- Rita, let's remember the performance at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. With what emotions did you go out on the carpet? Was there an anticipation of victory?
Rita: We didn't think about winning at all. Amina Vasilovna and I set one goal - to perform with dignity, that's all. I opened the all-around, went out first from the team, and without any excitement and worries. Although the day before I was sure that she would start to sausage, still the Olympics! (Laughs.) When I spoke, Amina Vasilovna and I just sat on chairs and waited for the others. Although no, not to say that they were just sitting. After my final exercise with the tape, she and I cried incessantly. First, because I didn’t make a single mistake in all four events, then they saw high marks - and tears poured again, and when they realized that they were the first, they burst into tears!
Amina: And I was terrified as I was, while Rita was getting ready, I almost gave birth for the fourth time. (Laughs.) Although I swear I didn’t think about winning! Well, third place, and if you're lucky - second. The victory was a complete surprise: for the first time in her life in all four types of all-around, she did not drop anything, did not make mistakes, did everything with dignity. Until now, it turned out that ours with her sports achivments were evaluated exclusively in second and fifth places, with no intermediate options. Just some kind of mystic! I just want to emphasize that we are nobody without our team, without our masseur Dima Dunaev, without choreographers Irina
Borisovna Zenovka and Tatyana Borisovna Pomerantseva, without the psychologist Evgenia Borisovna Kuzminova and, of course, without Irina Aleksandrovna Viner. This victory is shared.
At six in the evening there was an award ceremony, and then I immediately called Irina Alexandrovna. She was not in Rio, but she watched us all day from Israel via the Internet. Irina Aleksandrovna led Rita almost to the very moment she entered the mat. I watched the warm-up, made comments, set it up correctly. She helped me a lot. Because inside I was like a compressed spring: scary to the point of eerily, but I don’t show it, I smile and portray Buddhist calmness. I remember how a year ago at the championship in Stuttgart, seeing my wild excitement, Irina Alexandrovna put valerian tablets in my mouth and repeated: “Don't you dare twitch! Rita will notice!
- I opened the all-around, went out first from the team, and without any excitement. Although the day before I was sure that she would start to sausage, still the Olympics! Photo: AP/TASS
- Amina, how did it happen that the future Olympic champion fell into your hands at all?
- When I finished sports career, Irina Alexandrovna invited me to train children at the TsOPe, the Olympic Training Center, paired with my close friend, colleague Natasha Kukushkina.
I have two strong students, Diana Botsieva and Yana Lukonina. Later, Yana became the world champion, and Viner felt that it was time for me to move to the next level in coaching. I took these promising gymnasts to the base at the Novogorsk training center (a base near Moscow for training Russian national teams for major international
competitions. — Approx. "TN").
But Natasha Kukushkina remained in the COP, and one fine day Rita Mamun came to her. I remember when I saw her for the first time, I was amazed at the eccentricity, brightness, beauty of the girl - she stood out noticeably among other children. I learned that Rita is from a good family, intelligent, educated. In a word, I immediately liked her very much.
And when the career of my student Yana Lukonina began to come to an end, Natasha and I decided that Rita was starting to train with me. She was 13 at the time.
At that time, Rita at the championship of Russia barely got into the top ten, but not in the top three. It was clear that she was a talented girl, but she had not yet shown a decent result. And in Novogorsk, those who claim serious victories train. And here Irina Alexandrovna, thank you very much, gave us carte blanche, allowing us to train there.
The turning point happened suddenly, six years ago, when I was pregnant with Aksinia. Rita and I went to Los Angeles for the most ordinary international tournament. And then Irina Alexandrovna calls and says that for some reason neither Zhenya Kanaeva nor Dasha Kondakova can come to the World Cup in Montreal. And I’m nearby, so “go get a visa, fly to Canada, and let Rita try to perform there.” Figley do! (Laughs) From +25°C we arrived at -20°C, but Rita performed well and made it to the finals in the ball exercise, finishing third in the all-around.
Rita: I competed in all four finals and won gold in ball exercises.
- Amina, Rita, how can you characterize the relationship between a student and a coach in big-time sports?
Amina: Rita and I have a serious business, but our relationship can hardly be called exclusively business. For me, this union is absolutely family. The feeling that Rita has been with me all my life, although, of course, this is not so: we started training seven years ago.
- When a coach and a student meet, should there be sympathy or does it not matter? The main thing is the professional merits of both?
Amina: They come to our sport as children, unlike, say, handball or volleyball, where mature girls play. And when I choose a child, I first of all listen to my intuition, trying to understand whether the person is “my” or not. If for some reason I don’t like a girl, then I try not to take her. It happened when I was ordered from above to accept a child against my will. I was forced to obey, but nothing good came of it: no matter how hard I tried, the relationship did not work out. And in this matter, not only my opinion is important, here the child's sympathy for the coach is no less important. Maybe he won’t explain why he doesn’t like his aunt, but he will definitely be capricious, misbehave, cry, ask for his mother.
