After that terrible accident, the life of Eduard Zenovka was divided into two halves: “before” and “after”. If “before” an ordinary talented athlete, thanks to perseverance and hard work, and sometimes a smile of fortune, won first places in the individual and team standings, then “after” came the understanding and realization that the world is not ruled by a person.
Eduard Zenovka, according to the interview, does not believe in God, but believes in fate. Fortunately, this did not stop him from pulling himself together and returning to the big sport a year and a half after the accident in which he lost his beloved.
Biography of Edward Zenovka
The famous athlete was born in 1969 in Moscow. At 48, he completed his sports career. He has many titles and awards, including the medal "For Merit to the Fatherland", as well as two silver and one bronze medals awarded at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. USSR master of sports of international class.
A young man with an excellent physique dreamed about sports all his life, so he successfully graduated from the Moscow State Academy of Physical Culture and became the only pentathlete who won the championship both in the USSR and in Russia.
Eduard Zenovka speaks modestly of his successes, saying that he is helped by higher powers, and not his ability to work and talent. He sincerely believes that a miracle helped him win the pentathlon at the Olympics in Barcelona, since he expected to knock out 191 points, but managed to knock out 198.
The beginning of the 90s
In the early 90s, Eduard Zenovka met the world champion in gymnastics Oksana Kostina.
This happened on a plane flying from Barcelona to Moscow. Both Oksana and Edward were going through hard times. Kostina was not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games, but was invited as an honored guest, and Zenovka in the pentathlon failed. His horse suddenly stumbled and threw the rider. As a result, Edward lost precious seconds of time, and not only he, but the whole team lost a gold medal.
Eduard Zenovka: personal life
They met in frustrated feelings, and then, encouraging each other, began to talk about themselves and soon did not notice how time flew by. After this, Zenovka took young Oksana under his guardianship, constantly met and escorted her to the sports base, and soon everyone realized that it was a wedding.
They were a beautiful sports couple, and most importantly - happy, because they did not follow the time. Their love was strengthened by sports achievements. Over the year, Oksana Kostina became the absolute world champion in rhythmic gymnastics and was preparing for the Olympics.
Fateful day
About that fateful day, February 11, 1993, it was written in the newspapers and a lot was said from the TV screens. Eduard Zenovka returned home from Australia, where he won a major international tournament. At the airport he was met by his bride - Oksana, and his friend, who arrived at Sheremetyevo on the Moskvich father Eduard, as the champion's car was under repair.
After the car accident, the athlete, not accustomed to screaming, honestly said that on the plane that flew for 1.5 days, he and his friends celebrated the victory, but in the last fifteen hours he did not take alcohol into his mouth. After the meeting, everyone got into the car and the three went to the Domodedovo airport, as the coach of Oksana asked me to hand over some documents to my friend flying to Irkutsk.
At first, the car was driven by a friend of Edward. Then he went to a sports base, and Eduard Zenovka got behind the wheel. It was cold, but without ice, the car was moving at a speed of 60-70 km / h. Until now, Edward does not understand how he skidded into the oncoming lane along which a huge truck was driving. Most likely, he was simply distracted, since he had not seen Oksana for a long time. At this time, the car was drawn into a vacuum cleaner. The last thing the athlete remembers is Oksana’s body in the snow and her cry that she is cold and needs to be covered.
Oksana died in the hospital from serious internal wounds, and Eduard Zenovka lost a kidney after a serious operation.
Life after an accident
You had to forget about big sports. Edward decided to go into business, but he went with him. There wasn’t enough adrenaline in life. For two years, the champion pondered his sporting destiny and eventually decided to prepare for the 1996 Olympics. Doctors and relatives are strictly forbidden to do this. Then under the receipt, written in the spirit of the fact that "I ask you not to blame anyone for my death, " Eduard Zenovka began to train.
The whole life of this person was built on overcoming himself. While training the body, he realized that it was useless to compete with healthy athletes. For a year he tortured himself, while the liver began to hurt, and a cut kidney made himself known as phantom pains. Edward began to lose weight dramatically, therefore, in order to build up a little muscle, he absorbed proteins and proteins in huge quantities, but they did not help either. At that moment, when Xenovka Eduard honestly admitted to himself that it is unrealistic to return to big sport, what athletes called the second wind happened.
He never got to the Olympics in Sydney, but three months before he became the hero of all sports news. In Atlanta, the famous cross was held at this time. Xenovka lagged behind the Italian leader by a few (45) seconds. Ahead went Hungarian Martinek and Kazakhstani Parygin. He easily walked around the Italian, the Hungarian also remained far behind, but Parygin "clung to him." And so, when the Kazakhstani emerged from behind and tried to get around Zenovka, he made a jerk and suddenly fell.
He became the second with one kidney, proving that he could overcome himself, because in fact he needed not victory in competitions, but victory over himself.
A family
After some time, the athlete got married. The family of Eduard Zenovka is his wife Irina Borisovna Zenovka, Honored Trainer of Russia in rhythmic gymnastics, and daughter Alexander.
In the full sense of the word, Edward did not move away from big sport, now he is the executive director of the Federation of Modern Pentathlon in Russia. The wife of Eduard Zenovka, as one of the best coaches of the Russian Federation, prepares talented girls for the Olympics, and teaches at the Center for Olympic Training of Russian National Teams.
