Anniversary of Galina Kulakova. Does the champion have a secret? Galina Kulakova: “We never fell after the finish, but now it’s fashionable Gifts for Kulakova: iron horses and live ones

ANNIVERSARY OF THE QUEEN OF SKI

The first skis… I made myself

Galina Kulakova was born on April 29, 1942 in the village of Logachi, Votkinsk district. It is unlikely that her mother, as well as six sisters and two brothers, could have imagined that their Galya, a simple village girl, would become famous throughout the world.

The girl started skiing early. In winter, I used them to get to school in the neighboring village of Stepanovo - three kilometers there, three kilometers back. True, it was only a stretch to call these first skis skis. Galya made them herself... from aspen. But I couldn’t bend the ends. So she ran.

Young Kulakova did not think about professional sports. It was necessary to help the mother, who alone raised 9 children. Their father died at the front, Galina never saw him. Already at the age of 15, she began working on a state farm - first as a calf-calf, then as a milkmaid. At the state farm there was a ski section in which the girl practiced. Occasionally, but without much success, she performed at local competitions.

Everything changed in 1964, when Kulakova’s sister Lida asked to replace her at regional competitions. Galina ran for the Votkinsk Machine Plant team and finished second. Coach Pyotr Naimushin drew attention to the girl’s powerful, although far from perfect, running. He took her under his wing, and three years later Kulakova joined the USSR national cross-country skiing team. And a year later - in 1968 in Grenoble, France - she won her first silver Olympic medal.

However, Kulakova could have become an Olympic champion even then, in Grenoble. But 500 meters before the finish she fell and lost to Swede Toini Gustafsson by only 3 seconds. But four years later, at the Olympics in Sapporo, the athlete from Udmurtia had no equal. In three starts she won three golds.

The victories of our fellow countrywoman at the competitions different levels It’s difficult to even just list. For a long time she simply had no equal on the ski track.

In 1982, Galina Kulakova completed sports career and began coaching the Udmurtia cross-country skiing team. Graduated from technical school in Prokopyevsk physical culture, and later the Tchaikovsky Institute of Physical Education. Kulakova was offered to move to Moscow, but she refused. She said: “I’m a skier. I need snow."

Since the early 1990s, the great skier has lived in the village of Italmas, near Izhevsk, with her teammate, three-time USSR champion Nina Paramonova.

We managed to visit the great skier, congratulate her on her anniversary and chat.

Archival photos from the book “A Queen Named Galina.”

Galina Kulakova: queen on the ski track and peasant woman at home

- Nadezhda, all my hope is in you! Galina Alekseevna's anniversary is coming soon. I really want to write material about her. But Kulakova is not particularly fond of journalists. Help, talk to her,” I asked Nadezhda Utkina for help. This meeting with Galina Kulakova took place thanks to the singer Nadezhda Utkina. Knowing that she was on good terms with the legendary Soviet skier, I turned to her for help.

The tactics were chosen correctly. Galina Alekseevna invited us to visit for Easter.

Password: “Christ is Risen!”

On the appointed day and hour we were in the village of Italmas, not far from Izhevsk. The famous athlete has lived here since the early 1990s along with her friend Nina Paramonova, also a skier and three-time USSR champion.

We call the intercom.

Christ is Risen!

Truly risen!

Kulakova’s house is clean and cozy.

We spent several days cleaning up for Easter. Toma Tikhonova (two-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing - author's note) helped. But they didn’t have time to put the museum in order (it’s located on the second floor of the house. - Author’s note). They are now doing renovations there for my anniversary,” says Galina Alekseevna.

Are you comfortable that your home and museum are one whole? Are people not bothering you?

All her life Paramonova dreamed of being able to walk close to work. Her dream came true. Nina has been working as a tour guide for 11 years since the opening of the museum. I wore slippers at the workplace too, laughs Olympic champion. - She knows everything about me...

"Schumacher" on the road and ski track

A lot of guests will come to the 70th anniversary of the great athlete from Udmurtia.

The Rochevs promised, Sasha Zavyalov, Raya Smetanina, Zina Amosova, Elena Vyalbe, lists the hero of the upcoming celebration. - In total there are more than a hundred people invited. And now we mostly only meet with our teammates on anniversaries. On February 29, Raya Smetanina turned 60 years old; Nina and I went to see her in Syktyvkar.

Are you driving yourself?