Rita: Amina Vasilovna has a unique approach to children: human relationships are important to her - not all coaches think the same way. Many do not encourage spiritual intimacy with students: “I don’t tell you about my problems, so don’t tell me about yours.” In turn, the gymnasts perceive the coach in a detached way. It is impossible to communicate formally with Amina Vasilovna and discuss only professional topics - at first it seemed to me unusual, strange. It took quite some time before I began to trust her, to open up.
Amina: I think that at first Rita was shocked by me. She and I are completely different in every way. Ritka is closed, closed, but I have all the emotions immediately on my face and on my tongue! At first it seemed to me that if she got used to me, everything would change. But no, I still have to get into the soul of Rita Mamun, like seven years ago. She says almost nothing herself.
I hated and hate all this, for me, the best thing is when a person openly expresses everything that he thinks. Why? Because if my student came and directly said: “I didn’t sleep well today, my head hurts, I had a fight with a guy, with my mother ...” - it will be clear to me why she has a gloomy face and nothing works out in the hall. Otherwise, I have to sit and puzzle over what happened, what is wrong, why the exercises come out crookedly.
Amina: Rita was not only unstable, but, probably, something did not add up up there. After Olympic Games I believed in God! There is clearly someone in heaven ... Photo: Oleg Naumov
- Amina, you said that at the very beginning of your coaching career you had to slap one student. Then, in tears, you called Wiener and said: “God, what have I done ...”
- Alya Garayeva was a girl with character, she did everything through “I don’t want, I can’t, I won’t.” And once again, proving to me that she can't, she plopped down on her back. I was wildly frightened - she could break her spine ... When I realized that she had done all this on purpose, she kicked me in the ass. And then I called Irina Alexandrovna and shouted into the phone that I didn’t know what to do next. And in response she heard a calm one: “It was still necessary to embed, because if something happens, you will be to blame.” You know, one gymnast needs a thrashing to start training like I used to. (Laughs.) And the other, like Rita, needs to be stroked, praised, kissed, hugged and said: "I love you." We rarely have conflicts with Rita. We have already said that they are different in temperament. I turn it on, it turns me off. And if I raise my voice, I see that Rita is ... embarrassed for me!
The same thing happens with my husband (musician Alexei Kortnev. - Approx. "TN"): he is the same as Ritka, calm and balanced.
- In one of the interviews, you said that once at the competition you couldn’t stop trembling and your coach had to literally pull your ear to blood to bring you to your senses. Margarita has a different temperament. Is it a plus?
- No, Rita also often sausages, and if she starts shaking, then it is difficult to calm her down. At the very beginning of our work with her, it seemed to me that all efforts were in vain, words would not help. Thank God, then I nevertheless figured out her psyche: in this sense, she is helped a lot by a serious exercise stress, so on the eve of the competition, I just arrange endless runs.
At our first European Championship with her, in 2013, in Vienna, Rita competed in the team event in all four types of all-around - hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. At the control training, everything went fine, except for the tape. She could not complete the exercises without blots. Irina Alexandrovna Viner was present at the training and, seeing all this, said to Rita: “You won’t leave the gym until you do it perfectly.” So we trained this tape without stopping for six hours!
My girl, completely exhausted, only after three hours asked to leave the hall for a minute. We saw that she was incredibly tired, but ... error followed error. When tears appeared in her eyes, she turned her back to us and quickly wiped them away with a napkin. Wiener said to me quietly: “I have never had such a girl. Someone swears, someone swears, destroys everything around, hysteria. This one is patient."
In the evening, when the doctors took blood from Rita for tests, she turned out to be black from the load.
- Rita, what did you feel at that moment? Did you feel that it was unfair and cruel?
- I talked to myself: well, as much as possible, how is it, why are they torturing me like that? I won't say it was unfair. They told me: one clean run - and you are free! But nothing worked out of exhaustion. I wouldn't say it's cruel. Even though my muscles hurt terribly after that workout, but in the end we won the European Championships, and in the exercises with the tape I got gold.
Amina: I need to know everything about the student: who mom and dad are, how they communicate in her family. I spend 24 hours a day with her and I need to understand how to influence the girl, how to calm her down, how to punish her so that it works out for the good of the cause. Photo: Arsen Memetov
- Watching the gymnasts perform is a real pleasure. It seems that everything is easy and simple. But beauty hides pain, tears, and overcoming. Have you ever wanted to quit everything and be just a child, without regime and heavy loads?
