A tear of unclean water. Why Irina Rodnina was called a traitor to the motherland Tears Rodnina during the award ceremony

Three Olympic gold medals, ten consecutive victories at the World Championships, eleven gold medals at the European Championships and six championship titles in the Soviet Union - any figure skating federation in the world could be proud of such a list of achievements over 12 years. It is all the more difficult to believe that all these awards belong to only one athlete from the Soviet Union - Irina Rodnina.

And it all started with a simple hobby of figure skating. The story is as old as the world: a little girl, a dad who taught her to ski and skate, a mother who sent her to the figure skating section. It all started with a simple hobby - the ultimate dream was to put on skates and, with a running start, perform some kind of pirouette, crash into a small snowdrift at the edge of the open-air skating rink, where little Ira learned the basics of great art.

The girl grew up. Study, which the mother continued to consider the main thing in life, gradually faded into the background. Figure skating became more and more exciting. And now Ira is already 15 years old, and she works under the strict supervision of the great Soviet coach Stanislav Zhuk.

© Photo from wikipedia.org

© Photo Russian Look

© Photo Russian Look

© Photo Russian Look

© Photo Russian Look

© Photo Russian Look

© Photo from wikipedia.org

© Photo from wikipedia.org

© Photo Russian Look

© Photo from wikipedia.org

© Photo Russian Look

© Photo Russian Look

Pair

“All I achieved as a single skater was to look good in free skating,” this is how Irina Rodnina herself recalls that period in her autobiography “Tear of a Champion,” an honest and tough book that she presented almost a year before the opening of the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.

The fate of the “queen of figure skating” could have turned out completely differently. The key moment came in 1966, when she became a prize-winner of the Union Championship and a candidate for master of sports. Realizing that she had reached her ceiling as a single skater, the girl decided to try herself in pair skating and pair up with Alexander Tikhomirov. But for this it was necessary to leave Stanislav Zhuk, who at that time devoted very little time to Irina.

The coach, having learned about the plans of his ward, began to almost beg the girl to stay with him, promising to find her a partner as soon as possible - apparently, he saw talent, he just couldn’t get around to cutting this still young diamond. A couple of weeks later, Zhuk proposed Rodnina her first partner - Alexey Ulanov. In order to ride with Irina, Alexey had to break up his own pair - with his own sister.

But the new couple quickly made their mark already in the 1967/68 season, taking third place at the Soviet Union Championship. At their debut European Championship, Rodnina and Ulanov finished only fifth - still not bad for a debut.

Irina Rodnina and Alexey Ulanov. 1970 Photo: RIA Novosti / Moreno

Taste of victory

But from her mother the girl inherited the character of a winner - everywhere and in everything she had to become the first. The very next year, the same third place, perhaps unfair, because points were deducted due to problems with a tape recorder that played music too quickly, was followed by brilliant victories at both the European Championship and the debut World Championship. It would seem like a brilliant result.

Yes, if you don’t know the girl’s future fate. From 1968 until the end of her career in 1980, Irina Rodnina won absolutely every competition in which she took part - she simply did not know how to lose, did not know how to do it. 1970 and 1971 - victories at the national, European and world championships.

And now the long-awaited year 1972 comes - Rodnina’s debut Olympics, which she and Ulanov win with a clear advantage over all other pairs, except for other Soviet figure skaters, Lyudmila Smirnova, Ulanov's wife, and Alexey Suraikin— the gap between them was only two judges’ votes.

On the podium are the winners in pairs figure skating at the XI Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo: champions - Irina Rodnina and Alexey Ulanov (USSR); silver medalists - Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrey Suraikin (USSR); bronze medalists - Manuela Gross and Uwe Kagelmann (GDR). 1972 Photo: RIA Novosti / Dmitry Donskoy

Gap

In 1972, there was also a victory at the European Championship and winning gold at the world championship, when Rodnina, who fell from a support during training, had to finish the program in a semi-fainting state. Nothing - I did it. But then an even bigger blow awaited her - Ulanov announced that he was leaving to ride with his wife, Lyudmila Smirnova.

Few people know, but at that moment Rodnina was ready to end her sports career - her partner’s decision hit her so hard.

Honored coach of the USSR Stanislav Zhuk with his students - Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev. 1973 Photo: RIA Novosti / Dmitry Donskoy

Only the brilliant Zhuk found a way out - he invited Irina to pair up with a young skater Alexander Zaitsev, who was three years younger than his partner. But there is nothing to do - you have to agree.

And here Rodnina made the right decision. In the first season with a new partner, she leaves behind her former partner and his wife at the USSR, European and world championships, winning gold medals. 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978 - all these years the Rodnina-Zaitsev couple did not know defeat, proving over and over again that they were the strongest in the country, on the continent, on the entire planet.

Even a change of coach did not affect the results. In 1974, the girl was tired of Zhuk’s patronizing attitude, believing that she had already left childhood. Zhuk continued to treat his charges as children. Together with Zaitsev, Rodnina goes to the then young coach Tatyana Tarasova, not knowing then that Tatyana Anatolyevna’s coaching star would eventually eclipse both Zhuk and all the other mentors who worked in figure skating before her. The couple’s relationship with the coach was no longer like that of children with their father, but like one between equals—a partnership.

A little later, Rodnina actually proves that she has become an adult - she accepts a marriage proposal from her partner Alexander Zaitsev. And in 1979, their first-born, Alexander Alexandrovich Zaitsev, was born. Rodnina gave her husband a gift for Defenders of the Fatherland Day - on February 23, as she specially planned.

In 1979, Irina and Alexander were quite logically forced to miss the season. But by 1980, the best couple in the history of figure skating again came fully armed - this was the Olympic year. They already had one joint victory - in 1976. For Rodnina she was the second, for Zaitsev - the first. But Irina wants the third gold of the Olympics - at that time not a single figure skater in the world had such a collection.

Victory at the European Championship allows you to easily qualify for the Olympic Games, where Rodnina and Zaitsev again, for the last time, had no equal - a third gold medal, which in 1998 will allow inspectors from the Guinness Book of Records to enter the name of the Soviet figure skater as a record holder in cumulative number of victories.

Champions of the XIII Olympic Games in Lake Placid in pair skating Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev. 1980 Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Sergeev

Return to the Olympics

But the 1980 Games were not the last Winter Olympics for Rodnina, at which she appeared in pairs. In 2014, when she had already tried herself in the coaching field and found her place in big Russian politics, becoming a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, she was invited to take part in the Olympic torch relay in Sochi 2014.

Together with an outstanding domestic hockey player Vladislav Tretyak Rodnina had the honor of being the last in a chain of thousands of torchbearers. The main torch of the Olympic Games in Sochi was lit by her hand.

Vladislav Tretyak and Irina Rodnina at the ceremony of lighting the Olympic cauldron of the XXII Winter Olympic Games. year 2014. Photo: RIA Novosti / Matt Slocum/AP/POOL

March 2014

Irina Rodnina was included in the Guinness Book of Records as an athlete,
has not lost a single competition in her career

The flag of her country was raised under the arches of the ice arena, and the anthem of the Soviet Union sounded. Irina Rodnina, a small woman with a big heart and an iron will, remained the invincible “red queen” of figure skating, making the whole world fall at her feet with armfuls of flowers. Even 34 years later, we all remember that famous shot when a tear flowed down Irina Rodnina’s cheek to the sounds of the Soviet anthem. The tear of a three-time Olympic champion, a tear that reflects everything - work, pain, happiness, and pride.
February 7, 2014, Sochi, Fisht stadium. The grand opening ceremony of the XXII Olympic Winter Games is coming to an end. The legendary Vladislav Tretyak and Irina Rodnina light the Olympic flame, completing the relay of torchbearers. And rightly so. Who else but she - Irina Rodnina - is worthy of such an honorable mission? One of the best athletes of the twentieth century, the most successful figure skater in the history of this sport, three-time Olympic champion, ten-time world champion, multiple European champion in pair skating. And Rodnina is undoubtedly the person whose extraordinary will to win has become an example for many young athletes.
The biography of Irina Rodnina is so full of incredible victories and dramatic turns that there are enough stories in it for an entire Hollywood epic.
Irina was born on September 12, 1949 in Moscow. Dad Konstantin Nikolaevich, originally from Vologda, was a career military man, mother Yulia Yakovlevna, all of whose numerous Jewish relatives lived in Ukraine, worked as a doctor. The parents loved their daughter madly, devoted a lot of time to her, and developed her many talents. “Our parents went through the war, they have a value in life, the joy of life - it had a completely different meaning. That's why we got a lot of work. I don’t want to say this as a reproach to today’s parents; perhaps I say this more as a reproach to myself - because I couldn’t devote so much to my children,” Irina Rodnina later said.
Everything would be fine, only one thing was upsetting - the girl grew up very sickly. By the age of five, Ira had suffered from pneumonia eleven times and was registered at a tuberculosis dispensary. Yulia Yakovlevna, like any wise Jewish mother, found the only and sure way to improve her daughter’s health: without thinking about awards and fame, she simply sent her daughter to the sports section, where classes were held in the fresh air - figure skating turned up. Mom brought Ira to the skating rink, the boots turned out to be too big for her - she had to put them right on her felt boots, but, despite the strange design, the nimble little one immediately bravely rolled forward and, it seems, has never looked back since then...

