Olympic champion Lidia Gavrilovna Ivanova: biography, achievements, interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Ivanova Lidia Gavrilovna is a famous domestic athlete who later became a gymnastics coach. In 1960 she received the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.

Athlete biography

Ivanova Lidia Gavrilovna was born in Moscow. She was born in 1937. In her youth, she began to study at a children's and youth sports school located in the Kirovsky district of the capital. Boris Dankevich became the first coach of the future Olympic champion.

She continued her professional sports career in the companies "Petrel", "Oilman" and the capital's "Dynamo". In 1955, 18-year-old Ivanova Lidia Gavrilovna began working with the Honored Coach of the USSR Alexei Alexandrov, who at that time worked in the Dynamo sports society. Shortly thereafter, she was awarded the inclusion in the national team of the Soviet Union.

In 1958 Ivanova Lidia Gavrilovna became the absolute champion of the USSR in artistic gymnastics. The end of the 50s was her finest hour. She became the silver medalist of the USSR championship in floor exercises, the bronze medalist in all-around and vault. In team competitions, she repeatedly won gold awards.

First Olympics

Ivanova Lidia Gavrilovna is a famous Soviet athlete. In 1956, she went to the first Olympic Games in her career. It is noteworthy that they took place in two cities located in different parts of the world at once. In Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden. The heroine of our article at that time was only 19 years old.

Gymnast Lidia Gavrilovna Ivanova benefited from the team competition. The USSR national team at that Olympics, in addition to Ivanova, was represented by Tamara Manina, Sofia Muratova, Polina Astakhova, Lyudmila Egorova and the legendary Larisa Latynina. It is noteworthy that the heroine of our article was not yet married at that time, therefore she bore the maiden name Kalinina.

The Soviet girls' team won a landslide victory, winning gold medals. The heroine of our article also distinguished herself in group performances. She also won a bronze medal in the group floor exercise with apparatus.

Private life

Olympic champion Lidia Ivanova settled her life in 1959. She married the famous football player Valentin Ivanov. By the way, at the 1956 Olympics, he also distinguished himself by winning gold medals.

It was the high point of the USSR football team. The team brought together the strongest players in the country - Lev Yashin, Eduard Streltsov, Igor Netto, Nikita Simonyan, Boris Kuznetsov. 4 years later, almostwith the same line-up, they will win the first-ever European Football Championship in 1960, which was held in France.

Ivanov's success at the Olympics

16 teams were supposed to participate in the Melbourne Olympics, but many at the last moment refused to compete for various reasons. The Soviet football team in the 1/8 finals met with the United German Team. At the very beginning of the match, Isaev opened the score, and just five minutes before the final whistle, Streltsov doubled it. In the very end, the guests were able to win back one ball, but this did not affect the outcome of the meeting. USSR victory 2:1.

In the 1/4 finals, the rival of the Soviet football players was the Indonesian team, which got to this stage of the competition, because Vietnam refused to participate. The USSR national team had no serious difficulties with the Asian team. In the first half, goals were scored by Salnikov, Valentin Ivanov and Netto, and in the second half of the meeting Salnikov scored a brace.

In the semi-final confrontation, the USSR team met with Bulgaria, which defeated the British at the previous stage with an indecent score of 6:1. The main time did not reveal the winner of the meeting. And the beginning of the extra 30 minutes turned out to be discouraging for the Soviet players - Kolev struck Lev Yashin. The real savior of the team was Eduard Streltsov, who equalized the score in the 112th minute, and a few minutes later Tatushin scored the second goal. USSR in the final.

The decisive match turned out to be about as stubborn as the game with the Bulgarians. Yugoslavthe players were a tough nut to crack. The only goal at the very beginning of the second half was scored by Anatoly Ilyin. The USSR national team became the gold medalist of the Olympic Games.

That Olympics was generally successful for Soviet athletes. It is noteworthy that both Valentin Ivanov and Lidia Kalinina made their contribution to the common piggy bank. They got married only three years after the Olympics.

In the team standings, the USSR national team took first place, winning 37 gold, 29 silver and 32 bronze medals. The Americans, who became second, were five awards of the highest standard behind, and if we evaluate the total number of medals, then the Americans have 74 of them against 98 of the USSR team.

Rome Olympics

In 1960, gymnast Lidia Gavrilovna Ivanova-Kalinina went to the second Olympics in her career. This time in Rome.

At these competitions, the heroine of our article again won gold in the women's all-around in the team event. Together with her, the honor of the country was defended by Larisa Latynina, Sofia Muratova, Tamara Lyukhina, Margarita Nikolaeva and Polina Astakhova.

At that Olympics, the USSR team was again the first in the team standings. In the piggy bank of Soviet athletes were 43 gold, 29 silver and 31 bronze medals. The Americans were second. But this time they are even more behind. The US team had only 34 gold medals and only 32 medals less.