- I came to gymnastics late, at the age of seven. When I was 12-13 years old, the question arose: should I continue my studies at a regular school or at a sports school? I wanted to quit sports. Just because I was afraid of a change of scenery, a new team. At that moment, my parents helped, supported, convinced that everything would be fine. But at the same time, I always really liked performing and training. Even if it was physically hard.
In general, the most difficult thing in sports is overcoming oneself. Wake up in the morning on sports base and you understand that more than anything in the world you dream not of victory, but of being close to your family, at home ... But these thoughts quickly
run out because there is no time for them.
Sometimes parents insist that the child go in for sports. And he doesn't want to. So, in my opinion, the desire of the parents means absolutely nothing. The main thing is whether he likes it or not.
- But at the age of ten it’s hard to understand whether you’re lazy or just don’t like it. Many Olympic champions they said that if it were not for the perseverance of the parents, then nothing would have happened.
Amina: When training is under duress, it is definitely to the detriment of both the child and the coach. He tries to do something, but all in vain.
Rita: You can help if there is interest and a certain excitement, if children like to win. And if the eyes do not burn when they are going to training, it seems to me that they should not be tormented. Success will not come by force.
In a word, motivation is important! Amina, you said that as a girl, when you first came to the house of Irina Viner, you were amazed at the unknown world in which you wanted to stay.
Amina: I was born in the tiny town of Chirchik (Uzbekistan) and really wanted to get out of there. At the same time, my character was rotten. I was very lazy. But stubborn. Irina Alexandrovna said that I could not train, but go out and do everything brilliantly. She tolerated me, I think, for one reason: we literally fell in love at first sight. As for motivation ... Of course, without it, nowhere. What happens, for example, in our sport? You win, say, the Grand Prix. Then you already compete at the European Championships, at the World Cup. And like a snowball, one victory after another. If you are smart and hardworking, then step by step you will come to big win. Well, if not, then you can turn around halfway and say that you are tired, I don’t want to anymore. One of my students suddenly got married at the age of 18. I was shocked. All efforts down the drain?! But that girl found herself in motherhood, gave birth to two children, she has a great family.
- After the Olympics, swimmer Alexander Sukhorukov said that he and Rita Mamun were thinking about the wedding ...
Amina: Rita is not 15 years old. But a few years ago, when they met Sasha, I, like any mother, was terribly worried and, frankly, jealous. She was looking for some trickiness in Sasha, so that there would be a reason to “explain” to Rita that all this
no need. When Rita went to meet Sasha, I just went crazy: where did she go, my girl? Well, then she pulled herself together, saying: this is her life, let her do what she wants. Moreover, I myself had exactly the same story: Irina Aleksandrovna was categorically against my romance with Lesha. It's been a while since she fell in love with him. So, a year later, Rita suddenly told me in plain text that she was not typical at all: “I know you don’t like Sasha.” I was in a hurry. It seems that she did not allow herself attacks against. Alexander is objectively handsome, with a beautiful figure - how can one not like such a man? (Laughs.) And I said, absolutely not cunning: “If you like him, then I do too!” After the World Cup, she let her go to Los Angeles for five days, where Sasha was training at that time. What can you do, my girl fell in love.
Rita with her boyfriend Alexander Sukhorukov and Irina Viner. Ball of Russian Olympians in the Kremlin (December 2015). Photo: instagram.com/ritamamun
- After winning the Olympics, probably both of you deserve a long vacation? Rita can fly to young man, Amina to return to the family, to the children? Or are you not supposed to rest?
Amina: We wanted to relax, but Irina Alexandrovna asked me to go to competitions in Japan. In August we had a little rest. Lesha tried to take my phone away from me and not let me in social networks, but it didn’t work. They wrote and wrote to me - acquaintances and strangers - congratulated me, wished me further success. I couldn't help but answer.
On the first of September, I took the children to school and for the first time in my life I did not take photos that day. Because people were coming to me. And I realized that now the whole country knows me and Rita ... But we really went down in history. (With a smile.)
Thank you Design Center "Interior Theatre"
for help with filming
A family: mother - Anna Mamun, former gymnast
Career: Russian athlete, repeated European and world champion in rhythmic gymnastics, Olympic champion
Amina Zaripova
A family: husband - Alexei Kortnev, musician, showman; children - Arseniy (13 years old), Athanasius (10 years old), Aksiniya (5 years old)
Career: Russian athlete, repeated world champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Honored Master of Sports. Russian team coach
- Rita, let's remember the performance at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. With what emotions did you go out on the carpet? Was there an anticipation of victory?
Rita: We didn't think about winning at all. Amina Vasilovna and I set one goal - to perform with dignity, that's all. I opened the all-around, went out first from the team, and without any excitement and worries. Although the day before I was sure that she would start to sausage, still the Olympics! (Laughs.) When I spoke, Amina Vasilovna and I just sat on chairs and waited for the others. Although no, not to say that they were just sitting. After my final exercise with the tape, she and I cried incessantly. First, because I didn’t make a single mistake in all four events, then they saw high marks - and tears poured again, and when they realized that they were the first, they burst into tears!
