September 12, 1949 in Moscow, the world famous figure skater Irina Rodnina was born. The biography of the athlete is full of all sorts of achievements and awards. She managed to become the world champion ten times and the Olympic champion three times. Her name is forever inscribed in the history of world and Russian figure skating. Millions of people are her fans, and they are interested not only in her sports career, but also in the various details from the life that Irina Rodnina leads: biography, nationality …
A Jewish mother and a Russian father, the girl inherited a strong-willed character from her father and the talented genes of her mother, which greatly contributed to her future successes. Her life is the life of an outstanding, strong and purposeful woman.
Short biography and personal life
Irina’s father, Konstantin Nikolayevich Rodnin, was a Russian soldier, and his mother, Yulia Yakovlevna Rodnina, was a medical worker, originally from Ukraine, but of Jewish origin. The skater also has an older sister, Valentina, who chose a scientific career and became a mathematical engineer.
This is the story of the family in which the skater Irina Rodnina was born. A brief biography, the personal life of the athlete has always been of interest to fans. Her first husband is skater Alexander Zaitsev, with whom Irina married in 1975, and before that, she had been a couple in the championships for several years. They divorced in 1985. The second husband of the figure skater is film producer and businessman Leonid Minkovsky, with whom she lived for several happy years in America, but also divorced. Now Irina Konstantinovna is not married.
In the first and second marriage, the athlete had a son and a daughter in 1979 and 1986, respectively. Son - Alexander Zaitsev, who became a ceramic artist, and daughter - Alena Minkovskaya, currently living and working as a TV presenter in Washington. Irina Konstantinovna also has a granddaughter Sonya Zaitseva. Thus began a new maternal chapter in life led by Irina Rodnina, a biography in which children began to play a very important role.
How it all began
Interestingly, poor health brought Irina Rodnina into the sport. As a child, she was a sickly child and often suffered from pneumonia. Therefore, doctors recommended the parents of the girl, so that she often spent time in the fresh air, doing physical exercises and thereby strengthening immunity. Then Irina's father and mother decided to bring her to the rink in Pryamikov’s culture park. So in 1954, at the age of five, the girl discovered the world of figure skating. And this world, much to the delight of many sports art lovers, subsequently found out what a treasure Irina Rodnina is. A brief biography and a description of her subsequent achievements are truly amazing.
The first trainer of Rodnina in the children's section was Yakov Smushkin. Later, in 1960, an eleven-year-old girl managed to get into the CSKA skaters section, where she performed in solo skating for the first time. Since 1962, Sonia and Miloslav Balun began to train her. And the first achievement of the young figure skater was the third place at the All-Union Youth Competitions of 1963, which Irina won in pair skating with Oleg Vlasov.
Success under the leadership of S. A. Zhuk
Since 1964, S.A. Zhuk became the coach of Irina Rodnina, who put the girl in a pair with Alexei Ulanov. The new coach persistently led the newly-formed couple to victories, constantly complicating the program, including more and more complex elements. In 1968, Rodnina and Ulanov fell into the national team. And starting with the European Championship in 1969, one after another they won gold medals. For winning the 1969 championship, Rodnina received the honorary title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.
At the 1972 Olympics, the couple still manage to achieve victory in a very tough fight. This triumph is not easy for Irina. Just a day before the championship, a girl falls from support in training and ends up in a hospital with intracranial hematoma and concussion. The skater performs the short program cleanly, but she barely succeeds in completing the arbitrary program. For "gold" at the Olympics Rodnina receives the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. However, after this victory, the couple Ulanova and Rodnina breaks up. Alexei paired up with his wife Smirnova, and Irina was even thinking about leaving the world of a large variety. However, from that moment on, life led by Irina Rodnina becomes even more successful. Biography, nationality, genes in which Slavic and Jewish blood intertwined gave rise to a very strong spirit in the skater. Neither injury nor loss of a partner could break him.
New partner and new victories
In April 1972, Irina became a couple with Alexander Zaitsev. We can say that from this moment begins a new stage in the life that Irina Rodnina leads. The biography, whose personal life was somewhere in the background, changes when he meets a new partner, who will subsequently become the first husband of the skater.