“The classes were held in the park,” recalls Irina Konstantinovna. – We learned to end all jumps in a snowdrift. For me, figure skating was all about the fact that I could run and jump into a snowdrift - it didn’t hurt at all, and the thrill was extraordinary. Since, of course, there was nowhere to change clothes in the park, a layer of ice froze on my leggings, it was difficult to clean it off, and while my mother and I were riding home in the trolleybus, streams began to flow from me.”
Mom turned out to be right - constant physical exercise in the fresh air improved Irina’s health. Naturally, at that time no one was thinking about any serious sports career. However, God had his own plans - figure skating changed the girl’s life once and for all, and she never once in her life regretted that she devoted herself to this bright, but very labor-intensive sport.
Since childhood, Irina was distinguished by some kind of special purposefulness, she trained selflessly both on the ice and in the gym - either with dumbbells, or with a barbell, or with rubber bands. From the children's figure skating school, Rodnina moved to the CSKA figure skating section, where she entered through a competition.
In 1962, at the invitation of the Soviet Sports Committee, Czechoslovakian coaches, the spouses Sonya and Milan Valun, came to work at the club. Rodnina, paired with Oleg Vlasov, began training under their guidance, and already in 1963 the young couple took third place in the all-Union youth competitions. However, soon after the end of the contract, the Czechoslovak specialists left, and Irina was left to her own devices. It was then that Stanislav Zhuk, who had just been appointed senior coach of CSKA skaters, noticed her. It was he who managed to discern remarkable talent in a fifteen-year-old girl. “There is no one like her!” – Stanislav Alekseevich said then.
At the suggestion of the new coach, Alexey Ulanov became Irina’s partner. They were a beautiful, memorable couple: small, strongly built Rodnina and prominent, tall Ulanov. They first made their presence known in 1967 at demonstration performances. And two years later the first big victory came.
In 1969, Rodnina and Ulanov became world champions in figure skating among sports pairs and did not give this title to anyone for three years. 1972 was also marked by the fact that then they became Olympic champions for the first time.
I would like to remember in more detail about that period, the period of the beginning of Irina Rodnina’s victorious career. Thus, the victory at the European Championship 69 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen had a special connotation. There he and Ulanov performed without a coach. In figure skating, having a coach with the athletes during training and competition is much more important than in many other sports. Only qualified, timely advice from a coach who knows the athlete well helps to avoid mistakes and often severe injuries. And it so happened that the coach was not around at that tournament. And there was a pre-race fever and nervous tension. But there was something else - a desire to prove the correctness of the chosen path. That victory meant a lot!
And when she came, another side of the human and athletic character of Rodnina the leader was revealed: the courage of everyday life. Such courage, multiplied by thousands and thousands of days, is probably the most valuable thing in her character. And it is natural that such a person, in moments of the most difficult trials, has the greatest reserve of strength and stamina.
Perhaps the most typical illustration of this idea is the episode that occurred immediately after the victory at the Olympic Games in Sapporo. Then, in 1972, before performing at the World Championships, Alexey Ulanov warned Rodnina that next year he would compete with a new partner - Leningrad figure skater Lyudmila Smirnova. Ulanov and Smirnova were going to get married and make a new sports couple. Ulanov was full of hopes for the continuation of a brilliant sporting future. Rodnina’s condition in this case no longer bothered him. And you couldn’t envy her condition... It was very difficult for Irina then. She later recalled: “I didn’t have any personal grudges. Lesha has always been just a sports comrade and a partner for me. We had a lofty goal, and for some reason I was sure that together with Lesha we would achieve it, that our sports union was indestructible. But it turned out that he thinks completely differently. So is it worth continuing?
But what can you do - preparations for the World Championships in Calgary were underway, where Irina and Alexey were supposed to perform together for the last time. In such a difficult moral situation, the nerves of both athletes were strained to the limit. During training, Ulanov unexpectedly dropped Rodnina, and she hit her head on the ice, receiving a serious injury. “No shaking, no jumping. Peace. First of all, peace. Now the main thing is to stay patient,” the adamant doctors gave Irina a stern admonishment when they finally reluctantly released her from the clinic after the treatment. What is it like to lie down? You need to know Rodnina - it’s not in her character.
...At the Calgary Ice Arena, pale Ira hid her usual smile. Only the eyes, which many journalists love to write about, retained the firmness of their gaze. She carried her burden of responsibility with dignity, without shifting an ounce onto the shoulders of others. And thousands of Canadians stood up, greeting the now four-time world champion Irina Rodnina with an ovation.
More than once or twice later, Irina had to make decisions in extremely difficult situations that required immediate answers and for her the only correct ones. She emerged from the bright flame of competitive wrestling renewed and even stronger. And this is also a pattern of her character.
Then, in 1972, after Ulanov left her, Irina tried not to show anyone how difficult it was for her. She smiled. She was invariably cheerful and sociable. People came to her for advice, although these days it was she herself who needed good advice most of all. What to do? Leave performances? Finish college and move on to coaching? If you go out on the ice, then with whom? Who can you guess as a reliable partner?
One way or another, the decision was made. The most difficult. Rodnina begins performances with little-known figure skater Alexander Zaitsev. Irina and her coach saw in him something that, perhaps, almost no one had noticed before them - Zaitsev has character. He is resilient and knows how to gather all his energy to achieve a specific goal. He knows how to get along with people, which means that the couple will quickly find a common language. Well, if we add to this that Zaitsev has high and easy jumps and has, albeit not yet polished, a pair skating technique, then it is clear: with such a partner you can think about getting on the podium again. To the very top step. Rodnina didn’t even want to think about other steps.
The summer and autumn of 1972 were extraordinary. The training was exhausting. They didn’t leave - they crawled away from the ice. No vacations. No beaches. Only ice. Gradually getting to know each other. It was after these trainings that Zaitsev would say: “In principle, I don’t see anything wrong with such loads. Fear and timidity appear in those who do not prepare themselves for difficult work in advance. In my opinion, you need to gradually tune in to great work all the time. Irina and I know what awaits us tomorrow. And clarity of purpose gives a lot.”
And here are Irina’s words about her new partner: “It was convenient for me to ride in pairs with him. I extended my hand and didn’t look back. This is an amazing feeling! Don't look back. You give your hand, and they take it. There is always some kind of strength with you!” Agree, such words are worth a lot.
Yes, undoubtedly, the clarity of purpose and the mutual understanding that arose gave them the opportunity to find the shortest paths to future victories. But that's not all. And perhaps it was precisely in those days that Rodnina’s fully human talent was revealed. For Zaitsev, she was both a tireless partner and a caring sister at the same time. She gave neither him nor herself any respite. And if he overcame all the barriers, it was primarily because he had a reliable and caring leader, with whom he was not afraid to storm any sporting heights. And they took them on the first try. The highest grades rained down like from a cornucopia. The energetic couple dug deeper and brought out new figure skating treasures in front of the amazed spectators. And new achievements - in will, courage and perseverance - too.

Rodnina left for the USA and began working as a coach. Of course, it wasn’t easy: I had to get used to the new way of life, establish connections, and learn the language. In 1986, daughter Alena was born.
But the happiness did not last long - only a year. Irina again had to go through a difficult ordeal - the betrayal of a loved one and separation from him. “I always won, but then I had to learn to lose,” she recalls. – I asked myself the question many times: can I survive the fall? And I realized: the fall can be stopped, but the wound remains..."
Ira suffered for a year and a half. The ex-husband tried by all legal means to take away his daughter. Ira needed to earn money to live. The trials did not stop, there was less and less strength left... And more and more often she caught herself thinking: “Why am I living? There were moments when I wanted to get into the car and drive off a cliff at full speed. It happened that she sat alone and clinked glasses with her reflection. Sashka brought me out of this state. He came up to me one day and said: “Mom, look at yourself, who you look like. All gray and ugly." I perked up, started running, and took care of myself. And I came out of this state and won.”
Rodnina continued to work at the International Figure Skating Center in Lake Arrow, near Los Angeles, where children from all over the world came to train. The famous athlete managed to survive and became a successful coach. But homesickness did not go away.
Rodnina came to Moscow more than once - and still later returned back to the USA. However, more and more often I thought about returning to my homeland forever. And finally I decided.
After the separation, Moscow saw her as impressive, fit, and in a fighting spirit. I saw and appreciated... Today Rodnina is the chairman of the public organization "Sports Russia", a member of the Council for Physical Education and Sports under the President, and a deputy of the State Duma. No troubles in life can knock this miniature woman out of her working rut, and when children gather at home, albeit infrequently: a married son, a graduate of the Stroganov School, and a daughter, a student at an American university, Irina feels happy.
***
For many years, the fast-moving, energetic Rodnina fearlessly performed breathtaking lifts, twists and jumps. Her style was called fireworks on ice, sturm und drang, and although partners, coaches and circumstances changed, she invariably rose to the highest step of the podium. Meticulous figure skating fans have calculated that during her career, Irina collected almost a kilogram of gold in the form of awards. By the way, the weight could have been more, but medals made of 750-carat precious metal are awarded only at the World and European Championships; Olympic medals are gold-plated. Once they asked Rodnina where she kept them, and heard: “In the safe.”
“All my life I was afraid of losing. I struggled with myself and circumstances. Now it seems to me that thanks to figure skating, I discovered a completely different world for myself. And those who have not known it eat bland food all the time, but I have food with spices and imagination... This, perhaps, is my success,” says Irina Rodnina.
Agree - she did everything she could. Whoever can do it better.