Amina: And I was terrified as I was, while Rita was getting ready, I almost gave birth for the fourth time. (Laughs.) Although I swear I didn’t think about winning! Well, third place, and if you're lucky - second. The victory was a complete surprise: for the first time in her life in all four types of all-around, she did not drop anything, did not make mistakes, did everything with dignity. Until now, it turned out that our sports achievements with her were evaluated exclusively by second and fifth places, without intermediate options. Just some kind of mystic! I just want to emphasize that we are nobody without our team, without our masseur Dima Dunaev, without choreographers Irina
Borisovna Zenovka and Tatyana Borisovna Pomerantseva, without the psychologist Evgenia Borisovna Kuzminova and, of course, without Irina Aleksandrovna Viner. This victory is shared.
At six in the evening there was an award ceremony, and then I immediately called Irina Alexandrovna. She was not in Rio, but she watched us all day from Israel via the Internet. Irina Aleksandrovna led Rita almost to the very moment she entered the mat. I watched the warm-up, made comments, set it up correctly. She helped me a lot. Because inside I was like a compressed spring: scary to the point of eerily, but I don’t show it, I smile and portray Buddhist calmness. I remember how a year ago at the championship in Stuttgart, seeing my wild excitement, Irina Alexandrovna put valerian tablets in my mouth and repeated: “Don't you dare twitch! Rita will notice!
- I opened the all-around, went out first from the team, and without any excitement. Although the day before I was sure that she would start to sausage, still the Olympics! Photo: AP/TASS
- Amina, how did it happen that the future Olympic champion fell into your hands at all?
- When I completed my sports career, Irina Alexandrovna invited me to train children at the TsOP, the Olympic Training Center, paired with my close friend, colleague Natasha Kukushkina.
I have two strong students, Diana Botsieva and Yana Lukonina. Later, Yana became the world champion, and Viner felt that it was time for me to move to the next level in coaching. I took these promising gymnasts to the base at the Novogorsk training center (a base near Moscow for training Russian national teams for major international
competitions. — Approx. "TN").
But Natasha Kukushkina remained in the COP, and one fine day Rita Mamun came to her. I remember when I saw her for the first time, I was amazed at the eccentricity, brightness, beauty of the girl - she stood out noticeably among other children. I learned that Rita is from a good family, intelligent, educated. In a word, I immediately liked her very much.
And when the career of my student Yana Lukonina began to come to an end, Natasha and I decided that Rita was starting to train with me. She was 13 at the time.
At that time, Rita at the championship of Russia barely got into the top ten, but not in the top three. It was clear that she was a talented girl, but she had not yet shown a decent result. And in Novogorsk, those who claim serious victories train. And here Irina Alexandrovna, thank you very much, gave us carte blanche, allowing us to train there.
The turning point happened suddenly, six years ago, when I was pregnant with Aksinia. Rita and I went to Los Angeles for the most ordinary international tournament. And then Irina Alexandrovna calls and says that for some reason neither Zhenya Kanaeva nor Dasha Kondakova can come to the World Cup in Montreal. And I’m nearby, so “go get a visa, fly to Canada, and let Rita try to perform there.” Figley do! (Laughs) From +25°C we arrived at -20°C, but Rita performed well and made it to the finals in the ball exercise, finishing third in the all-around.
Rita: I competed in all four finals and won gold in ball exercises.
- Amina, Rita, how can you characterize the relationship between a student and a coach in big-time sports?
Amina: Rita and I have a serious business, but our relationship can hardly be called exclusively business. For me, this union is absolutely family. The feeling that Rita has been with me all my life, although, of course, this is not so: we started training seven years ago.
- When a coach and a student meet, should there be sympathy or does it not matter? The main thing is the professional merits of both?
Amina: They come to our sport as children, unlike, say, handball or volleyball, where mature girls play. And when I choose a child, I first of all listen to my intuition, trying to understand whether the person is “my” or not. If for some reason I don’t like a girl, then I try not to take her. It happened when I was ordered from above to accept a child against my will. I was forced to obey, but nothing good came of it: no matter how hard I tried, the relationship did not work out. And in this matter, not only my opinion is important, here the child's sympathy for the coach is no less important. Maybe he won’t explain why he doesn’t like his aunt, but he will definitely be capricious, misbehave, cry, ask for his mother.
Rita: Amina Vasilovna has a unique approach to children: human relationships are important to her - not all coaches think the same way. Many do not encourage spiritual intimacy with students: “I don’t tell you about my problems, so don’t tell me about yours.” In turn, the gymnasts perceive the coach in a detached way. It is impossible to communicate formally with Amina Vasilovna and discuss only professional topics - at first it seemed to me unusual, strange. It took quite some time before I began to trust her, to open up.
