received her first gold medal for the 4x5 km team relay. And at the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, when Galina Kulakova was unable to compete for first place due to health reasons, Raisa Smetanina became the head of the team of Soviet skiers.

At the five-kilometer distance, the skier lost only one second and four hundredths, losing first place to Helena Takalo. But, having carefully worked out the strategy for the next race with her coach, Smetanina won the 10 km distance, going faster than her opponent by a few fractions of a second. The result of the Olympics is one silver and two gold medals.

In 1980, at the Olympics in Lake Placid, for the first time in the history of cross-country skiing, the Russian runner Smetanina won the ski podium for the second time individual races. In 1982, at the World Championships in Oslo, she won a gold medal at a distance of 20 km, becoming the only Russian athlete to be among the top six.

At the XIV Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Raisa Smetanina won two silver medals in ten- and twenty-kilometer distances, and in 1985 at the World Championships she received a gold medal for the relay.

At the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, the racer lost first place to the young Lithuanian Ventsena at a distance of 10 km, and at a distance of 20 km she took only third place, giving the first two prizes to Tikhonova and Reztsova.

Knowing full well that sports career can never be too long, Smetanina treated the young athletes from the team very carefully, tried to help raise a new generation of Russian skiers. She showed by personal example how hard work and perseverance must be used to achieve professionalism, setting the pace not only in training, but also during competitions.

At the next Winter Olympics in Albertville, the forty-year-old athlete took to the ski slopes as number two. She took fourth place in the ten-kilometer distance, and received her last for the relay olympic gold.

The time has come when the skier could calmly retire from the big sport, passing the baton to the young, strong generation of the national team Russian Federation, which was now represented by Egorova, Vyalbe and Lazutina.

Brief biographical dictionary

"Sour cream Raisa" and other articles from the section

There is no such person who lived in the era of the USSR and did not know who Raisa Petrovna Smetanina was. His last medal in skiing this legendary athlete won by the age of forty. This can be called a kind of record, moreover, it still holds today.

Raisa Smetanina left the sport almost immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. She last competed at the Olympics in Albertville, France in 1992. It was there that Raisa Smetanina won the relay race as part of the United Team of the Republics of the Former USSR, along with Lazutina, Vyalbe and Egorova. Immediately after this, she decided to end her career as an athlete.

Smetanina Raisa Petrovna: biography

This legendary skier was born on February twenty-ninth, 1952 in the Izhevsk region of the Komi Republic in the small village of Mokhchi. In her family, from generation to generation, everyone became hereditary reindeer herders. The girl learned to ski very early. The Smetanins were a large family: another sister and five brothers grew up with Raya. And since there was tundra all around, which was impossible to travel on foot, skis and their poles very quickly became familiar to the kids. Moreover, they were inherited from older children to younger ones. And soon the time came when the skis fell into the hands of the future Olympic champion.

It must be said that sports life was in full swing in this distant northern region. Directors of two local secondary schools They themselves were avid fans of cross-country skiing, and therefore introduced their children to it. From time to time, competitions were held in the area, and films were even made. On weekends, they always took the children out into nature and in the end they infected almost all the children from both schools with their enthusiasm. The girl Raya did not stand aside either. Since childhood, she was distinguished by strength of character and perseverance.

First successes in sports

In addition to her passion for skiing, Raisa Petrovna Smetanina often fished as a child; in addition, she periodically went to haymaking with the rest of the children from her village. The legendary athlete won her first victory at the youth republican championship held in Perm. Here she took second place.

Immediately after graduating from school, the girl entered the pedagogical college. At the same time, she began to ski professionally. In Syktyvkar, where Raisa Smetanina studied, she was coached by German Kharitonov. Since 1970, the girl was included in the team of the Urozhay sports society. The future Olympic champion spent time training from morning until late evening. Apparently, that’s why just four years later Raisa Petrovna Smetanina was included in the national team of the country. Almost the same year she became the world champion, winning the team relay. At the same time, she won a bronze medal in the five-kilometer individual race.