From the very beginning, everyone notes that Rodnina has a much higher level of understanding and coordination with Zaitsev than with her previous partner. And new victories begin.
The will to win
At the 1973 World Championships in Bratislava, Rodnina and Zaitsev, during their free speech, are confronted with a surprise - there is a closure in the radio room, and the soundtrack is interrupted right during difficult support. Despite the complete silence that reigned for several seconds in the huge hall, the couple continues to show their program, following the direction that coach S. A. Zhuk sends them with signs. The silence is replaced by the applause of the audience, under which the skaters end their heroic performance. However, the couple does not receive a single highest mark, because they refuse to roll the program at the end of the competition and receive a reduction in points for performing without music. This unjust incident, which nonetheless demonstrates the will to win and a love of the art of figure skating, is included in the history of sports.
Transition to a new coach
In 1974, Rodnina made a serious decision. She concludes that we need to move from Zhuk to Tatyana Tarasova. Soon, it was Alexander Zaitsev - Irina Rodnina, who became the favorite pupils of this still very young coach with a great future. Their biography takes on new features. Irina Konstantinovna calls the reason for leaving Zhuka tired of the coach’s demeanor.
Tarasova brings more theatrical art and expressiveness to the couple’s performances. Also, Zaitsev and Rodnina still continue to amaze the audience with complex elements that were practically impossible and were far ahead of the then existing figure skating technique. The very next year, at the World Cup, the couple again won first place. A major victory for Irina Rodnina was also the “gold” at the 1980 Olympics, where the thirty-year-old skater and mother, along with her partner, managed to cleanly skate the most difficult program and impress all the judges. The story includes the tears of an athlete during the award ceremony.
Victory List
It is not surprising that today the most successful athlete in the history of pair figure skating is Irina Rodnina. The skater’s short biography includes three Olympic victories, ten consecutive victories at world championships starting in 1969, eleven at European championships and six at USSR championships. So, until 1980, Irina with her partners did not lose a single competition. Such a striking success, embodied in a long series of confident victories, was due not only to the incredible complexity of the basic elements of the performed numbers, but also to the beauty and grace of the connecting elements, as well as the high speed and perfect synchronism of the pair. All this, from year to year, impressed the judges of the championships and delighted and captivated millions of spectators.
Work as a trainer
In 1981, Rodnina, together with Zaitsev, went into professional sports. At the end of her skater's career, Irina Konstantinovna first works in the Komsomol Central Committee, and then in the Dynamo society as a head coach and teaches at the Institute of Physical Culture. From 1900 to 2002 he lives in the United States, where he works as a trainer in the international figure skating center. In 1995, her pupils Novotny and Kovarzhikova became world champions, for which Irina Rodnina was awarded Czech honorary citizenship. In many countries of the world, as well as in Russia, Irina Rodnina became a real legend. A brief biography in English of the skater and coach is familiar to thousands of her fans in America and other countries of the world.
Social activity
In 2002, Rodnina returned to Russia and took up active social activities. Since 2005, she has put on the author’s program “Stadium” on Radio of Russia. In the public all-Russian organization “League of the health of the nation”, the athlete performs the role of a member of the presidium. And in the organization "All-Russian Voluntary Society" Sports Russia "" takes the place of chairman of the central council.
Now he is a member of the Council on Physical Culture and Sports under the President of the Russian Federation. And during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the Olympic flame was ignited along with Vladislav Tretyak.
List of awards
A successful sports career and social activity led by Irina Rodnina. The biography of the athlete is truly brilliant and full of awards. Among the main achievements of Irina Konstantinovna, the following can be noted:
- in 1976 awarded the Order of Lenin;
- in 1972 and 1980 received two orders of the Red Banner of Labor;
- in 1999 she received the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree;
- in 2009 she was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree and the bronze Olympic Order;
- in 2002 and 2003, she became a laureate of the Olympia National Prize for the Public Recognition of Russian Women;
- in 2005 she became a laureate of the “Russian of the Year” award in the “Triumphant” nomination.