Famous Russian figure skater, three-time Olympic champion, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

Biography of Irina Rodnina

In childhood Irina Rodnina was not in good health. The girl suffered from pneumonia 11 times. After another illness, in order to somehow improve the child’s health, Irina’s parents took her to the skating rink. It is thanks to the care and attention of parents Rodnina In her biography, she became seriously interested in figure skating. The girl was talented and diligent, so she soon ended up in the CSK figure skating section.

In 1974 Rodnina Graduated from the Institute of Physical Culture.

Career of Irina Rodnina

The athlete’s first serious victory came in 1963, when Irina became third at the USSR youth competitions.

After Irina began training and performing in tandem with Alexey Ulanov(coach S. Zhuk), victories literally rained down, although they were achieved with serious difficulty. In 1967 - victory at the competition "Moscow skates", twice (in 1968 and 1969) the couple became third at the USSR Championship. Take first place at the European Championships in the biography of the figure skater Irina Rodnina succeeded in 1969. At the same time, the athlete received the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. The first victory at the World Championships occurred in the same 1969.

In September 2013, it became known that Rodnina posted a photo collage on her Twitter account in which black Barack Obama and his wife are depicted against the background of a banana, which was regarded by part of society as racist.

After a successful period in his biography Irina Rodnina failures followed. At the USSR Championship in 1970, the Rodnina-Ulanov pair took only fourth place. In 1972, literally a day before the World Championships, Irina received a serious injury (concussion, hematoma), but still decided to compete. That same year, her partner leaves her. Then Irina Konstantinovna decided to leave sports in her biography. But the coach paired her with the most talented skater - Alexandra Zaitseva.

At the next European Championship, Zaitsev-Rodnina receive a record number of points. In 1973, at the World Championships in Bratislava, the skaters continued their performance, despite the absence of music. In 1975, speaking at the World Championships (under the guidance of coach Tarasova), the couple again took first place.

At the 1973 World Championships in Bratislava (Czechoslovakia), an incident occurred that went down in the history of figure skating. There was a short circuit in the radio room, the sound was turned off during the free program of Rodnina - Zaitsev (later it turned out that the short circuit was deliberately organized by a Czech employee, who was thus trying to take revenge on the USSR for the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968). The coach from behind the side gave instructions to continue the program, and the couple skated without music to the applause of the audience. Referee Karl Enderlin, noting the “will to win” of the couple, nevertheless gave instructions to reduce the scores in connection with skating without music (the couple, naturally, refused to perform the program at the end of the competition), which is why not a single score of 6.0 was given did not have.

“In the first seconds we didn’t understand anything. And thank God that at that moment I was next to the coach. He managed to give us a task - to continue the performance. Naturally, we accomplished everything. For us, the coach’s words are law. And the law is undeniable,” the athlete explained.

Personal life of Irina Rodnina

In 1975 Rodnina married Zaitseva. The couple continued to perform, showing excellent programs at the 1976 Olympics and the 1977 World Championships. She was able to win the Olympics for the third time in 1980.

In 1985 she divorced Zaitsev and remarried a film producer Leonid Minkovsky. They had a daughter, Alena. After this, the family soon moved to the USA.

“For me, like for any person, the most important thing in life is children. I am happy that I have a daughter and a son. Regarding sports, this is a part of my life, a huge part of it. And, of course, all achievements, all positive and negative emotions will forever remain in memory. But children are still different. This is everything for me,” says Irina.

In 1999, Irina Konstantinovna divorced Minkovsky and returned to Moscow.

In 2007 Rodnina was elected as a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. She was on the list of the ruling United Russia party from the Omsk region. In the Duma, she took the position of deputy chairman of the Education Committee.

Irina often takes part in various television programs and shows, including “Smak” and “Let Them Talk.”

As an athlete who has not lost in a single tournament in her entire career, Irina Rodnina was included in the Guinness Book of Records.

Awarded the Order of Lenin (1976), two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1972, 1980), the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree (1999), the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2009) and the Bronze Olympic Order . Twice winner of the National Prize for public recognition of the achievements of women in Russia “Olympia” for 2002 and 2003. Winner of the “Russian of the Year” award (2005) in the “Triumphant” category.

Sports achievements of Irina Rodnina

With Alexey Ulanov

Winter Olympics (1st place in 1971-72)

World Championships (1st place in 1968-69, 1969-70, 1970-71, 1971-72)

European Championships (5th place 1967-68, 1st place 1968-69, 1969-70, 1971-72)

USSR Championships (3rd place 1967-68, 1968-69, 1st place 1969-70, 1970-71)

Tournament for the prizes of the Moscow News newspaper (1st place 1967-68, 2nd place 1968-69, 1st place 1969-70).

With Alexander Zaitsev

Winter Olympics (1st place 1975-76, 1979-80)

World Championships (1st place 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78)

European Championships (1st place 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1979-80)

USSR Championships (1st place 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1976-77)

Tournament for the prizes of the Moscow News newspaper (1st place 1977-78)

Soviet figure skater, State Duma deputy Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina was born on September 12, 1949 in Moscow.

In 1974 she graduated from the State Central Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Culture.

She has been practicing figure skating since 1957 at the Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA). She trained with Czech specialists Sonya and Milan Valun. Skating together with Oleg Vlasov, Irina Rodnina managed to take third place at the All-Union youth competitions.

Later, Stanislav Zhuk became Rodnina’s coach, who paired her with Alexei Ulanov.

In 1967, Rodnina and Ulanov became winners of the international tournament "Moscow Skates" (later a tournament for the prize of the newspaper "Moscow News"), and in 1968 - champions of the USSR.

In 1972, Rodnina and Ulanov became Olympic champions in Sapporo (Japan).

After the Olympics, the couple broke up. Soon Stanislav Zhuk picked up another partner for Rodnina - Alexander Zaitsev. For the first time, Irina Rodnina performed together with Alexander Zaitsev at the 1973 World Championships, where for several minutes they had to skate without musical accompaniment, but they did not interrupt their program and finished it to the applause of the audience.

Since 1974, the couple trained with Tatyana Tarasova. From 1973 to 1978, Rodnina and Zaitsev constantly took first places at the European and World Championships.

In 1976 and 1980, the Rodnina/Zaitsev pair won Olympic gold.

In 1981, Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev switched to professional sports. We performed on tour and coached. For some time Rodnina worked in the Central Committee of the Komsomol, then as a senior coach at Dynamo.

In the 90s, Irina Rodnina lived in the USA and worked as a coach at the International Figure Skating Center in Lake Arrowhead near Los Angeles. In 1995, the Czech pair Radka Kovarzhikova/Rene Novotny, who trained under Rodnina, won the World Championship.

In 2006-2008, Rodnina was a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, deputy chairman of the Public Chamber Commission on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle.

Since 2007 - deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the fifth convocation. Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education.

On December 4, 2011, Irina Rodnina was elected to the State Duma of the sixth convocation. Member of the State Duma Committee on Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Relations with Compatriots.

Rodnina is a member of the interdepartmental commission for the development of elite sports and the interdepartmental commission for the development of physical culture, mass sports and traditional types of physical activity of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the development of physical culture and sports.

He is a member of the General Council of the United Russia party. Manages the party projects "Children's Sports".

She was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree and IV degree, and the Bronze Olympic Order of the International Olympic Committee.

Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina is an outstanding Soviet athlete, famous for her long series of triumphant victories at European and world figure skating competitions, raising the sport of her native country to unprecedented heights. She became a three-time Olympic champion, won 24 international gold medals, without losing a single competition from 1969 to 1980.

At the end of a dizzying sports career, Irina worked in the Komsomol Central Committee, as a coach, teacher, radio presenter, and was involved in public and government activities.

At the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the sports star, guests tried to find out from her the mysterious secret of eternal youth “Makropolus”, which Irina probably knows, because she still remains a young soul, has an active lifestyle, full of strength, positivity and sincerity. She herself perceived the serious date as her usual highest score of 6:0.

Childhood of Irina Rodnina

At first, they took their child to the skating rink in the Tagansky children's park named after. N.N. Pryamikov, then to the garden named after. Zhdanov in Sormovo. Irina’s first teacher was Yakov Smushkin, who at that time himself performed in figure skating. Under his guidance, she mastered the technique of sliding, the first spirals, jumps, spins and other mandatory elements on the ice.

The girl became physically stronger and fell in love with skates. Having successfully passed the preliminary examination, the diligent and capable student entered CSKA. At first she was a single skater, later she skated with Oleg Vlasov.

The beginning of Irina Rodnina’s career

At the World Championships, 5 years later, they again became first, earning approval in the form of the maximum score from all the judges. The next year turned out to be less successful for the athletes - mistakes were made at the national championship. But, thanks to the brilliant performance of the free part of the program, they retained their leadership.

