Denisenko Alexey is a famous domestic sportsman, taekwondo player. Twice won the medal at the Summer Olympics. Champion of Russia, multiple participant and prize-winner of European and world championships. Participant of the first European Games in Baku, where he became a bronze medalist. Has the title of Honored Master of Sports of Russia.
Athlete biography
Denisenko Alexey was born in the small town of Bataysk, which is located in the Rostov region. It happened in 1993.
Denisenko Alexei was brought to the taekwondo section by his father when he was only 8 years old. He just went to school. There, the hero of our article met his first coach, whose name was Alexander Shin.
The father of the future champion gave his son to this sport, because he wanted him to look like the idols of his youth - Jackie Chan and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Denisenko Alexey's father began to prepare for a sports career from the first years of his life. They were hardening the body. After all, initially Alexei was a very sickly and weak child.
At first, Alexei was reluctant to go to the section, but gradually got involved. He began to imitateidols of his father and with redoubled energy began to practice taekwondo.
Father says that Alexei wanted to quit sports more than once, but eventually abandoned this idea. Even despite the fact that he had to get to training through the entire Don on a boat. Such problems arose during the construction of the Voroshilovsky bridge in Rostov. Due to repair work, public transport did not go to the right bank of the Don, on which he trained. So I had to use a boat. And to return home late at night on the last bus.
Private life
Private life in the career of an athlete has only recently played a big role. Prior to that, he concentrated entirely on sports.
Most recently, in December 2016, he married taekwondo player Anastasia Baryshnikova, bronze champion of the London Olympics, three-time European champion, who twice won bronze medals at world championships.
London Olympics
Aleksey Denisenko in taekwondo began to show good results from the very first youth tournaments. Soon he was noticed by the coaches of the national team.
Success in the international arena ensured his participation in the Summer Olympics in London in 2012. At that time he was less than 19 years old. Denisenko competed in the lightest weight category - up to 58 kilograms.
The Russian started his way to victory in the preliminary round, as he was a young, completely unknown athlete with a low personal rating. ATIn the very first fight at the Olympics, the hero of our article met with the Costa Rican Heiner Oviedo. The Russian won a landslide victory 5:2.
In the quarterfinals, Alexei Denisenko faced Chinese athlete Wei Zhenyang at the Olympics. This time the fight turned out to be stubborn, long and even more productive. Denisenko won 10:7. The semi-final match was the most tense, in which Alexei lost in a bitter struggle to the South Korean Lee De Hong with a score of 6:7. By the way, the offender of the Russian in the final suffered a crushing defeat from the Spaniard Huel Gonzalez 8:17.
But Alexei Denisenko in the match for third place, in the so-called repechage final, defeated Australian Safwan Khalil 3:1. So the young Russian won his first Olympic medal. At the London Games, this was only one of two bronze medals for the Russian team in taekwondo.
European Championship in Azerbaijan
The next major international tournament was the European Championship, which was held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Alexey Denisenko, taekwondo played a decisive role in the biography of the athlete at that time, he was selected for the tournament without any problems.
At competitions, he competed in the weight category up to 68 kilograms. Having overcome the preliminary rounds, the athlete got to the decisive fight. In the final, he met with the Turkish Servet Tazegul, but lost.
In the team standings, the Russian team took second place, winning two gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Strongerthere were only Croats.
World Cup in Russia
In 2015, Alexei Denisenko won the right to compete at the World Championships. Taekwondo in the athlete's biography by that time played a key role.
The hero of our article again fought in the weight category up to 68 kilograms. And in the final duel he again met with the Turk Servet Tazegul. And lost again.
In general, the Russian team performed poorly at the world championship, taking only 12th place. Our team did not have a single gold medal, only two silver medals (one of which was won by Denisenko) and five bronze medals.
European Games in Baku
In 2015, Alexey Denisenko took part in the next major international competitions. Taekwondo was included in the program of the first European Games. This is an analogue of the Olympics, but only for European teams. Initially it was supposed that only the Summer Games would be held, but now there are more and more proposals to organize the European Winter Games. It is worth noting that similar competitions have existed on other continents for a long time. For example, Pan American, Pan African or Pan Arab Games.
At these competitions Alexey Denisenko started from the 1/8 final stage. He was opposed by an athlete from San Marino, Michele Ceccarone. The Russian confidently won 19:1. In the quarterfinals, the hero of our article also confidently de alt with the Englishman Martin Stamper - 18:6.
Problems started only in the semi-finals with the hostplatforms, Azerbaijani Aykhan Tagizade. In a hard-fought match Denisenko lost 5:7. In the fight for third place, the Russian met with his long-time rival - Turk Servet Tazegul. This time the Turk unexpectedly lost in the 1/8 finals to the Pole Karol Robak - 9:21.
The fight for the third place was successful. Denisenko finally managed to win - 19:16.
In the team standings at the European Games, the Russians became third, losing to the Azerbaijanis and the British.
Second Olympiad
In 2016, at the age of 22, Alexei Denisenko took part in the second Olympic Games. Taekwondo at the Olympics was a relatively young but already beloved discipline.
In his crown weight category up to 68 kilograms Denisenko was again one of the favorites. In the 1/8 finals, he easily de alt with the Venezuelan Edgar Contreras - 12:2. In the quarterfinals, he met with the Turkish Tazegul, but this time he again turned out to be stronger than his opponent, to whom he initially lost regularly. The Russian won 19:6.
Belgian Jaouad Ashab was defeated 6:1 in the semi-finals. Alexey Denisenko in the final met with an athlete from Jordan Akhmad Abagaush. No matter how the hero of our article resisted, he still lost 6:10.
This silver medal was the only one won by the Russians at these games. With this result in the team event, they shared ninth place with Mexico, Niger, Serbia and France.
On the way to the championship
Now Alexey Denisenko continuestrain hard to finally win a gold medal in major international competitions. As you can see, he has never been so successful.
Currently Denisenko lives in his hometown - Bataysk. In parallel with his sports career, he studies in Naberezhnye Chelny.
With his wife, Denisenko plans to perform in tandem at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
