Skater Irina Rodnina: biography, interesting facts and personal life

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

On September 12, 1949, the world-famous figure skater Irina Rodnina was born in Moscow. The biography of the athlete is full of all kinds 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 a sports career, but also in various details from the life that Irina Rodnina leads: biography, nationality …

Jewish on her mother's side and Russian on her father's side, the girl inherited a strong-willed character from her father and talented genes from her mother, which greatly contributed to her future success. Her life is the life of an outstanding, strong and purposeful woman.

Brief biography and personal life

Irina's father, Konstantin Nikolaevich Rodnin, was a Russian military man, and his mother, Yulia Yakovlevna Rodnina, was a medical worker 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 figure skater Irina Rodnina was born. A brief biography, the personal life of an athlete has always interested fans. Her first husband is figure skater Alexander Zaitsev, with whom Irina got married in 1975, and before that she had been paired at championships for several years. They divorced in 1985. The second husband of the figure skater is a film producer and businessman Leonid Minkovsky, with whom she lived several happy years in America, but also divorced. Now Irina Konstantinovna is not married.

In the first and second marriages, the athlete had a son and a daughter in 1979 and 1986, respectively. The son is Alexander Zaitsev, who became a ceramic artist, and the daughter is Alena Minkovskaya, who currently lives and works as a TV presenter in Washington. Irina Konstantinovna also has a granddaughter Sonya Zaitseva. Thus began a new maternal chapter in the life that Irina Rodnina led, a biography in which children began to play a very important role.

How it all began

It is interesting that poor he alth led Irina Rodnina to sports. As a child, she was a sickly child and often suffered from pneumonia. Therefore, the doctors recommended the girl's parents to spend more time in the fresh air, doing physical exercises and thereby strengthening the immune system. Then Irina's father and mother decided to bring her to the skating rink in the Pryamikov Culture Park. So in 1954, at the age of five, the girl discovered the world of figure skating. And this world, to the great delight of many connoisseurs of sports art, subsequentlyfound out what a treasure Irina Rodnina is. The brief biography and description of her subsequent achievements are truly amazing.

Rodnina's first coach in the children's section was Yakov Smushkin. Later, in 1960, an eleven-year-old girl managed to get into the figure skating section of CSKA, where she competed in singles for the first time. Since 1962, Sonya 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 in 1963, which Irina won in pair skating with Oleg Vlasov.

Success under the leadership of S. A. Zhuk

Since 1964, SA Zhuk became Irina Rodnina's coach, who paired the girl 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 it. In 1968, Rodnina and Ulanov got into the national team. And starting from the European Championship in 1969, they win gold medals one after another. For winning the 1969 championship, Rodnina received the honorary title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.

At the 1972 Olympics, a couple in a very tough fight still manages to achieve victory. Irina this triumph is not easy. Literally the day before the championship, the girl falls from support in training and ends up in the hospital with an intracranial hematoma and concussion. The skater performs the short program cleanly, but she barely manages to complete the free program. For "gold" at the Olympics, Rodnina receives the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. However, after this victory, the pair of Ulanov and Rodnina breaks up. Alexei pairs up with his wife Smirnova, and Irina even thinks about leaving the high-class world. However, from that moment on, the life that Irina Rodnina leads 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 the loss of a partner could break him.

New partner and new victories

In April 1972, Irina becomes 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, in which her personal life was somewhere in the background, changes when she meets a new partner, who will later become the figure skater's first husband.

From the very beginning, everyone notes that Rodnina, paired with Zaitsev, has mutual understanding and consistency of a much higher level than paired with the previous partner. And new victories begin.

The will to win

In Bratislava at the World Championships held in 1973, Rodnina and Zaitsev, during their free performance, encounter a surprise - a short circuit occurs in the radio room, and right during a difficult support, the soundtrack of the number is interrupted. Despite the complete silence that reigned for several seconds in the huge hall, the couple continues to show their program, following the instructions that coach S. A. Zhuk sends them by signs. Silence is replaced by the applause of the public, under which andskaters finish their heroic performance. However, the couple does not receive a single highest mark, since they refuse to roll the program at the end of the competition and receive a reduction in points for performing without music. This unfair incident, which nevertheless demonstrates the will to win and love for the art of figure skating, goes down in the history of sports.

Transition to a new coach

In 1974, Rodnina makes a serious decision. She comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to move from Zhuk to Tatyana Tarasova. Soon the favorite pupils of this still very young coach with a great future are the couple Alexander Zaitsev - Irina Rodnina. Their biography takes on new features. The reason for leaving Zhuk, Irina Konstantinovna, is fatigue from the coach's demeanor.

Tarasova brings more theatrical art and expressiveness to the performances of the couple. Also, Zaitsev and Rodnina continue to surprise the audience with complex elements that were practically impossible and were far ahead of the then existing figure skating technique. The next year, at the World Championships, the couple again wins first place. A major victory for Irina Rodnina was also the “gold” at the 1980 Olympics, where the thirty-year-old figure skater and mother, together with her partner, managed to cleanly skate the most difficult program and impress all the judges. The history included the tears of an athlete during the awards ceremony.

List of victories

No wonder today is the most successful athlete in the history of doublesfigure skating is Irina Rodnina. A brief biography of the figure skater includes three Olympic victories, ten victories in a row at the world championships since 1969, eleven at the European championships and six at the USSR championships. So, until 1980, Irina and her partners did not lose a single competition. Such an amazing success, embodied in a long series of confident victories, was due not only to the incredible complexity of the main elements of the performed numbers, but also to the beauty and grace of the connecting elements, as well as the high speed and perfect synchronization of the pair. All this from year to year amazed the judges of the championships and delighted and captivated millions of spectators.

Working as a coach

In 1981, Rodnina, together with Zaitsev, switched to professional sports. At the end of her career as a figure skater, Irina Konstantinovna first works in the Central Committee of the Komsomol, and then in the Dynamo society as a senior coach and teaches at the Institute of Physical Culture. From 1900 to 2002 he lived in the USA, where he worked as a coach at the international figure skating center. In 1995, her pupils Novotny and Kovarzhikova became world champions, for which Irina Rodnina was awarded honorary Czech citizenship. In many countries of the world, as well as in Russia, Irina Rodnina has become a real legend. A brief biography in English of the figure skater and coach is familiar to thousands of her fans in America and other countries of the world.

Community activities

In 2002, Rodnina returned to Russia and took up activesocial activities. Since 2005, she has been the author of the Stadium program on Radio Russia. In the public all-Russian organization "League of the He alth of the Nation", the athlete performs the role of a member of the presidium. And in the organization "All-Russian Voluntary Society "Sports Russia"" he takes the place of the chairman of the central council.

Now he is a member of the Council for Physical Culture and Sports under the President of the Russian Federation. And during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, she lit the Olympic flame together with Vladislav Tretiak.

List of awards

Irina Rodnina had a successful sports career and social activities. 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 she was awarded the Order of Lenin;
• in 1972 and 1980 received two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor;
• in 1999 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 became the winner of the National award of public recognition of the achievements of Russian women "Olympia";
• in 2005 she became the winner of the "Russian of the Year" award in the "Triumphant" nomination.

Forever in the hearts of fans

To date, no one has managed to surpass the sporting success thatreached Irina Rodnina. The biography of this great figure skater inspires many motivated people, showing that real recognition comes to those who really deserve it. And her magnificent performances will forever remain in the memory and hearts of figure skating fans.