In subsequent years, the couple continued to be the undisputed leader; in 1972, she won Olympic gold in Sapporo.

On the eve of the 1972 World Cup in Canada, Irina fell from a high support during training. She suffered a serious head injury, but showed real courage by performing despite being unwell and winning first place.

However, after the incident, the couple broke up - according to rumors, Ulanov allegedly deliberately dropped his partner, since he was married to Lyudmila Smirnova and wanted to perform with her, which he did later.

Sports career of Irina Rodnina after injury

Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev - Kalinka-Malinka

At the World Championships of the same year, the Rodnina-Zaitsev pair were again among the leaders. Moreover, they skated in extreme conditions - in the middle of the performance the musical accompaniment was turned off for technical reasons.

Irina Rodnina and Tatyana Tarasova

Together with the new mentor Tatyana Tarasova, who brought more creative imagination into the performances of the masters, Rodnina and Zaitsev won the 1975 World Cup.

At the Olympics a year later they again won gold medals. Season 1978-79 The skaters missed out due to family reasons: in February 1979, their son was born.

But soon the couple began training again. Irina's third Olympic victory in 1980 was especially memorable and touched the audience, due to the tears that she could not hold back during the singing of the USSR anthem at the medal ceremony.

Career of coach Irina Rodnina

From 1990 to 2002, at the invitation of the International Figure Skating Center, Irina worked in the USA. There, despite the personal problems associated with her divorce from her second husband, she managed to gain a reputation as a brilliant specialist. This circumstance became especially obvious when her students - Kovarzhikova-Navotny - became world champions.

In 2003 and a year later, Irina tried to become a deputy of the State Duma, but was defeated in the elections. Two years later, she took a seat in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

In 2007, Irina became a deputy of the State Duma of the 5th convocation from United Russia, taking the position of deputy chairman of the education committee. After another 4 years, she again joined the State Duma, becoming a member of the Committee on CIS Affairs.

Personal life of Irina Rodnina

In their marriage, Alexander Jr. was born on February 23, 1979. He is an artist. Until 1997, he lived and worked in the USA, and then returned to Moscow. In 2008, he gave his famous parents a granddaughter, Sofia.

Irina and Alexander lived together for 8 years and maintained friendly relations. But the couple divorced after the end of their sports career. Everyone had their own plans for the future.

Irina’s second husband was Leonid Minkovsky, an entrepreneur from Dnepropetrovsk and film producer. They had a daughter, Alena, in 1986. She is not married. Lives in Washington, works as a correspondent.

The couple moved to the USA because there was no work for Irina in Russia after her maternity leave, but in America she was able to train new “champions”.

Irina noted in an interview that, living in America with her husband and two children, she constantly experienced a lack of communication, language and culture. A few years after the move, the couple separated. As stated in some media, her husband left for her friend.

The athlete is included in the Guinness Book of Records as a figure skater who has never lost in international competitions. Rodnina has many awards, including the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, and “For Services to the Fatherland.”

Earlier, Rodnina noted that she does not plan to marry again. However, not so long ago her friendship with the doctor Pavel Niederman grew into a strong feeling.

Irina Rodnina today

She holds the position of member of the Council for Physical Education and Sports under the head of state and oversees a number of sports projects.

Working in the State Duma, she is involved in children's and youth sports, leads many specialized projects, making trips to all corners of Russia. In 2013, she opened the season at the Omsk Ice Palace named after her, where Omsk residents from three years old train.

She often appears on television, in particular in the programs “My Hero”, the film “Irina Rodnina. Invincible,” created using newsreels from her personal archives, as a captain together with Lev Leshchenko, Vladimir Zhirinovsky insulted Rodnina during a speech and, instead of apologizing, left (along with members of his party) the hall. His colleagues consider the reason for this behavior to be the unacceptable remarks of the athlete, which she allegedly allows to be made to the deputies speaking at the parliamentary rostrum while sitting in the front row. Irina Konstantinovna replied that “rudeness” should be punished, so she filed a complaint with the State Duma Ethics Commission.

Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina. Born on September 12, 1949 in Moscow. Soviet figure skater, three-time Olympic champion and ten-time world champion. Russian public figure and statesman, deputy of the State Duma of the V-VI convocations.

Father - Konstantin Nikolaevich Rodnin, a military man, originally from the village of Yanino (now the territory of Vologda).

Mother - Yulia Yakovlevna Rodnina, a nurse, originally from Ukraine, before the war in Kharkov she studied at a medical institute.

The elder sister is Valentina Konstantinovna, an engineer-mathematician.

Her parents met during the Great Patriotic War, both fought at the front. According to Irina, both father and mother had many military awards. One of my childhood memories is that their parents’ military friends often visited them.

In her early years, Irina was very sick and suffered from pneumonia eleven times. It was her poor health that led her to sports - doctors advised her to do more physical exercise, and outdoors.

In light of the recommendations of doctors, the parents brought the five-year-old girl to the skating rink in the Pryamikov Cultural Park in 1954. Later, her father began taking Irina to Zhdanov Park, and her mother enrolled her in the figure skating section. Rodnina's first coach was Yakov Smushkin.

When Irina began to show good results, coach Zina Podgornaya suggested that her parents send Irina to Dzerzhinsky Park in Maryina Roshcha. Then, having passed a certain competition, in 1960 Irina entered the CSKA figure skating section, where she competed as a single skater until she was 15 years old.

Since 1962, her coaches were Czechs - Sonya and Miloslav Balun, who worked under a contract with CSKA. They paired her with Oleg Vlasov, with whom Irina Rodnina took third place in the 1963 All-Union youth competition.

Since 1964, S.A. became her coach. Zhuk, who paired Rodnina with. In December 1966, they made their debut at the first international tournament “Moscow Skates”, and already in the 1967/68 season the couple became one of the leaders in figure skating in the USSR. In December 1967 they won the Moscow Skates tournament, and in January 1968 they took third place at the USSR Championship. After this, the couple gets into the national team.

At the first European Championships, after the short program, the Rodnina-Ulanov pair was third, but the free skate was performed unsuccessfully (5th place).

Stanislav Zhuk is making their program more and more difficult, including for the first time in the history of pair skating a parallel jump, double axel, and a combination of jumps. At the Moscow Skates tournament the pair came second, and at the USSR Championships in January 1969, in a fierce struggle they took third place.

The couple arrives at the 1969 European Championships without a coach (S.A. Zhuk was banned from traveling), but creates a sensation: despite second place in the compulsory program, where the couple lost to L. Belousova and O. Protopopov, they ultimately take first place thanks to more difficult elements and the high pace of the free program, with 8 out of 9 judges giving first place. Rodnina receives the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.

At the 1969 World Championships, Rodnina and Ulanov won with a clear advantage, winning both types of competitions and receiving all the first places from the judges.

In 1970, at the USSR Championships in Kyiv, Rodnina-Ulanov skated the compulsory program extremely unsuccessfully, with two serious mistakes, taking only 8th place in this event. However, after a clean free program they won (Belousova - Protopopov, who were first, but ended up only fourth, subsequently announced a judicial agreement).

Then Rodnina and Ulanov continued to win all the competitions in which they participated, but by 1972 the rivalry with the second Soviet pair L. Smirnov - A. Suraikin became increasingly intense. At the ’72 Olympics, in the short program, Ulanov did a single Salchow instead of the obligatory double; in the free program, Rodnina made a mistake in a cascade of jumps; as a result, they were ahead of Smirnova and Suraikin by only two judges’ votes.

For her victory at the 1972 Olympics, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The day before the 1972 World Championships, during training, Irina fell from a support and was hospitalized with a concussion and intracranial hematoma. The couple skated the short program cleanly, receiving scores up to 6.0; in the free program, Irina felt bad and completed the program in a semi-fainting state.

After the World Cup, the couple broke up: Ulanov, being married to Smirnova, paired up with her. Rodnina seriously thought about leaving big sport; for example, Irina watched the USSR Championship in April 1972 from the stands.

In April 1972, Stanislav Zhuk invited Irina Rodnina to partner with Alexander Zaitsev, at that time with a young Leningrad figure skater. In September 1972, the new couple I. Rodnin - A. Zaitsev performed for the first time at demonstration performances in Zaporozhye.

Zaitsev, who had good jumping technique, very quickly masters all the complex elements. Mutual understanding and consistency in the new pair are noticeably higher than in the previous one, which was immediately noted by the judges - at the 1973 European Championships in Cologne, Rodnina - Zaitsev not only beat Smirnova - Ulanova by the unanimous opinion of all 9 judges, but also received 12 ratings of 6.0 out of 18 possible.

At the 1973 World Championships in Bratislava (Czechoslovakia), an incident occurred that went down in the history of figure skating. There was a short circuit in the radio room, the sound was turned off during the free program of Rodnina - Zaitsev (later it turned out that the short circuit was deliberately organized by a Czech employee, who was thus trying to take revenge on the USSR for the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968).

Coach S.A. Zhuk gave instructions from behind the side to continue the program, and the couple skated without music to the applause of the audience. Referee Karl Enderlin, noting the “will to win” of the couple, nevertheless gave instructions to reduce the scores in connection with skating without music (the couple refused to perform the program at the end of the competition), which is why not a single score of 6.0 was given .