Amina: I think that at first Rita was shocked by me. She and I are completely different in every way. Ritka is closed, closed, but I have all the emotions immediately on my face and on my tongue! At first it seemed to me that if she got used to me, everything would change. But no, I still have to get into the soul of Rita Mamun, like seven years ago. She says almost nothing herself.
I hated and hate all this, for me, the best thing is when a person openly expresses everything that he thinks. Why? Because if my student came and directly said: “I didn’t sleep well today, my head hurts, I had a fight with a guy, with my mother ...” - it will be clear to me why she has a gloomy face and nothing works out in the hall. Otherwise, I have to sit and puzzle over what happened, what is wrong, why the exercises come out crookedly.
Amina: Rita was not only unstable, but, probably, something did not add up up there. After the Olympic Games, I believed in God! There is clearly someone in heaven ... Photo: Oleg Naumov
- Amina, you said that at the very beginning of your coaching career you had to slap one student. Then, in tears, you called Wiener and said: “God, what have I done ...”
- Alya Garayeva was a girl with character, she did everything through “I don’t want, I can’t, I won’t.” And once again, proving to me that she can't, she plopped down on her back. I was wildly frightened - she could break her spine ... When I realized that she had done all this on purpose, she kicked me in the ass. And then I called Irina Alexandrovna and shouted into the phone that I didn’t know what to do next. And in response she heard a calm one: “It was still necessary to embed, because if something happens, you will be to blame.” You know, one gymnast needs a thrashing to start training like I used to. (Laughs.) And the other, like Rita, needs to be stroked, praised, kissed, hugged and said: "I love you." We rarely have conflicts with Rita. We have already said that they are different in temperament. I turn it on, it turns me off. And if I raise my voice, I see that Rita is ... embarrassed for me!
The same thing happens with my husband (musician Alexei Kortnev. - Approx. "TN"): he is the same as Ritka, calm and balanced.
- In one of the interviews, you said that once at the competition you couldn’t stop trembling and your coach had to literally pull your ear to blood to bring you to your senses. Margarita has a different temperament. Is it a plus?
- No, Rita also often sausages, and if she starts shaking, then it is difficult to calm her down. At the very beginning of our work with her, it seemed to me that all efforts were in vain, words would not help. Thank God, then I nevertheless figured out her psyche: in this sense, serious physical activity helps her a lot, so on the eve of the competition I just arrange endless runs.
At our first European Championship with her, in 2013, in Vienna, Rita competed in the team event in all four types of all-around - hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. At the control training, everything went fine, except for the tape. She could not complete the exercises without blots. Irina Alexandrovna Viner was present at the training and, seeing all this, said to Rita: “You won’t leave the gym until you do it perfectly.” So we trained this tape without stopping for six hours!
My girl, completely exhausted, only after three hours asked to leave the hall for a minute. We saw that she was incredibly tired, but ... error followed error. When tears appeared in her eyes, she turned her back to us and quickly wiped them away with a napkin. Wiener said to me quietly: “I have never had such a girl. Someone swears, someone swears, destroys everything around, hysteria. This one is patient."
In the evening, when the doctors took blood from Rita for tests, she turned out to be black from the load.
- Rita, what did you feel at that moment? Did you feel that it was unfair and cruel?
- I talked to myself: well, as much as possible, how is it, why are they torturing me like that? I won't say it was unfair. They told me: one clean run - and you are free! But nothing worked out of exhaustion. I wouldn't say it's cruel. Even though my muscles hurt terribly after that workout, but in the end we won the European Championships, and in the exercises with the tape I got gold.
Amina: I need to know everything about the student: who mom and dad are, how they communicate in her family. I spend 24 hours a day with her and I need to understand how to influence the girl, how to calm her down, how to punish her so that it works out for the good of the cause. Photo: Arsen Memetov
- Watching the gymnasts perform is a real pleasure. It seems that everything is easy and simple. But beauty hides pain, tears, and overcoming. Have you ever wanted to quit everything and be just a child, without regime and heavy loads?
- I came to gymnastics late, at the age of seven. When I was 12-13 years old, the question arose: should I continue my studies at a regular school or at a sports school? I wanted to quit sports. Just because I was afraid of a change of scenery, a new team. At that moment, my parents helped, supported, convinced that everything would be fine. But at the same time, I always really liked performing and training. Even if it was physically hard.
In general, the most difficult thing in sports is overcoming oneself. You wake up in the morning at the sports base and realize that what you dream of most in the world is not about victory, but about being close to your family, at home ... But these thoughts quickly
run out because there is no time for them.
Sometimes parents insist that the child go in for sports. And he doesn't want to. So, in my opinion, the desire of the parents means absolutely nothing. The main thing is whether he likes it or not.