I drove half the road, my nephew drove half. I love speed, like 140-150 km/h! Nina calls me Schumacher,” Kulakova laughs. - Of course, I don’t travel that much anymore. Previously, I skied more than a year. It used to cover over ten thousand kilometers. And now I rarely get up on skis. Today, during the winter, I only went out for a ride three times; I didn’t even take part in the “Ski Track of Russia”. I’m an athlete: if I go to the start line, I can’t walk, I need to compete, but my health is no longer the same. Therefore, when they ask me why I stopped running, I answer: “I have already achieved what I wanted in life.”

Yes, Kulakova is like that, confirms Nina Paramonova. - Once I beat her in the “thirty”. After the finish, “well-wishers” tell me: they say, Galya lost to you. To which I replied: “You can ask Kulakova for a loan, but never have her give in on the track!” This is not in her character!

Polati and pies with bird cherry

Since we came to visit Galina Kulakova together with Nadezhda Utkina, we couldn’t do without songs. Especially for the athlete’s anniversary, Nadezhda wrote a song based on the words of Vladimir Tyaptin. As it turned out, Galina Alekseevna also loves to sing in good company.

Yesterday the girls and I cleaned up, went to the bathhouse, then sat, drank tea, and sang songs all evening. We trained before our anniversary. Do you know “The Bench”? - the hostess asked the singer. - This is my father’s song, my mother always sang it. There are these words: “I come, sit on the bench, why am I alone today?” - Kulakova sang. - Our whole family still sings this song whenever they are in the mood.
- No, Galina Alekseevna, I don’t know, unfortunately. But I promise, I will definitely learn it by your anniversary,” Nadezhda Utkina assured.

Mom was an authority for us. I remember when I was a child there were huge floors in our house. When someone comes to visit, mom will glare, and we, little thing, are not visible. We are already sitting on the floors and watching everything that is happening from above. And how I loved my mother’s bird cherry pies as a child! It seemed like there was nothing tastier than them in the world! There were at least twenty bird cherry trees in the garden. We’ll collect it, and then mom will pamper us with pies... We’re really chatting, let’s sit down at the table,” the hostess invited, and she went off to busy herself in the kitchen.

Kulak Kulakova

Soon shish kebab, crispy pickles, cabbage, honey and strawberry jam for tea appeared on the table. Well, and, of course, colored eggs and Easter cake.

We are used to eating simply. Let's fry the cutlets, get pickles for them from underground and that's it. But we don’t eat pasta,” says Nina Paramonova. It is she who is responsible for preparing pickles and jams in the house.

Why do you think they keep me here? Kulakova doesn’t have a hand in banks. She can’t wash them or put away the cucumbers. No wonder Kulakova,” Nina Arkadyevna laughs. “We thought we’d try our fresh cucumbers today, but now we don’t have a greenhouse, but a real menagerie.” First there was a mole there, then mice. They plowed all the land, gnawed all the cucumbers! It’s such a pity... The tomatoes have also already been transplanted into the greenhouse, we make lecho and tomato juice from them. And what pumpkins we grew last year! The largest is 33 kilograms. Let's put pumpkin and apples through a juicer, so delicious!

Enchanted Creek

Yes, Nina is a famous gardener,” Galina Kulakova praises her friend. “She takes care of the plantings, and I help water them.” I prefer to tinker with animals. Now we only keep a dozen chickens; in the spring we will buy another twenty broilers. Previously, they also kept a goat, Lyalechka. She was such a beauty, it was like a dog was running after me! She died... We have a stream nearby. Once I came to him with Lyalechka, at first she seemed to lean forward to jump over him, and then changed her mind. We returned home, and the goat suddenly died. Oh, and Nina and I cried. After Lyalechka, they didn’t start getting any other goats.

Another story is connected with this stream, continues Nina Paramonova. - We had a dog, Count. One day we also went for a walk with him to the stream. The Count stood by the water, but did not go further. We came home, and 15 minutes later he began to die. We mixed him vodka with egg and honey, but to no avail...

Now, if someone we know complains about their health, we say: “Come on, we’ll take you to the stream. Whoever jumps over it will live,” Kulakova and Paramonova smile.

Skiers-swimmers

After a delicious feast, we ask the hostesses to take a tour of the garden plot.