Rodnina herself recalled this incident: “When the music stopped, I knew what to do next. The beetle began making signs to us: continue. I also saw the referee - either an Austrian or a Swiss. I remember that he spoke Russian. He whistled all the time, trying to stop us, but we were already going ahead. Zhuk - there were stills on television - kept showing us so that we could continue to ride. The audience was silent. The silence is complete. The music stopped in the middle of the program when I was upstairs in support. There were three jumps and on the fourth there was an ascent. At the moment of ascent, when I was already somewhere at the level of Zaitsev’s shoulder, the music stopped. We made a support by inertia, drove out of it and slipped past the Beetle. If he had shouted something to me, he probably would have stopped me from moving, but he didn’t shout anything... And we rushed on, ran along the judges, which is why I saw that the referee was knocking on the side of us. Then a combination of jumps, everything is still in absolute silence. And only when we finished this combination, the audience began to applaud us. But for about nine to twelve seconds there was a huge hall - and silence! We only hear the crunch of our skates on the ice. We started the slow part... And the audience had already heated up, started applauding and shouting... We finished the program to the end, and I drove up to the referee. He says to me in Russian: “Do you count the rental or will you come out again at the end? Or from the middle, from the moment where the music stopped?” Me: “No, I won’t show the free skate a second time.” ...The hall roars, there is a live broadcast to the whole world. It’s not our fault that the music stopped.”.

At the World Championships on March 5, 1974, in a tempo short program to the music of Ian Frenkel “Pursuit”, Irina made a mistake. In the free program, an uncertain performance followed again. The audience was disappointed with the ratings, and the Soviet judge Valentin Piseev gave it 6.0.

In 1974 she graduated from the Central Institute of Physical Culture.

By 1974, the relationship between the couple and coach Zhuk became complicated. Rodnina, in particular, said that she had become more independent and “tired of the Beetle’s behavior.”

In October 1974, Rodnina and Zaitsev, on their own initiative, switched to a young coach, which treated students as equals, rather as a partner in a common cause. In addition, Tarasova tried to bring more artistic expression to her skating, already in the first season of 1974/75 she staged a short program to the music of Alexei Mazhukov.

At the 1975 World Championships, during the warm-up before the free program, Rodnina collided with W. Kagelmann. The couple decided to give up one lift, however, the judges again unanimously gave the couple 1st place, with scores up to 6.0.

In 1975, Rodnina became a member of the CPSU.

Before the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, A. Zaitsev “overtrained”, his excitement also took its toll, and after a cleanly executed short program, several mistakes were made in the free program (including Zaitsev touching his hand when landing from a double Axel), but the triple flip twist was performed perfectly . All judges gave first places, 10 ratings were 5.9 and 8 - 5.8 (some spectators booed the ratings). Both programs were set to Gypsy and Moldavian melodies. At the 1977 World Championships, the short program (set to the music of Vasily Solovyov-Sedoy for the film “The First Glove”) and the free program were purely performed. Soviet judge Valentin Piseev was the only one to give a score of 6.0.

In the 1977/1978 free program, Tarasova included two lifts with a change of hand, a butterfly jump performed by partners holding hands, a rollover descent from a lift, and other original elements. The couple missed the 1978/1979 season due to the birth of their son Alexander on February 23, 1979. The missed 1979 World Championship was won by Babilonia - Gardner (USA) by 2 votes, after which the Americans launched a campaign of pressure on Rodnina - Zaitsev, accusing them of prohibited elements. However, the judges did not consider the lifts prohibited and did not reduce the scores at the European Championships or at the 1980 Olympics.

As a result, 30-year-old Rodnina (paired with Zaitsev) won a historic third victory at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, having performed both programs absolutely cleanly (in the free program, including the double axel jump and triple twist). Rodnina’s tears during the award ceremony went down in history.

Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev. Olympics - 1980

Irina Rodnina is the most successful figure skater in the history of pair skating: she became a three-time Olympic champion, ten-time (1969-1978) world champion, eleven-time (1969-1978, 1980) European champion and six-time (1970-1971, 1973-1975, 1977) USSR champion, without losing in 1969-1980 one competition in which she participated with partners.

In one of the most intense programs in the history of figure skating - the free program of the 1974/75 season, the Rodnina-Zaitsev pair performed over 30 elements, a number of which were many years ahead of the development of pair skating, including 6 complex lifts (in one, the partner’s descent went through a flip , when entering the other, several jumps of the partner followed, holding the hands of the partner, the third consisted of three revolutions on one hand), in addition to them, 4 more supports were made at hip level, 4 cascades (one of four jumps, one with a unique axel with landing on the same foot, another one consisted of a complex double Axel and through a triple double Salchow), a complex approach to the todes back to the outside was carried out from a spiral, after which the partner changed legs, during a pair rotation the partner lifted the partner into the air twice so that she changed 2 times the leg, as well as two twists - a triple lutz and an axel in two and a half turns. In addition, there are many connecting “elements between elements” - original spirals, steps, etc. The program was executed at enormous speed, and exclusively synchronously.

The judges unanimously gave the couple first places in terms of total scores, and the couple received an absolute nine first places out of nine possible for both short and free programs during 1973-1980.

After finishing her amateur career, Rodnina worked at the Komsomol Central Committee, then as a senior coach (for example, the pair V. Pershina - M. Akbarov) in the Dynamo society, and taught at the Institute of Physical Education.

In 1978 she wrote the book “Unsmooth Ice”.

In 1990-2002 she lived in the USA, worked as a coach at the International Figure Skating Center (in Lake Arrowhead, near Los Angeles). In 1995, her students Radka Kovarzhikova - Rene Novotny became world champions (Rodnina was awarded honorary citizenship of the Czech Republic), Michelle Kwan and Angela Nikodinov helped prepare.

Socio-political position of Irina Rodnina

On June 28, 2005, her signature appeared under a letter in support of the verdict against the former Yukos executives. On September 11, 2009, Rodnina denied signing a letter in support of the conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

In 2006, she was a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Twice - in the elections of 2003 and 2004 - she nominated herself as a candidate for the State Duma of the Russian Federation, but was defeated.

In December 2007, Rodnina was elected to the State Duma of the fifth convocation on the United Russia list from the Omsk region. In the Duma she took the post of deputy chairman of the education committee. In December 2011, Rodnina was re-elected again, becoming a deputy of the State Duma of the VI convocation on the United Russia list from the Omsk region. In the State Duma of the sixth convocation, he is a member of the Committee on Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Relations with Compatriots, and is a member of the faction of the United Russia party.

He is a member of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Physical Culture and Sports.

In United Russia, Rodnina leads the internal party projects “Yard Trainer”, “School Sports” and “Russia: We Must Live Long”.

In September 2013, a scandal erupted: Rodnina’s Twitter account posted a photo collage in which dark-skinned Barack Obama and his wife were depicted against the backdrop of a banana. Some rated this as racism. In response to criticism, Rodnina referred to freedom of speech and noted that her “ratings have gone up,” but after some time she deleted the collage. Six months later, on February 10, 2014, Rodnina reported that her Twitter account had been hacked. She apologized for not making it clear earlier that she does not support racism in any form.

On February 7, 2014, she lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Sochi.

He is a member of the presidium of the All-Russian public organization “League of National Health”.

He is the chairman of the central council of the All-Russian public organization “All-Russian Voluntary Society “Sports Russia””.

Irina Rodnina in the program “Alone with Everyone”

Irina Rodnina's height: 152 centimeters.

Personal life of Irina Rodnina:

She was married twice.

Her first husband is her ice partner. They got married in 1975. Their wedding was celebrated very widely; US television came to filming.

The marriage gave birth to a son, Alexander Zaitsev, on February 23, 1979; he is a ceramic artist. The son gave the athlete a granddaughter, Sonya.

Second husband - Leonid Minkovsky, businessman and film producer.

The marriage gave birth to a daughter, Alena Minkovskaya, in 1986. The daughter lives in Washington, one of the leading news programs on the North American Internet resource HuffPost Live.