- But at the age of ten it’s hard to understand whether you’re lazy or just don’t like it. Many Olympic champions said that if it were not for the perseverance of their parents, then nothing would have happened.
Amina: When training is under duress, it is definitely to the detriment of both the child and the coach. He tries to do something, but all in vain.
Rita: You can help if there is interest and a certain excitement, if children like to win. And if the eyes do not burn when they are going to training, it seems to me that they should not be tormented. Success will not come by force.
In a word, motivation is important! Amina, you said that as a girl, when you first came to the house of Irina Viner, you were amazed at the unknown world in which you wanted to stay.
Amina: I was born in the tiny town of Chirchik (Uzbekistan) and really wanted to get out of there. At the same time, my character was rotten. I was very lazy. But stubborn. Irina Alexandrovna said that I could not train, but go out and do everything brilliantly. She tolerated me, I think, for one reason: we literally fell in love at first sight. As for motivation ... Of course, without it, nowhere. What happens, for example, in our sport? You win, say, the Grand Prix. Then you already compete at the European Championships, at the World Cup. And like a snowball, one victory after another. If you are smart and hardworking, then step by step you will come to a big victory. Well, if not, then you can turn around halfway and say that you are tired, I don’t want to anymore. One of my students suddenly got married at the age of 18. I was shocked. All efforts down the drain?! But that girl found herself in motherhood, gave birth to two children, she has a great family.
- After the Olympics, swimmer Alexander Sukhorukov said that he and Rita Mamun were thinking about the wedding ...
Amina: Rita is not 15 years old. But a few years ago, when they met Sasha, I, like any mother, was terribly worried and, frankly, jealous. She was looking for some trickiness in Sasha, so that there would be a reason to “explain” to Rita that all this
no need. When Rita went to meet Sasha, I just went crazy: where did she go, my girl? Well, then she pulled herself together, saying: this is her life, let her do what she wants. Moreover, I myself had exactly the same story: Irina Aleksandrovna was categorically against my romance with Lesha. It's been a while since she fell in love with him. So, a year later, Rita suddenly told me in plain text that she was not typical at all: “I know you don’t like Sasha.” I was in a hurry. It seems that she did not allow herself attacks against. Alexander is objectively handsome, with a beautiful figure - how can one not like such a man? (Laughs.) And I said, absolutely not cunning: “If you like him, then I do too!” After the World Cup, she let her go to Los Angeles for five days, where Sasha was training at that time. What can you do, my girl fell in love.
Rita with her boyfriend Alexander Sukhorukov and Irina Viner. Ball of Russian Olympians in the Kremlin (December 2015). Photo: instagram.com/ritamamun
- After winning the Olympics, probably both of you deserve a long vacation? Can Rita fly away to a young man, can Amina return to her family, to her children? Or are you not supposed to rest?
Amina: We wanted to relax, but Irina Alexandrovna asked me to go to competitions in Japan. In August we had a little rest. Lesha tried to take my phone away from me and not let me in social networks, but it didn’t work. They wrote and wrote to me - acquaintances and strangers - congratulated me, wished me further success. I couldn't help but answer.
On the first of September, I took the children to school and for the first time in my life I did not take photos that day. Because people were coming to me. And I realized that now the whole country knows me and Rita ... But we really went down in history. (With a smile.)
Thank you Design Center "Interior Theatre"
for help with filming
A family: mother - Anna Mamun, former gymnast
Career: Russian athlete, repeated European and world champion in rhythmic gymnastics, Olympic champion
Amina Zaripova
A family: husband - Alexei Kortnev, musician, showman; children - Arseniy (13 years old), Athanasius (10 years old), Aksiniya (5 years old)
Career: Russian athlete, repeated world champion in rhythmic gymnastics. Honored Master of Sports. Russian team coach
Everyone remembers the repeated champion of Russia, Europe and the world - the Russian gymnast Amina Zaripova. She is also known as a well-deserved coach who raised the Olympic champion M. Mamun. sports victory it is not easy, but pain and tears are not terrible, heavy loads and training are not afraid, the hardest thing in sports is overcoming oneself.
First training
Amina was born in a small town near Tashkent in August 1976. As a child, she dreamed of becoming an ice cream seller. At the age of seven, she began to go to gymnastics with her girlfriend. Once, when they were returning from training, they decided to ride the carousel, and Amina returned home with a big bruise on her neck. My parents didn't let me go to class. When the daughter could already go to classes on her own, her parents allowed her to return to her coach.