End of sports career

Bright sports biography of Lidia Ivanovacontinued until 1964. Seriously injured, she was forced to retire from professional sports.

The heroine of our article decided to become a coach. Already in 1970, she headed the youth team of the USSR, having worked in this post for 10 years. Then she received a certificate of an international category judge.

For many years she has been regarded as one of the world's most insightful and authoritative referees. She has judged many important competitions, including the Olympic Games. In 1972 in Munich, in 1976 in Montreal, in 1980 in Moscow, in 1984 in Los Angeles (where the Soviet team did not go, but highly professional Soviet referees were accepted with pleasure), in 1988 in Seoul and in 1992 in Barcelona.

Having finished her sports career, Ivanova took up education. In 1973 she received a diploma from the Institute of Physical Culture with a degree in coach-teacher. In 1977, coach Lidia Gavrilovna Ivanova became Honored in the RSFSR, and two years later - in the USSR.

After 1982, she was engaged exclusively in the selection of gymnasts for the Soviet, and later the Russian team. Developed advanced training methods for athletes. In 1992, she acted as a coach of the Unified Team at the Games in Barcelona.

Today

Even now, at the age of 80, the biography of Ivanova Lidia Gavrilovna is very rich. In recent years, she has been working as a commentator on television. For example, she did a series of captivating live coverage of the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Stories from the life of gymnast Lydia Ivanova

When the heroine of our article became a TV presenter, journalists again became interested in her figure. She began to appear frequently on the pages of newspapers and magazines, to give interviews. Of course, many were interested in the story of her acquaintance with her husband, the famous football player Valentin Ivanov, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 76.

Contrary to popular belief, they did not meet at the Melbourne Olympics. In fact, this happened in Tashkent, when the pre-Olympic training camp took place.

TV presenter Lidia Gavrilovna Ivanova (she devoted almost all her life to gymnastics) recalls that when she first saw her future husband, she was sitting on the bench with the rest of the gymnasts. At that time they were very young and inexperienced girls, and then football players appeared in front of them. Many of them were already real stars at that time. Then her friend suggested that she meet someone, calling Valya.

This coincidence was the first, but not the only one in their life together. Therefore, they were almost sure that it was not only love that brought them together, but also fate.

Travel to Australia

Football players and gymnasts flew to the Olympics on different flights. In addition, the women's and men's parts of the Olympic village were separated by barbed wire. And if freemen reigned on the male, then the female was more like a monastery.

According to the recollections of the athletes themselves, by the end of the competition they were so exhausted that they simply had no strength for anything. Around the samethere were many temptations that struck the Soviet people, Ivanova recalls. Like bananas, which none of them have ever tasted.

One evening, the women's gymnastics team finally got out to the men's part of the village for a disco. There Lydia met Valya again, who invited her to dance.

An interesting fact: the athletes returned home for several months. They sailed on a ship. At the same time, the players took the money from the gymnasts, saying that they did not need them. And they themselves will spend them on the right thing. It is clear what a necessary thing this is, Ivanova always recalled with a laugh.

Death of Valentin Ivanov

Valentin Ivanov passed away in 2011. Together with Lydia, they lived a long and happy life. This is noted by everyone who knew their family. They raised two sons. One of them became a famous football referee. They also raised their daughter Olga, who became a soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre.

Even a year after the death of her husband, Lidia Gavrilovna was very worried about the loss. At the London Olympics, she joked and joked a lot on the air, but when there was a break, she was immersed in long thoughts.

Ivanova herself admits that after the death of her husband she never watched football.

Work as a commentator

As a commentator, Lidia Ivanova deserves mixed reviews. Some idolize her, seeing in her the Olympic champion of past years, who understands in detail the gymnastics. Others criticize for superficial judgments.

Don't forget that Ivanovawas not only a brilliant athlete, but also a judge. At that time, her authority was so high that no one in the world could afford to offend our athletes by suing them. The situation that happened at the Olympics with Alexei Nemov was simply unacceptable.

For example, Ivanova defended the right of Elena Davydova to become the absolute champion of the Moscow Olympics at a closed judicial meeting, although many opponents were against it.

Emotionality and spontaneity

Especially modern reports of Lidia Gavrilovna are distinguished by their emotionality and almost childlike spontaneity. For example, she may exclaim indignantly: "Well, what kind of performance is this? Give me a plaintive book!" Her pearls are discussed and repeated by many gymnastics fans.

But at the same time, she is always extremely precise about the wording, because she knows the situation deeply. At the same time, it is now almost impossible to imagine that someone else can comment on this sport with such enthusiasm and professionalism. She gives fans a treat on every broadcast, every major sporting event she comes to as a commentator.