Wear felt boots and galoshes - the yard is still dirty and not dry. And felt boots are our main footwear. “Only I have three working couples,” Galina Alekseevna smiles and introduces her to the farm. - This is a bathhouse, this is a kebab shop...

Do you buy ready-made firewood? - we are interested, seeing the impressive size of the woodpile.

What do we need our hands for? We stab ourselves! - Kulakova smiles.

We go into the chicken coop.

Well done, everyone did a great job today, he praises

Galina Alekseevna of her winged charges, collecting eggs.

What is this, another huge greenhouse? - we point to a structure made of cellular polycarbonate.

You guessed wrong. “This is our “pond” near the house,” the hostess answers, opening the door, behind which, as it turns out, is a swimming pool. “We’ve been swimming in it since spring, as soon as the sun starts to get hot. We dream of a heated swimming pool so that all year round it was possible to swim.

As it turned out, Kulakova and Paramonova are famous swimmers. From the everyday work of an athlete friend in last years prefer to relax in the Russian south. IN last time We went to the Black Sea in September last year.

We love to swim. True, now we can’t swim far, we’re afraid,” says Kulakova. - Many people mistake Nina and I for swimmers at sea. One day we get out of the water, and some woman asks: “Girls, how beautifully you swim, are you swimmers?” “No, we are skiers,” we answer. The fact is that at one time we did a lot of training in the pool. This is a great exercise for your arms. In my youth, in Stepanovo, I swam along the Kama six kilometers there and six kilometers back. True, my sister was next to me on the boat, keeping me safe, you never know what could happen in the water. When I swam to the shore, I couldn’t get to my feet right away. So the muscles got used to the water...

Secret of success

I just work really hard. “I like to do what I love,” answered the skier.

Even today Kulakova cannot sit idle. Looking at this amazing woman with an extraordinary smile and sparkling eyes, it is difficult to believe that she is turning 70. It is difficult to believe that in front of you is no less than a four-time Olympic champion, who had no equal on the ski track in the 1960-1970s. Having won countless medals and earned numerous orders and titles, Galina Kulakova did not become proud and remained just as modest. She does not need either luxury or wealth; solitude and measured village life are much closer to her heart.

HAPPENS!

Gifts for Kulakova: iron and live horses

Ten years ago, on her 60th birthday, President of Udmurtia Alexander Volkov gave Galina Kulakova a Niva car. Today, according to our information, the head of the republic also plans to give the great athlete an “iron horse” - a RAW 4 SUV. But one of the most unusual gifts was presented to Galina Alekseevna by figure skater Irina Rodnina.

Childhood and family of Galina Kulakova

As a schoolgirl, the girl went on skis, which were actually two boards. She got real skis in the fifth grade. The school was located three kilometers away; Galya covered this path twice a day.

The first victories of skier Galina Kulakova

In 1968 in Grenoble, a talented athlete could easily become an Olympic champion. Being still inexperienced, five hundred meters before the finish, she failed to cope with the descent and flew off the ski track. She didn't have enough three seconds for victory. And yet, the skier did not leave her first Olympics without a medal. She returned home, bringing two medals.

Galina felt that she lacked not only experience, but also technology. Having realized her shortcomings, she began to work hard to eliminate them. Soon, her skiing became impeccable.

Galina Kulakova - champion: health problems and great success

Nobody thought that Kulakova would be able to get on skis. She not only returned to active training, but was also able to win every single Olympic gold medal in Sapporo in 1972.

In 1974, at the World Championships in Falun, the skier won both the relay and both individual races. The athlete came to the 1976 Olympics, one might say, number one. However, illness made adjustments; Galina caught a cold. Before the start, she put drops on her nose, which is why the anti-doping commission found a prohibited drug in her body. Kulakova was stripped of her bronze medal.

In 1979, at the age of thirty-seven, the Soviet skier won the World Cup. It was expected that Kulakova could show good results in the next Olympics, but she did not rise above fifth place. Our team also lost in the relay race, losing to the team from the GDR.

At the age of forty, Galina Alekseevna decided to leave the sport. She ended her career in 1982.

Personal life of Galina Kulakova

Two years after the end of her sports career, Kulakova received the Silver Olympic Order from the hands of Juan Antonio Samaranch. This is how the skier’s services to world sports were noted.

Kulakova was repeatedly offered to move to Moscow, but she always refused. According to her, a skier needs to live where there is snow, and besides, she considers herself a villager. The multiple champion now lives in the village of Italmas, not far from Izhevsk. Her house-museum is also located there. It was presented to the athlete on her sixtieth birthday. In the museum she receives people, shows awards and cups.