As Raisa Smetanina later said, she was very lucky with the team: their mentor was Viktor Ivanov, who at that time was considered the best coach in the country. And a more experienced skier immediately took over the patronage of the young debutante and simply good man Galina Kulakova. Very soon the girls became close friends.

Sports achivments

In 1976, at the Innsbruck Olympics, this Soviet skier won three medals at once, two of which were gold. And only in the five-kilometer race the athlete lost to the Finnish Helena Tekalo, who was first at the finish line. As a result, the competitor received a gold medal, and Smetanina was only second.

At the world championship in 1978, which took place in the Finnish city of Lahti, Raisa Petrovna stood on the podium four times. Although, in fairness, it should be said that she never managed to get to the first stage.

In total, Raisa Petrovna Smetanina took part in as many as five Olympics. And nowhere was she left without a medal. Seven-time medalist of world championships, “queen” in such a sport as ski race, this amazing athlete has twenty-six international awards in her collection. But, as Raisa herself believes, the main thing for her is the prize of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. This cup is awarded to athletes for following fair fight and principles Olympic movement.

Awards

In the popularization of sports and in physical education Raisa Petrovna Smetanina puts all her strength into youth. The personal life of this legendary athlete is also inextricably linked with skiing. Today she is the mentor of the Russian women's team. Personal sports achivments Raisa Smetanina was noted by many high state awards. “Queen of the Ski Track” was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor, the Red Banner of Labor, Friendship of Peoples, the October Revolution, and Lenin. The republican stadium, which has international status and hosts cross-country skiing, was named after her.

The sporting future of the country

Having left the big ski track, Raisa Smetanina today passes on her knowledge and experience to young athletes. Like her coaches who raised her to become an unrivaled golden star, the legendary woman invests a lot of time and effort into the process of educating the younger generation. Raisa Smetanina works as a mentor for the ski team women's team.

Together with Italian Stephanie Belmondo, our legendary skier shares the world record for the most medals in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. Each of them has ten awards of varying denominations. But no one will ever surpass our athlete’s other, personal record. Raisa Petrovna Smetanina is the first among women and men in skiing who was able to win as many as five medals in a row at the Olympics.

It’s interesting, but life played a joke on the skier. Her birthday fell on the twenty-ninth of February, so she celebrates it once every four years.

Smetanina lives in Syktyvkar in a beautiful house in the Orbit area. But few people know that the most titled skier “of all time” lives in the mansion under a tenancy agreement, renting it from the state.

Smetanina Raisa Petrovna

(born 1952)

Soviet skier. Four-time Olympic champion (1976 - 2 medals; 1980, 1992), multiple world champion (1974, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1991), multiple champion of the USSR.

Raisa Smetanina was born on February 29, 1952 in the village of Mokhcha, Izhemsky district in the Komi Republic. Her date of birth later gave the legendary skier reason to joke that she was actually much younger than her age, because she celebrated her birthday only once every four years.

For two decades, Raisa Smetanina was the leader of the USSR national cross-country skiing team. For her numerous victories, she received the title “queen of the ski track,” which she constantly confirmed with victories in numerous competitions.

Raisa's parents, Pyotr Pavlovich and Matryona Afanasyevna Smetanin, were reindeer herders, so the girl was taught to ski from childhood. After all, during long wanderings across the tundra, skis often helped people survive. Her father made her first skis for Raisa when she was only three years old. The first teacher was the elder brother Ilya, then the school physical education teacher supervised the girl’s preparation. Raya regularly participated in school and regional skiing competitions. She still has her diploma for second place in a school skiing competition. Then she ran 3 kilometers in 13 minutes 16 seconds. The coaches of the USSR national team noticed her during the major republican and all-Russian championships of the early 1970s, in which the girl from Komi persistently fought for the highest places and showed excellent times. Her coach, Viktor Ivanov, recalled that he noticed Raisa at one of the competitions, where she for a long time was in the lead on a very difficult section of the track. Only when the leaders of the union team, who started last, got down to business, did the girl give up her position to them. In 1972, Smetanina was invited to join the USSR national cross-country skiing team. From the first training camp, Raisa impressed the coaches with her courage; she fearlessly developed high speed in the most difficult areas, where the risk of injury was very high. In addition, the athlete enjoyed training on the simulators, sometimes the coaches even had to stop her, while they more often urged the rest of the skiers. Already at the first USSR championship, Smetanina took second place in the ten-kilometer distance. And when she entered the top ten in the five-kilometer race, where any wrong move can throw a participant several places in the table, the coaches realized that they were not mistaken in their choice. They saw Raisa’s enormous potential, her athletic character and will to win, because at that time her technique was far from perfect.