Jumps, splits, bridges were easy for Amina, and she ran with pleasure to training in her native Chirchik. The girl was shown to Irina Alexandrovna, and Winner took her with her to Tashkent, Amina Zaripova lived in her house. Of course, I missed my parents, brothers and sisters. But she had a purpose. Finding herself in a beautiful living room, Winner after a poor environment in her parents' living room, she promised herself to achieve a prosperous life. For this, everything can be endured.
overcoming
I had to work a lot. Winner is very demanding of her students, sometimes you can’t even lift a finger, and she screams: “Pull your leg!” When Amina turned twelve, did the question arise to go to a sports school or continue to study at a regular school? It was scary, the new team, the atmosphere, at that moment there was a desire to quit everything. But her parents helped, insisted that she go to sports school, convinced that there is nothing to be afraid of, everything will be fine.
Despite the fact that Amina really liked performing and training, physical difficulties did not frighten her, doubts came up - is it worth it? In sports, the most difficult thing is overcoming oneself. “Sometimes you wake up in the morning at some sports base and dream of being at home, and not about winning,” the athlete recalls. But you can’t get bored for a long time, as soon as training begins, you forget about everything.
Amina Zaripova says that sometimes parents insist, force the child to go to classes. It would seem that their desires mean nothing, it all depends on the child. In fact, at this age, at nine or ten years old, it’s hard to understand - you’re just too lazy to go to training or you don’t need it at all. Many Olympic champions recall: if it were not for their parents, their perseverance, then there would be no victory, nothing would have come of them. But if you are smart, hardworking, you will definitely come to victory step by step.
Victories and achievements
In 1992 she joined the Russian national team. When I was preparing for competitions in Alicante, I had to work 12 hours a day, but it was worth it - I won 2 bronze medals. After another 2 years at the world championship in Vienna, she won three gold and one bronze medals. During her seven-year career, Amina won 5 times prizes in world championships, three times in European ones.
Return to sports
After leaving big sport the gymnast grabbed everything. She worked as a TV commentator, started her own business, but the manager turned out to be a dishonest person and burned all the accounting along with the restaurant. After that, she took up coaching. Now she is in charge of the youth team. After the birth of children, almost a week later she went to work. He will come home to feed the baby, leave him for a nanny and go back to work. Straightforward and honest, Amina Zaripova speaks frankly about her personal life. By nature, she is not a homebody and not a housewife, so nannies and housekeepers help out a lot.
“I don’t like to cook, I don’t want to and I won’t,” says the athlete, “If you don’t get pleasure from this and you’re not interested in it, why?” She can cook the simplest dish that her friend taught, buy a ready-made, peeled dorado in the store, put spices and herbs in it, wrap it in foil and put it in the oven for half an hour. All. Amina says that this does not bother her at all, it is important to be able to find a middle ground where you feel good. For her, this is gym, and then we'll see.
A family
She met her husband Alexei Kortnev at a concert to which a friend brought her, and then took her backstage. The husband says: as soon as he saw Amina Zaripova, he immediately realized that she would become his wife. That same evening he hit her, but Amina was impregnable. She met with a young man and they were preparing a wedding. But Kortnev did not give up, and Alina, a straightforward and honest person, immediately broke off relations with her fiancé. It took Alexei more than six months to divorce his former wife.
In 2002, Amina and Alexei got married. At first they lived in Amina's one-room apartment, then they bought a bigger apartment. When the first child was born, friends offered to live in their country house. It was then that Amina became eager to move out of town. With the advent of the children, they decided to build their own country house and found a plot in the Moscow region, and when the foundation of the future house was almost ready, it turned out that the builders had not calculated, and there was not enough space even for a car, so we had to buy acres. Now the house is ready and accepting guests.
Amina has three children. The eldest, Arseniy, is fond of golf and has already joined the national team among the guys of his age. Son Athanasius is a fan of acting out scenes, most likely he will be an actor, says Amina. Daughter Aksinya is 7 years old. With all the desire, Amina Zaripova will not be able to conceal any facts from her personal life and biography, because in September 2017 her children participated in the show “Through the Mouth of a Baby”, hosted by their father Alexei Kortnev, and “through the Mouth of a Baby”, as you know, "verb truth".
The price of victory
AT sports biography Zaripova has many victories, but she did not become an Olympic champion. But this title was earned by her pupil M. Mamun. The victory was not easy. When you look at the performances of gymnasts, everything is so beautiful and elegant, but overcoming, pain and tears are hidden behind this beauty. 2 days after the Olympics, when they returned to Moscow with Amina Vasilovna Zaripova, Rita's dad died - he held it in his hands Olympic medal daughter, shed a tear, and two days later he was gone.
In those days, letters and messages with congratulations on the victory came in a stream, written by both acquaintances and strangers. On the first of September, when I brought the children to school, I didn’t even manage to take photographs, as people were walking towards her in a stream. And then Amina realized that now the whole country knows them and Rita. They say that the young gymnast Zaripova had a difficult character. But great achievements are not talent or even skill. It is character and willpower. Amina Vasilovna has them, and let the new achievements and victories of her pupils be the reward for her work!