Sports achievements of Irina Rodnina:

paired with Alexey Ulanov:

Olympic Games - Gold (1972)
World Championships - Gold (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972)
European Championships - Gold (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972)
USSR Championships - Bronze (1967, 1968), Gold (1969, 1970)
Tournament for the prizes of the Moscow News newspaper - Silver (1968), Gold (1967, 1969)

paired with Alexander Zaitsev:

Olympic Games - Gold (1976, 1980)
World Championships - Gold (1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977)
European Championships - Gold (1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980)
USSR Championships - Gold (1972, 1973, 1974, 1976)
Tournament for the prizes of the Moscow News newspaper - Gold (1977)

Filmography of Irina Rodnina:

1969 - Moscow in notes
1969 - Autographs on Ice (documentary)
1970 - Pages of Sports Glory (documentary)
1970 - Parade on Ice (documentary)
1971 - Figure Skating Stars (documentary)
1971 - This Amazing Sport (documentary)
1974 - Two on Ice (documentary)
1975 - The difficult happiness of Irina Rodnina (documentary)
1977 - Farewell tango (documentary)
1977 - Paints of Ice (documentary)
1978 - The tenth peak of Irina Rodnina (documentary)
1979 - Sports of the Land of Soviets (documentary)
1979 - Return (documentary)
1980 - Difficult Olympics in Lake Placid (documentary)
1981 - ...And believed in themselves (documentary)
1982 - Where do the champions go (documentary)
1983 - Passionate (documentary)
1983 - A Word about the Coach (documentary)
1983 - To the heights (documentary)
1984 - Pages of the life of Alexandra Pakhmutova (documentary) - figure skater
1984 - And again the finest hour! (documentary)
1988 - Irina Rodnina. Free composition (documentary)
2007 - Monologue. Irina Rodnina (documentary)
2009 - Irina Rodnina. Invincible (documentary)

Bibliography of Irina Rodnina:

1978 - “Unsmooth Ice”

In contact with

Classmates

Name: Irina Rodnina

Surname: Konstantinovna

Place of Birth: Moscow

Height: 152 cm

Weight: 57 kg

Zodiac sign: Virgo

Eastern horoscope: Bull

Activity: figure skater, coach, politician

Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina is a great Soviet athlete who became famous for her long series of triumphant victories at European and world figure skating competitions, raising the sport of Russia to unprecedented heights. She became a 3-time Olympic champion, received 24 international gold medals, without losing a single competition from 1969 to 1980.

At the end of her incredible sports career, Irina worked in the Komsomol Central Committee, as a coach, teacher, radio presenter, and was involved in social and government activities.

At the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the sports star, those present wanted to know from her the mysterious secret of the eternal youth of “Makropolus”, which Irina probably knows, since she still remains a young soul, has an active life position, full of strength, positivity and sincerity. Rodnina herself perceived the decent date as her usual highest score of 6:0.

The future great figure skater was born in Moscow on September 12, 1949 in the family of a military man and a nurse. My father was from the Vologda village of Yanino, my mother was a native of Ukraine. To improve the health of their daughter, who by the age of 5 had contracted pneumonia 11 times, her parents chose ice skating.

First, they took their child to the skating rink in the Tagansky children's park named after. N.N. Pryamikov, then to the garden named after. Zhdanov in Sormovo. Irina’s first teacher was Yakov Smushkin, who at that time himself performed in figure skating. Under his strict guidance, she mastered the technique of sliding, the first spirals, jumps, spins and other mandatory elements on the ice.

The girl became physically healthier and fell in love with skates. Having successfully passed the preliminary screening, the diligent and capable student entered CSKA. From the very beginning she was a single skater, then she skated with Oleg Vlasov.

In 1964, the mentor of the 15-year-old athlete was Stanislav Zhuk, and her partner was Alexey Ulanov. After 2 years, they were already successfully performing at international competitions. In 1969, at the European Championships in Germany, the skaters became winners, despite the fact that they came to the tournament without their coach, since his travel abroad was prohibited.

At the World Championships, 5 years later, they again became first, earning approval in the form of the maximum score from all the judges. The next year was less successful for the athletes - mistakes were made at the national championship. However, thanks to the excellent performance of the free part of the program, they retained the lead.

In subsequent years, the couple continued to be the undisputed leader, in 1972 she received gold at the Olympic Games in Sapporo.

On the eve of the 1972 World Cup in Canada, Rodnina fell from a high support during training. She received a severe head injury, but showed real courage by performing despite feeling unwell and getting first place.

But after the incident, the couple broke up - according to rumors, Ulanov allegedly dropped his partner on purpose, because he was married to Lyudmila Smirnova and wanted to perform with her, which he did later.

Having recovered from her injury, Irina began skating with a new partner, Leningrader Alexander Zaitsev. The skater noted the incredible sense of reliability of her partner, and the judges noted the unity of their actions and amazing consistency. At the European Championship in 1973, they won, beating, by the way, the Smirnov-Ulanov pair.

At the World Championships of the same year, the Rodnina-Zaitsev pair were again among the leaders. Moreover, they performed under extreme conditions - in the middle of the program the musical accompaniment was turned off for technical reasons.

In 1974, the figure skater graduated from the State Central Institute of Physical Education. In October, the famous couple had a change of coach. There were several versions of what happened - from the figure skater’s growing independence to her unwillingness to tolerate Stanislav Zhuk’s behavior.

Together with the new mentor Tatyana Tarasova, who brought more creative imagination into the performance of the masters, Rodnina and Zaitsev won the 1975 World Cup.

At the Olympic Games a year later they again won gold medals. Season 1978-79 The skaters missed out due to family reasons: in February 1979, their son was born.

But soon the couple began training again. Irina's third Olympic victory in 1980 was very memorable and touched the audience, due to the tears that she could not hold back during the singing of the Soviet Union anthem at the medal ceremony.

After finishing her performances, the athlete was for some time an employee of the apparatus of the Komsomol Central Committee and was busy with coaching and teaching activities.

From 1990 to 2002, at the invitation of the International Figure Skating Center, Irina worked in America. There, despite her problems associated with a divorce from her second husband, she was able to gain a reputation as an excellent specialist. This circumstance became especially noticeable when her students - Kovarzhikova-Navotny - became world champions.

Arriving again in Moscow, the figure skater took part in various television programs, was active in public activities - she was a member of the presidium of the National Health League, the head of the All-Russian Voluntary Society Sports Russia.

In 2003 and a year later, Irina wanted to become a deputy of the State Duma, but was defeated in the elections. Another 2 years later she took a seat in the Public Chamber of Russia.

In 2007, Irina became a deputy of the State Duma of the 5th convocation from United Russia, taking the post of deputy chairman of the education committee. Another 4 years later, she again joined the State Duma, becoming a member of the Committee on CIS Affairs.

For the first time, Irina Rodnina married her figure skating partner Alexander Zaitsev. Since 1972, they began to train together, and after winning the 1975 World Cup, the young people legalized their relationship. Moreover, even American television came to the athletes’ grand wedding.

In their marriage, Alexander Jr. was born on February 23, 1979, who later became an artist. Until 1997, he lived and worked in America, and then came to Moscow. In 2008, the son gave his famous parents a granddaughter, Sofia.

Irina and Alexander were together for 8 years and maintained friendly relations. However, the couple separated after the end of their sports career. Everyone had their own vision of the future.

Irina’s second husband was Leonid Minkovsky, a businessman from Dnepropetrovsk and film producer. Their daughter Alena was born in 1986. She is not married. Lives in Washington, is a correspondent.

The couple moved to America, since there was no work for Irina in Russia after maternity leave, and in the States she was able to train new “champions.”

Irina said that while living in the USA with her husband and two children, she always experienced a lack of communication, language and culture. A few years after moving, they separated. As noted in some media, her husband left for her friend.

Rodnina is included in the Guinness Book of Records as a figure skater who has never lost in international competitions. She has a large number of awards, including the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, and “For Services to the Fatherland.”

Earlier, Rodnina said that she does not plan to marry again. But more recently, her friendship with Dr. Pavel Niederman grew into a strong feeling.

In 2010, the famous and most famous figure skater in the world, according to a poll by VTsIOM, entered the top 10 idols of the 20th century in Russia - along with such outstanding personalities as Gagarin, Solzhenitsyn, Vysotsky.

She serves as a member of the Presidential Council on Physical Education and Sports and oversees a number of sports projects.

Working in the State Duma, she is involved in children's and youth sports, leads a large number of specialized projects, making trips to all corners of the country. In 2013, she opened the season at the Omsk Ice Palace named after her, where local residents from 3 years old train.

She often appears on television, including in the programs “My Hero” and the film “Irina Rodnina. Invincible”, created using newsreels from her personal archives, as a captain together with Lev Leshchenko of the “Made in the USSR” team in the “Battle of the Continents” of the sports and entertainment show “Big Races”.

At the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi, Irina Rodnina, together with Vladislav Tretyak, lit the fire of the event in 2014.

On September 16, 2015, at a meeting of the State Duma, the leader of the LDPR faction, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, insulted Rodnina during his speech and, instead of apologizing, left (along with members of his party) the hall. His comrades believe that the reason for this behavior is the unacceptable remarks of the figure skater, which she, it seems, allows to throw at the deputies speaking at the parliamentary rostrum, being in the front row. Irina Konstantinovna stated that “rudeness” should be punished, and accordingly filed a complaint with the State Duma Ethics Commission.

A few days earlier, one of the readers of my articles and conference participant asked if I had read Irina Rodnina’s new book “Tear of a Champion” and, if so, what I thought about it. I answered honestly that I had not read either this or the previous books of the named author.

Literally a few hours later, another conference participant sent me the book in electronic form, for which I am eternally grateful. For the next three days I read this book and for another three I re-read it, making notes. After which the fingers reached for the pen and, not finding it, climbed onto the keyboard.

I would like to immediately warn the reader that my attitude towards Irina Rodnina is in no way unambiguous. As for the figure skater, using whom Stanislav Zhuk settled scores with the “Leningrad school” in the persons of Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov and turned pair skating from an art into a craft, I have no particular respect. Although, of course, Irina and Alexei Ulanov became not even pioneers, but pioneer leaders other style of pair skating, sports. As a courageous, extremely hardworking and, to the extent possible, independent person - with great sympathy. I also liked Irina a little as a woman, and in almost forty years I’ve had only a few of them at the side. Like a cunning woman who deftly shed a champion’s crocodile tear while raising the Soviet flag and shouting slogans like: “I dedicate my record to you, Party!” - with disbelief.