Galina Kulakova currently

Galina Kulakova was married to her first coach, Pyotr Naimushin. They divorced in the late seventies. Now Kulakova lives alone. Happy man she doesn't consider herself. According to the athlete, her happiness is that she has many friends.

Her sports victories is already behind us, but for many she is still an idol and role model. Kulakova started skiing since childhood - the school where she studied was located 3 kilometers from home and there was no other way to get to it. The famous athlete still lives in her native Udmurtia.

She still talks about her hundreds of medals with excitement. Each of them was given to Galina Kulakova with great difficulty. Now the 4-time Olympic Champion and 9-time World Champion talks about her successes in her museum, which is located right in her home. Kulakova became the USSR champion a record number of times.

“There are 39 gold coins, more than anyone else, no one has that many,” says Galina Kulakova.

But it seemed that fate was not preparing her for a sports career at all. Daily work on the farm, and later studying to become a combine operator - a real star in agriculture, not sports. She worked in the ski section of the state farm after work, and at first she was desperately unlucky. Until Kulakova accidentally got into the district championship, where she immediately took second place.

“She may have already come to the sport prepared. She ran after the calves, carried a flask of milk, fed the calves, milked the cows already. She came stronger,” - three-time USSR champion in cross-country skiing Nina Paramonova.

Then it started big sport. Victories at all-Union competitions and finally she was included in the Olympic team. The first games and the first, as Galina Alekseevna herself believes, were a failure. 500 meters before the finish, the Soviet athlete fell on a bend - and the Swede literally snatched gold from Kulakova. The coaches then said: after these competitions, Galina could not find a place for herself and there was no stopping her. Hours of training, 80 kilometers a day! In the late 60s, her running was recognized as exemplary; footage from competitions with her participation was studied by all skiers in the world. At the next Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, Kulakova took revenge - and in her piggy bank absolutely all the gold.

“Although my opponent has passed me several times, her name is also Galya. She will pass me on the climb, I pass her at the very top. I still need to win,” says Galina Kulakova.

Multiple Olympic Champion Raisa Smetanina joined the Soviet national team when Kulakova was already a famous athlete. They immediately became close friends, but on the ski track they remained fierce rivals.

“In 1979, a fierce struggle broke out between Galina Alekseevna and me. And Galina Alekseevna won, as always,” says Raisa Smetanina.

She promised to end her sports career at the age of 40 and kept her word. She refused numerous offers to work in Moscow and even abroad. She returned to her native Udmurtia and settled outside the city.

Now at 70, Galina Alekseevna is still skiing. She remembers in great detail each of her finishes, when she no longer had enough strength, but still had to run.

One of the journalists calculated that skier Kulakova ran around the earth three times in her entire life. She always wanted to run, and she still wants to.

Galina Kulakova made history in 1972 when she won all the gold in the Olympic Sapporo, and her skis became part of folklore. A few months after Sapporo, a giant stele was erected on the shore of Izhevsk Pond, dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the entry of Udmurtia into Russia; the people immediately called the monument “Kulakova’s Skis”. The idea, as they say, was in the air: the stele is shaped like a ski.

45 years have passed, but even now few residents of the city will say the real name of the monument - “Friendship of Peoples”. There is no doubt that someday a prominent director will make a full-fledged feature film about Kulakova. Where else can you find another story like this?

"Goodbye kiss"

Galina Kulakova was born on April 29, 1942 in the village of Logachi, 30 kilometers from Votkinsk. Galochka was the last, ninth child in the family. “A goodbye kiss,” as her mother called her. Her father died in the year of her birth somewhere near Yelnya, never knowing that he had a daughter.

“Mom raised us alone. It was hard, sometimes there was nothing to eat. They used to collect rotten, frozen potatoes from the field and roast them in the oven. We called it “hopki,” says Galina Alekseevna. — In the summer I saved the garden. Beets, carrots, cabbage. Every day we cooked a 10-liter cast iron of potatoes. Even now I really love potatoes, my second bread.”

In winter, I had to use something to get to school, which was three kilometers from home. So Galina got on skis, which, by the way, she made herself. First from a barrel, and then from an aspen log. The future queen of skiing only got real skis in the fifth grade: she inherited them from her brother, who went into the army.