The first success came to Raisa Smetanina in 1974, when she won the gold medal at the world championship as part of the Soviet women's relay team. Two years later, Smetanina confirmed her success in individual races, becoming first at distances of 5 and 10 kilometers.

And then there was the Olympics in Innsbruck. The Olympics, which became a difficult test for Raisa Smetanina. Twice everything was decided by one single second. At first she did not allow her to win, and then it was as if she was returning the debt. But first things first.

The right to go to the Olympics still had to be won, and Raisa went through the sieve of the qualifying tournaments. In Murmansk, Smetanina became a prize-winner at a distance of 10 kilometers, then won the race in Krasnogorsk, and finally at the last race in Bakuriani she made it into the top four. She went to the Olympics in Innsbruck as the leader of the USSR national team. She was expected to win at two distances: 5 and 10 kilometers. Before the start of the race, a draw was held to determine the order in which the athletes would enter the track. And Raisa got one of the first numbers. This meant that her main rivals, entering the track, would already know Smetanina’s result and adapt to it. Naturally, this complicated the task of the Soviet athlete, because she needs to set a pace that will be beyond her rivals’ strength. Raisa completed the course perfectly, and 500 meters before the finish she was 5 seconds ahead of the expected time schedule! There is a gentle climb ahead leading to the finish. Raisa gave it her hundred percent, realizing that every moment could decide the fate of the medal. It seemed that her result would be enough to win. But the blond Finnish athlete Helena Tokalo, who ran later, was still faster. She overtook Smetanina by just a second...

That evening, Finnish fans walked around Innsbruck with flags and banners, constantly chanting the name of the winner. After all, Tokalo managed to break an extremely unsuccessful streak for them: three Olympics in a row without a “gold” in cross-country skiing!

Two days later there was a new start, this time at a distance of 10 kilometers. And again Smetanina pulled out one of the first numbers. And again she ran as fast as she could, trying not to let her opponent get ahead of her, to intimidate her with her pace. And again, the Finnish coaches “led” Helena Tokalo along the distance in accordance with Smetanina’s schedule, constantly suggesting the necessary changes in pace. 5 kilometers before the finish, Tokalo lost to Smetanina by as much as 11 seconds. It seemed that the fight was over, but the Finnish skier suddenly picked up the pace and began to rapidly reduce the gap. She almost managed to get past Smetanina again. “Almost” resulted in a second of lag. That very second that Raisa missed a couple of days before. Perhaps this result was a manifestation of the highest sports justice.

Smetanina confirmed her highest class in the relay race, in which the USSR national team left no chance for its rivals. Baldycheva, Amosova, Smetanina, Kulakova - the skiers competed in that order. Raisa ran her part of the distance better than anyone who took to the track that day. For the incredible will to win shown in Innsbruck, she received the unofficial title “Miss Olympics-76” from the organizers.

“Smetanina paved the way for the Soviet team to gold,” Olympic champion Helena Tokalo said in an interview then, “setting a pace for the race that our experienced Heikki Kuntola, of course, could not withstand... I enjoyed watching Raisa’s graceful run from the sidelines.” .

In 1980, in Lake Placid, Raisa Smetanina again performed successfully. At a distance of 5 kilometers she lost to Barbara Petsold from East Germany, but a few days later she took convincing revenge in the ten-kilometer race. Even then, the success of the 27-year-old Soviet skier seemed incredible. Few could have imagined that Smetanina would still win at the age of 40! In the relay, the Soviet team was only second, losing to the GDR team with the magnificent Barbara Petsold. And at the end of the year, Smetanina won two stages of the World Cup, in Davos, Switzerland, and in Ramsau, Austria.