Not long ago I read a funny story on the Internet: a six-year-old girl, all in tears, angrily shouts to her four-year-old brother: “Give me back the candy, it’s not yours!” I’ve already eaten yours!’ Wasn’t it written with Rodnina?

But athletes with an angelic character do not become Olympic champions, much less three-time ones, so a positive attitude towards Rodnina prevails. Therefore, in reviewing her new book “Tear of a Champion,” I will try to be as objective as possible.

I’ll start, perhaps, with the publisher’s nonsense entitled Abstract: According to a 2010 VTsIOM poll, Irina Rodnina was included in the top ten idols of the 20th century in Russia - along with Gagarin, Vysotsky, Zhukov, Solzhenitsyn... We have many great athletes, but people have never rated any of them so highly.
Some kind of pagan cult of idols and idols from Perun, Semargl, Veles and company. The Christian religion clearly teaches: Do not make yourself an idol.
Where, one wonders, is Partyarch Gundyaev looking? Yes, and VTsIOM, apparently, is revealed as the “All-Russian Center distortion public opinion." This is not surprising, given how the search website describes the tasks of this organization: “Research conducted as part of a monthly survey on a representative sample of the Russian population aged 18 years and older. Fame level information parties, party leaders, etc.“
Rodnina did not write this, and this stupid popularization should not be attributed to her. Read on.

The author's first words are “ I wrote an honest book, so it's tough. Anyone who knows me well will not be surprised. I never judged anyone behind their backs and always spoke out straight“. I am ready to confirm these words of Irina almost completely. “Almost” because the second chapter immediately threw me off track.

Mom without a name, without a patronymic, without nationality

The chapter is called “Mom, Dad, Valya and Me” and begins like this: “ My dad, Konstantin Nikolaevich Rodnin, is from Vologda. More precisely, from the village of Yanino, located directly near Vologda. Now it has already been absorbed by the city. I was taken there when I was very young to visit my grandmother. My father’s sister, Aunt Nadya, still lives there... Of course, it was my mother who took care of us – Valya and me – most of all. And first of all, Valya, because she is the eldest...“.
Neither here nor in any other place in the book does Irina’s mother have a first name, patronymic, or maiden name and is referred to everywhere exclusively as “mother.”

Irochka Rodnina
Photo: spletnik.ru

It is only known that she is from Ukraine, is a good cook, is musical and studied medicine. Dad has a full name, sister Valya and even Aunt Nadya have names, but mom doesn’t. What was the great figure skater ashamed to tell about her mother? For what sins against her daughter did her mother even die nameless - I quote: “Literally a few weeks before the putsch, my mother died.”. Grandmother and other relatives on my mother’s side (Ira went to visit them in Ukraine) also remained in the book without family or tribe.
I thought for a long time and the only thing that came to my mind were lines from a song by Alexander Galich: “Here he writes in his biography - Russian, / True, pure, even if you show off. / And he was born, by the way, in Bobruisk / And with his grandmother surname – Katz!“

I do not undertake to condemn the true, pure, Russian athlete of peasant origin Irina Rodnina for the fact that in Soviet times she carefully hid her, as it was called then, “disability of the fifth group.” Many Jews and half-Jews were written by Russians not out of a sense of anti-Semitism, but simply out of fear. Everyone knew perfectly well: it was almost impossible for a Jew or a Jewess to get to the very top, and they were allowed abroad only in the most exceptional cases. I knew this too, so on December 4, 1971, I left the USSR for the first and last time without a passport and without citizenship, but with a one-way visa “for permanent residence in the State of Israel.”
I know many athletes, including figure skaters, who hide the “Jewish flaw” in their biographies. I remember how quite a long time ago, in 2000, in the article “Jews Sew Not Only Liveries” (about Jewish athletes), I called one charming figure skater Jewish. At the next championship she appeared with a cross on her neck and proudly told me: “I am Russian!” She is still listed as Russian. Only Natalya Bestemyanova revealed her secret in her autobiographical book. But what prevented Rodnina from calling her mother by name and patronymic? in 2010, and how the fact of concealment is combined with her assurance that the book is honest? Let's leave the answer to this question up to the author.*)

Further reading of the book surprised me with the illiteracy in writing names and titles. Let me give you a few examples:
Coach Samson Glyzer, known to the entire older generation of figure skaters, is called Glyzer, figure skaters Yulia and Ardo Rennik - Reiniki, coach Gennady Ackerman - Ackerman, world famous dance coach Igor Shpilband - Shpilman, and no less than Shpilband, but the infamous Alla Shekhovtsova - Shakhnovskaya.
The only students of Rodnina who have reached the European and world level are Radka Kovazhikova and Rene Novotny. In one place in the book they are Radka Kovarikova and Rene Novotny, in another they are Radka Kovarikova and Rene Novotny. It’s as if it was written about different people.

There are no less errors in American names and titles.
The book changed American figure skater Linda Fratienne's last name to Frontiani. The famous ice show Ice Capades is called “Ice Capets” - it’s good that it’s not “Ice Pesets”, otherwise the Protopopovs would be ashamed to admit that they worked in this show. The town where Rodnina worked for 10 years is called Lake Arrowhead and is written in Russian as Lake Arrowhead, and Irina writes it “Lake Aerochette,” knowing that the name translates as “Lake Arrowhead.” Aero is air, arrow is Arrow. Even if we assume that Rodnina did not read Walter Scott’s books as a child, did she really not learn English at least at this level in 10 years? The city of Memphis is named in the book as the capital of the state of Arkansas. But in another book, about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, which I read as a child, Mark Twain attributes Memphis to the state of Tennessee, and I am inclined to believe him more, a Native American.

Of course, we must not forget that Rodnina’s stable education ended in the eighth grade of a school specialized in the in-depth study of the German language. Ira received the rest on the run, between training and competitions. She writes about it herself. But she didn’t write the book herself!
Although to call all four spirals “todes” - that is, spirals of death- only she could, and only to humiliate her main rivals, Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov. In addition to the “spiral of death” that existed before them, Lyudmila and Oleg came up with three more, and called them “Spiral of Life”, “Spiral of Love” and “Cosmic Spiral”, which Rodnina is well aware of. Under these names, the Protopopov spirals are registered with the International Skating Union. Today, no one in the world will be able to perform all four spirals - you won’t earn levels with them. You don't need to reach a good level, but jump.

I asked Irina who did the literary recording of the book for her? Was this person literate enough? It turned out that this was a very competent and very famous publicist Vitaly Melik-Karamov, who wrote a literary record and the books of Tatyana Tarasova “Beauty and the Beast,” with whom he had been friends for a long time. Why then did he allow such disgrace? Accidentally? I do not believe. Out of absent-mindedness? I will never believe it. Hastily? But the manuscript lay in the publishing house for more than three years. This means that in the publishing house itself, the editor of the book was a person who had never been interested in figure skating, who had never read books by foreign authors or Soviet newspapers. Or it was a person who deliberately missed all the mistakes in order to expose Rodnina in an unsightly light. Was it possible that the editor was asked to do this by someone whom Irina spoke unflatteringly about in her book?

Always guilty of subjectivity

In the address “From the Author,” Rodnina writes: “A first-person story always suffers from subjectivity. This is how I see the situation, but someone else who was involved may have a completely different view of the events I describe. I tried not to gloss over my memories, which is actually very difficult. It’s not easy to offend people who were close to you.”
I was not a participant in the events, but I witnessed a lot of things described in this book. I can testify that most sports functionaries, starting with Piseev, deserved the characteristics given to them by Rodnina. I would even say that Irina Konstantinovna “didn’t give enough” to the same Piseeva, Shekhovtsova-Shakhnovskaya and Tarasova, just in case. But she writes about herself with such love and adoration that it seems: her best friend’s name is not Oksana Pushkina, but Manya Velichiya. What made me laugh the most were the lines in which Rodnina states: Tamara Nikolaevna and Igor Borisovich Moskvin borrowed a lot from her. Did Moskvina’s coaches borrow a lot from Zhuk and Tarasova’s student? Fresh legend.....
After laughing, I remembered a similar incident. Salvador Dali wrote memoirs in which he did not speak very well of his friend, Pablo Picasso. After some time, they met in Paris, and Picasso asked his friend what he had done to deserve an unflattering description. To which Dali calmly replied: “You see, Pablo, I wrote my memoirs not about you, but about myself.”
Rodnina also writes about herself, so there is nothing to complain about. When a person like her finds herself at the very top of her sports career, she experiences what is called “success dizziness.” In this state, it was already difficult for Irina to distinguish the party congress (no matter which one: the CPSU, United Russia or any other ruling one) from the congress of her own roof. Rodnina, by the way, is no exception. For example, world champion Alexei Tikhonov, a very good figure skater, was modest until, due to his great physical strength, Ilya Averbukh put the most magnificent briskets and heaviest hams of the so-called “stars” of the Russian stage, cinema and TV into Tikhonov’s muscular hands . Having had his fill, Alexey decided that he was an unsurpassed male, handsome, a talented film actor and a “star” of the first magnitude. I have already written about Evgeni Plushenko’s cult of personality, but for now I am silent about Anton Sikharulidze.