Difficulties strengthened the character of the future champion. Here's a story for you. Once Galina and her friends went to ski trip— and a girl crashed into her from behind. The ski split in half with a crunch and pierced his back. Despite the pain, Kulakova did not turn back. When we returned from the hike, I went to the surgeon, who cut out a sliver of wood and handed it over with the words: “Take it as a souvenir.”

There would be no happiness...

After finishing seven classes, Galina went to the state farm. She was a laborer, then worked as a calf shepherd for four years, then as a milkmaid for two more. One can only guess how it would have turned out further fate, if not for a happy accident that happened in 1964.

“I came to Votkinsk to visit my sister Lida - she worked at a machine plant,” recalls Galina Alekseevna. - Just on this day she was supposed to participate in the factory ski racing, but got sick and asked to run for her. Well, I ran and took second place. I returned home, the next day a telegram: “Come urgently.” I think something happened to my sister. She rushed over. It turned out that coach Pyotr Fedorovich Naimushin noticed me on the ski track and decided to send me to competitions in Izhevsk.

Amazing story, isn't it? But no less surprising is that Naimushin believed in the girl, who at that time was already 21 years old! The coach's instincts were correct.

In 1965, Kulakova participated in the first major competitions in Smolensk at the championship of the Trud society and made everyone respect me. On the first day, she won a five-kilometer race, overtaking more than 70 masters of sports, and the next day she finished first again, already at a distance of 10 kilometers. “The Udmurts have found a milkmaid who beats everyone!” — either jokingly or seriously, they started talking about Kulakova. Soon the “milkmaid” became part of the national team.

Golden hat-trick

Sometimes it seems that Galina Alekseevna has learned the secret of the mythical King Midas, who turned everything he touched into gold. It’s no joke, just judge: four-time Olympic champion, nine-time world champion, 39-time USSR champion. But there are no victories without defeats.
For the first time in her life, Galina Kulakova cried in 1968 at the Olympics in Grenoble. From resentment. Galina was in the lead in the five-kilometer race 500 meters before the finish, but fell on a bend and “gave” the gold to Swede Toini Gustaffson.

Such a failure, if silver at the debut Olympics can be considered a failure, could unsettle someone for a long time. But not Kulakova, who could no longer be stopped. During hours of training, the skier covered 80 kilometers a day.

“I’ve always trained a lot,” says Kulakova. “I didn’t need to be pushed or forced.” Viktor Ivanov, who led the USSR national team, grumbled: “Galya, we need to put a bridle on you and hold it.” They’ll say 30 kilometers, I’ll go 35. I could have walked more, but I’ll go. That’s why I won both in the lowlands and in the mountains.”

Patience and work were not in vain. In the late 60s, Kulakova’s running was recognized as a reference; footage from competitions with her participation was studied by all ski specialists. After Grenoble to Sapporo, Kulakova did not lose a single race; she was head and shoulders above her rivals at the Olympics, winning absolutely all the gold: two individual races plus a relay race. Kulakova was offered many times to move to Moscow, but the legendary skier just waved it off: “Never! The city is not for me, I’m a country girl, I love nature.”

When Kulakova finished her career at the age of forty, she lived for some time in a three-room apartment in Votkinsk, but then, together with three-time USSR champion skier Nina Paramonova, she decided to leave for the village of Italmas. For more than 20 years now, the champion friends have been living next door and keeping a vegetable garden together.

“It’s a joy for me to work on earth; strength comes from the earth. Everything is fine with me, I don’t need anything. Maybe just insert teeth,” Galina Alekseevna smiles.

She no longer skis, she says her health is not the same, but she enjoys driving a car, for which Nina Paramonova even nicknamed her “Schumacher.” Nothing changes: Kulakova still loves speed.

List of awards and achievements of Galina Kulakova:

• 4-time Olympic champion;
• 9-time world champion;
• 39-time USSR champion;
• Knight of the Silver Olympic Order. It was presented to Kulakova personally in 1984 by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. Our fellow countrywoman is the only skier in the country awarded this high award;
• Knight of the Order of Lenin;
• Honored Master of Sports of the USSR;
• Honored Trainer of Russia;
• Honorary citizen of the Urals and Izhevsk;
• “The best sportswoman of Udmurtia of the 20th century”;
• Holder of the title “Legend of the 20th Century”, the only Russian skier.