In Sarajevo in 1984, Raisa failed to win Olympic gold. She took second place twice at distances of 5 and 10 kilometers. There was a chance to get another medal in women's relay, but at the very finish the Soviet skier lost to Maria Liisa Hämälainen, and the Finnish team won third place.

Therefore, few people believed that at the Olympics in Calgary Smetanina would be able to seriously fight for victory. After all, by that time she was already 36 years old - an unheard of age for skiing. But Raisa proved that with a professional attitude towards training and, above all, towards oneself, a person is able to achieve much more than is expected of him. Smetanina claimed gold in the 10-kilometer race until the last meters, but still lost and was content with the silver medal. Soon she added bronze at a distance of 20 kilometers, making the whole world talk about her again as a phenomenal athlete.

After that Olympics, Smetanina was going to stop regular performances. Still, age took its toll, over the years of endless training and racing, fatigue had accumulated, and besides, it was increasingly difficult for her to withstand competition from young skiers, of whom there were quite a few in the Union at that time: Elena Vyalbe, Lyubov Egorova, Larisa Lazutina. However, the coaches convinced Raisa to stay. They managed to prove that the team still needs her and can benefit the national team. First of all, Smetanina was a clear example what can be achieved and what to strive for. She was an unquestioned authority for her teammates; people looked up to her. Therefore, Raisa gave her consent to another Olympic cycle of intensive work - and this is four long years.

In 1992, 39-year-old Smetanina came to the Olympic Albertville as part of the CIS team. She started the 15-kilometer race and finished fourth. This gave the coaches the opportunity to include her in the relay race. Of course, they took a lot of risks, and it was not easy for Smetanina, who understood that in case of failure, all responsibility for the defeat of the team would fall on her. And Raisa completed her part of the race perfectly, and her partners did not disappoint. Lyubov Egorova became threefold Olympic champion Albertville, the main heroine of that Olympics. Larisa Lazutina and Elena Vyalbe won their first gold. The gold medal was already the tenth Olympic medal Raisa. A few days after this victory she turned 40 years old.

Raisa Smetanina holds several records. She is the only athlete to win ten medals at the Olympics. Raisa took part in five Olympic Games in a row, which is also a record. She is one of only three athletes to have won five silver medals at the Olympic Games - a less honorable achievement, but still very pleasant.

Smetanina benefited from her friendship with Galina Kulakova, the leader of the national team in the early 1970s. On the ski track, Raisa and Galina were irreconcilable rivals, fighting tooth and nail for victory, and outside the competition they were best friends. Kulakova shared her invaluable experience with Smetanina, which sometimes helped more than coaching instructions. Raisa later said that her brother Ilya taught her to ski, but Galina Kulakova made her a real athlete.

Despite her worldwide fame and the opportunities that come with it, Raisa Smetanina loves her native land very much. Back in 1980 in Lake Placid, giving an interview to American journalists, she said that for her the most a nice place on earth - the native Mokhcha and the Izhma River.

Raisa is the most titled athlete of the Komi Republic. According to the results of a survey conducted at the end of the 20th century by the Associated Press, she was recognized as one of the most outstanding athletes of the last century. Her achievements were also noted in Russia. Even during the Union, the athlete received the Order of Lenin, there were also orders of the Red Banner of Labor, “Badge of Honor”, ​​“Friendship of Peoples”... Smetanina was presented with a special award from UNESCO “For Nobility in Sports”. All these trophies are carefully displayed in one of the rooms of Smetanina’s house in Syktyvkar, a kind of museum for the athlete. The republican ski stadium is named after Raisa Smetanina, where skiing events are regularly held. international competitions. Raisa celebrated her fiftieth birthday (by the way, the year of her anniversary was not a leap year, and the holiday had to be celebrated on March 1) as the coach of the Komi Republic ski team. She enjoys passing on her skills to young athletes. We hope that at the upcoming Olympics the famous skier will rejoice at the victories of her students and will be proud of their medals as if they were her own.