It is a pity that, while listing in the “American” part of her biography the names of famous figure skaters whom she helped prepare at the request of their coaches, Irina did not talk about the Stigler brother and sister - American figure skaters whom she raised and brought to the level of the World Junior Championships. Later, she appears to have given the pair to Alexander Zaitsev. I met Rodnina and the Stiglers at several tournaments, they were a very good sports couple. But most of the time Rodnina in the USA worked not for the record, but for the cash register - like most Russian and Eastern European coaches from the USA, so counting six American years in her professional experience as a coach in the sense familiar to Soviet ears should be done with great caution. But the money she earned helped her raise her daughter and, especially, her son.

Rodnina returned to her homeland

Watching from the sidelines the collapse of the Soviet Union, where she was part of the nomenklatura, Rodnina realized: her future was in her past. The time had come to return to Russia, where a certain category of the privileged population had a chance to earn a lot of money. But she had no intention of becoming a coach, under the almost unlimited power of the same “Pisei the Immutable.” After standing on the ice in California for six years, Rodnina wanted to sit down and relax. Sit down in a chair, of course. Yes, not simple, but guiding. No sooner said than done. Irina Konstantinovna mentions the stages of her long journey in almost detail in the book - director of the Irina Rodnina Palace, member of the International Olympic Committee, chairman of the Russian Olympic Committee. Neither here, nor there, nor there, Rodnina’s candidacy was supported. Despite the fact that the cool businessmen who were supposed to build a “Palace” for her assured: a luxurious office with a sign on the massive door “Director - I.K.” Rodnina” has already been planned and an additional salary will be delivered to her monthly.

Photo pedsovet.su

The returnee had the opportunity to become president of the FFKKR, but she did not dare to climb into the painfully familiar jungle of intrigue. In the end, old connections helped her become a deputy of the State Duma and get the coveted chair in Sports Russia. October pioneer Komsomol communist Rodnina, as one would expect, became a member of the ruling party.
The book ends with life-affirming lines:
“Is it time to take stock? If it has arrived, then the main one is this: it’s too early to draw conclusions.”

Is this book worth reading? The answer to this question is also not clear. It will not surprise anyone who lives inside Soviet, and after the collapse of the USSR, Russian figure skating. All events and facts mentioned in it are known. But for fans of figure skating, his fans and those who like to gnaw every fried fact to the bone, the book will give many interesting facts that they either did not know until now, or knew from rumors. And Rodnina writes from herself, that is, from the first person.
I ask only one thing. As you read, do not forget the Christian commandments, especially chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew: “Be not judged, lest ye be judged.” I told Irina that I could not understand some passages in the new book that were completely out of character for her and that I would be forced to “go through them” in the review. Here's what she replied:

You have the right to write everything!!! For more than three years I did not give consent to the book, the contract expired, and the publishing house did THIS: (((Edited by Melik-Karamov, you know, I’m not a writer:))))

Having known Irina for almost 40 years, I believe her. Lies have never been her weapon. Maybe one of her many ill-wishers really wanted to frame Rodnin with the release of this book?

*) In the photo section of the book, mother is mentioned once by name and patronymic. Her name was Yulia Yakovlevna.

World copyright by Arthur Werner. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, printing, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.

On September 12, 1949, a girl was born in Moscow, who was destined to climb to the highest step of the Olympic Games podium three times and the World Championship ten times, become a Russian public figure and statesman, and raise two children. Irina Rodnina, the famous figure skater, was able to prove herself in all guises!

The girl, born into the family of a military man and a nurse, was often sick as a child. Doctors strongly recommended that parents begin to harden their child, and five-year-old Ira was taken to an outdoor skating rink. As it turned out, the doctors’ advice influenced not only Irina’s health, but also her fate as a whole. The girl really liked figure skating, she began to make progress and at the age of eleven she successfully passed the selection for the CSKA figure skating section. There she was soon noticed by Stanislav Zhuk, one of the most powerful trainers at that time. He took the young skater from the singles skating team and paired her with Alexei Ulanov.

” The Rodnina-Ulanov pair quickly became the leader of Soviet figure skating, and in 1972 they rose to the highest step of the Olympic podium. However, the personal relationship of the sports couple leaves much to be desired: Ulanov is married to another figure skater, Lyudmila Smirnova, and really wants to skate with her.

It is unknown what caused the fatal mistake of Alexei Ulanov, who, shortly after the Olympics, during training, drops Rodnina from the support and... She does not regain consciousness for two hours. Doctors' diagnosis: concussion and intracranial hematoma.

Irina received an injury just before the World Championships, which she still went to and skated with the same Ulanov. For the short program they even received the highest score - 6.0. Rodnina finished the free program in a semi-fainting state and was seriously thinking about retiring from her career.

” And then again her fate was decided, one might say, by an outsider: Stanislav Zhuk invited her to ride with Alexander Zaitsev, unknown to anyone at that time. On the ice they suited each other perfectly.

This is how Rodnina recalls working with Zaitsev: “It was convenient for me to skate together with him. I extended my hand and didn’t look back. This is an amazing feeling! Don't look back. You give your hand, and they take it. There is always some kind of strength with you.”

” The opportunity not to look back, to rely on a partner always and in everything, led to the fact that the relationship of young athletes went beyond the skating rink, and after another victorious World Championship in 1975, the couple became not only sports, but also married.

Even American television came to the grand wedding of the champions. For a long time, sporting achievements came first for the young family. A year after the wedding, they became Olympic champions, and continued to take first places at the European and World Championships.

But when Irina became pregnant, she had to sacrifice her career: due to complications, she spent eight out of nine months of pregnancy in a supine position. The son of Rodnin and Zaitsev was named Alexander, he was born in 1979. And exactly a year later the couple set off to conquer the Olympic ice for the third time. In 1980, Rodnina and Zaitsev became Olympic champions for the third time and ended their sports careers.

” With the end of his sports career, his family life also came to an end. It turned out that the main thing that connected her and Alexander Zaitsev was sport. If there was no figure skating, there was no more love. Irina began working as a coach and raised her son. They maintained friendly relations with their ex-husband.

And then Irina met her future second husband, businessman Leonid Minkovsky. From him she was not afraid to give birth to her daughter Alena at the age of 36, despite the difficult first pregnancy. When in 1990 she was offered a job at the American International Figure Skating Center, Irina agreed with joy.

Irina’s son Zaitsev Jr. did not want to leave Moscow until the last moment, because he was having a hard time parting with his grandparents: “In principle, I knew English; I studied in an English special school in Russia. But when I got to America, I realized there was nothing more than “Hello!” “I’m Sasha from Russia,” I couldn’t say. However, when I went to school, I made friends and began to learn spoken English. It was also hard for my mother, she didn’t know English at all, she had to learn it from scratch.” Zaitsev Jr. also found his favorite hobby in America - hockey. True, Irina Konstantinovna did not want to send him to the sports section, she was afraid that her son would learn to swear and all his teeth would be knocked out. But in the end she agreed.

” In America, Zaitsev Jr. received a good secondary education, but for a long time he could not understand what he wanted to connect his future with. The choice was made on ceramics. However, he wanted to get a profession exclusively in Russia, and entered the Art and Industry Academy named after. Stroganov. Now he is a ceramic artist, he has a daughter, Sophia.

Rodnina’s “American Fairy Tale” lasted only a year, then she found out that her husband was cheating on her. It was a terrible blow, but Irina did not want to live in the status of a deceived wife. This time the divorce was not as peaceful as with Zaitsev: Minkovsky threatened to take his daughter, Rodnina involved the best lawyers - and tried to fight. Irina Konstantinovna says about that period: “I was depressed for quite a long time. The children pulled me out of it. One day my son took me to the mirror and said: “Mom, look who you look like!” I looked and was horrified. All grey, wildly thin. I can’t say that I looked very bad, I just didn’t like myself then. And this is very important! I always loved myself in sports, but in life it turned out to be more difficult. But she made an effort. I began to pay more attention to my appearance and took up sports solely for my health. And then, when you physically exert yourself, all sorts of bad thoughts begin to come out along with sweat. Mine were gone too... I freed myself from the burden and rushed to Moscow. I rented out an apartment there and provided the family with some kind of guaranteed income.”.

Daughter Alena stayed with her. And immediately after the divorce, things improved in the profession: Rodnina was invited to train Czech figure skaters Radka Kovarzhikova and Rene Novotny, who under her leadership became world champions. Now she has become not just a former champion, but a coach with a brilliant reputation. And by the beginning of the 2000s, she finally returned to her homeland.

” Alena graduated from university and lives and works in America as a journalist. She has an active civic position: in 2014, the girl was nominated for a GLAAD LGBT Award for the program “Bisexuals Waited Their Turn in the White House,” and is now actively involved in the campaign to prevent sexual harassment.

And Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina is now a prominent political figure. However, she does not impose her political views on her children: “Each generation lives its own life. Why should I impose my own? My task was to raise children, raise them, and educate them. Then everyone stands in their own positions.”

Prepared by Maria Kartashova