Alexey Ulanov is an amazing Soviet figure skater and man who put the fulfillment of his dreams above ambition.
Childhood
Lesha Ulanov was born in Moscow in 1947. I first started skating at the age of seven. Trainings were held at the Young Pioneers Stadium. He immediately fell in love with figure skating for its high beauty, for the ability to perform classical ballet stages on ice. Then the fashion for skiing was set by the magnificent L. Belousova and O. Protopopov, two-time Olympic champions. These were real artists on ice, on which young Alexei Ulanov strove to be equal in artistry and expressiveness. But life judged otherwise. First, he rode alone, then paired with his sister, and then a handsome, artistic eighteen-year-old young man was watched by S. Zhuk and paired him with young Ira Ira Rodnina, who was only sixteen years old. This happened back in 1966.
First victories
Seven months later, the couple took part in the Moscow Skates tournament. In the next 1968, they took first place on it. And soon they were taken to the USSR team. The victory brought 1969.
It was truly a triumph - first place in the European Championship and the World Championship! But back in 1968, Alexei Ulanov began to wonder if his partner was suitable for him. She fully shared the views of a trainer-innovator who destroyed all traditions and came up with more and more new, more and more complex, almost acrobatic elements. S. Beetle in his search farther and farther away from classic pair skating. The coach sought to fill the skating with elements of inconceivable complexity. A. Ulanov thought of himself differently in the traditions of ballet and high art. He was impressed by the manner of riding Lyudmila Smirnova from Leningrad. But the skater refused to pair with him, and he continued to work with Rodnina. In 1972, they became the first at the Sapporo Olympics. But this was their last joint performance.
Marriage
There, at the Olympics, Alexey Ulanov again approached Lyudmila, and she agreed to become not only a partner, but also a legal spouse. In Sapporo, they bought engagement rings. Arriving from Japan on February 15, the champion did not hesitate and the very next day went to Leningrad.
There he was immediately painted with his beloved, and already by plane the young returned to Moscow. So love and sport intertwined for many years. They went to Canada at the World Cup as a married couple, where they received silver medals, losing first place to Rodnina and Zaitsev. This new pair, against which the entire Figure Skating Federation was opposed, was only able to show its capabilities for two years. In 1974, they had to leave the sport.
Ballet on ice
For fifteen years they have successfully worked as soloists of the Leningrad Ballet on Ice.
At this time, they had a son, Kolya and a daughter, Irishka. Ulanov Aleksey Nikolaevich spent all the time on the road on tours. In full, as he wanted, he could not deal with children. Dad and mom raised skaters from them. In general, the personal life of Alexei Ulanov was developing safely.
However, after the collapse of the country in 1990, the family moved to America. Now they all worked together at Holiday on Ice. Four years they performed in this revue. And after that, Lyudmila Stanislavovna and Alexei Nikolaevich became trainers. After twenty-one years of marriage, they divorced, and their roads parted. In 1997, Lyudmila, along with her daughter Irina, returned to Russia. Initially, she worked as a trainer, and then as the director of the Nadezhda figure skating school. Daughter Irina did not show much success in sports and moved to the ice, long-familiar Disney on Ice revue, where she rolled back new programs for six years. For ten years, the son of Smirnova and Ulanova, Nikolai, worked on the ice ballets above. The children helped their mother create her own enterprise - the Dynasty figure skating school in St. Petersburg.
Return
Ulanov Aleksey spent twenty years in the USA. The skater returned to his homeland in 2010. He wanted to share his rich experience in ballet with his children - daughter and son. An older coach believes that the era of Rodnina is leaving, a new time is coming. He sees the future of figure skating in something else - as in his youth, in unfading classical ballet. Figure skater Alexei Ulanov, whose biography is inextricably linked with figure skating, has been teaching the right trainings of kids from three to four years old for the last fifteen years. He developed his own technique and came to pass it on to Nikolai and Irina.
Opinion on the further development of figure skating
In the photo, Alexey Ulanov is surrounded by children who train with his ex-wife.
Children cling to an experienced mentor. He believes that in FC there should be a system of education similar to classical ballet. The best children from choreographic schools on ice should be brought up by the most worthy trainers. Such schools in our country, as well as around the world, should be private and maintained at the expense of parents. This very Western approach is unlikely to bring an influx of new talent in the near future, since not the best times have come for Russian parents. According to Ulanov, modern judges should be objective in all respects. They can not focus only on the testimony of a computer that accurately displays the technical achievements of athletes. Also at the highest level, they should have a penetration into music and choreography when a certain image is built.
How and where Alexey Ulanov lives now
At seventy, he is a very cheerful and happy person. He lives in the suburbs, still skates, passing on the basics of figure skating to his pupils, and tinkering with his baby son.
So everything could work out happily, since A. Ulanov never smoked, did not drink, practiced a lot, withstanding up to ten performances a week. As a reward at sixty-nine years old, he became a father who, with pleasure, devotes a lot of time to his baby.