The Russian athlete, who competed in the individual competition, repeatedly won the titles of world champion in rhythmic gymnastics, for which she received the title of Honored Master of Sports of Russia. The most famous and successful student of Amina as a coach is the Olympic champion Margarita Mamun. Height - 176 centimeters, weight - 53 centimeters.
Sport
Amina Vasilovna Zaripova was born on the territory of Uzbekistan, the city of Chirchik in 1976, her parents are Tatars by nationality. Once a girl with her mother visited Tashkent, where they made purchases. During the trip, Amina was offered to do rhythmic gymnastics, and at the age of ten she began attending a sports school. This is quite late, but the girl was artistic, loved to dance, she developed natural flexibility and stretching, which allowed her to soon win competitions. The first coach was Nina Kaplan.
At the age of 12, the question arose of moving to a sports school instead of a regular one. Gymnastics and Amina Zaripova early age they didn’t get along very well - she wanted to quit sports with its exhausting rhythm, she wanted to be an ordinary girl, have girlfriends, play with her peers. In addition, the change of scenery, the team was frightening. The support of parents allowed me to go to a sports school and continue to train in an enhanced mode.
Since 1992, she was included in the Russian national team, trained on the basis of the Russian team in Novogorsk, the coach was Irina Viner.
In 1993, at the World Championships in the Spanish city of Alicante, she received two bronze medals. In 1994, in Paris, she received two silver and bronze medals. In 1995, at the World Championships in Vienna, she received three gold and one silver medals.
In total, for seven years, from 1992 to 1998, she was 5 times world champion, 3 times European champion, 2 times Russian champion. She competed once at the Atlanta Olympics, where she took 4th place in individual program.
After the Olympics, she took part in two world championships - in 1996 in Budapest she received gold and bronze medals, in 1997 in Berlin she received gold medal in the team championship.
In 1998, she finished her sports career, but decided to continue doing rhythmic gymnastics as a coach. She was invited to coach the Greek national team, where she worked for some time. But she soon returned to Russia, where in 2002 she graduated from the Russian State Physical Education Academy.
Irina Viner invited Amina Zaripova to coaching to the Olympic Training Center, Amina agreed and began working in tandem with Natalia Kukushkina. Two successful students appeared - Yana Lukonina (world champion) and Diana Botsieva. Soon Zaripova, along with these two promising gymnasts, went to work in Novogorsk, where the Russian team trained.
Natalia Kukushkina stayed at the Olympic Training Center, where she met Margarita Mamun. Amina visited a colleague, where she saw Rita, the coach really liked the girl both in terms of physical data, as well as in character and intelligent upbringing. Champion Yana Lukonina decided to end her gymnastic career, and Zaripova took 13-year-old Mamun to her place in Novogorsk.
Despite Margarita's obvious prospects, she did not give sufficient results for Novogorsk - at the Russian championship she entered only the top ten, and at this base those who are in the top three train and prepare for the most prestigious international competitions. But Irina Alexandrovna Viner gave permission to work with Mamun on the basis of the Russian national team.
The chance for a star tandem presented itself unexpectedly - Amina and Rita flew to Los Angeles to participate in international tournament. But Irina Viner said that they urgently need to go to Montreal, Canada for the World Cup, where neither could get. Margarita Mamun, together with her coach, went to Canada, where they felt a change in climate - from summer to frosty winter weather. But still, Rita received a bronze medal in the final exercise with the ball. This success made it possible for Margarita to pave the way for the Olympics. Margarita Mamun, led by Amina Zaripova, became the Olympic champion in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
Now Amina Zaripova as a coach is preparing the youth team Russian Federation at the Olympic Training Center of the Moscow City Sports Association Moskomsport.
Personal life
From 2007 to 2008, she tried herself in politics, became a member of the Supreme Council of the Civil Force party.
Amina Zaripova's husband is Alexei Kortnev, singer, leader of the "Accident" group, he worked as an actor in theater and cinema, and a TV presenter. Two sons were born in the marriage - Athanasius and Arseny and a daughter Aksinya.
Alexey Kortnev and Amina Zaripova with children live in their own large wooden house in the suburbs, which the singer built for his beloved wife. They have a playful and kind dog Yasya rare breed called Maremma-Abruzzo Sheepdog, but the dog does not like strangers and works as an excellent watchman. Noisy parties prefer family holidays in the country. Zaripova Amina is not only a good athlete, but also a wife, a mother who cares about the well-being of her family and home comfort.
Amina's example shows that sports, a career are not at all an obstacle to good relations with people, family comfort and simple happiness.
Each of her three incarnations deserves a separate detailed story. First of all, Amina Zaripova, of course, is a well-known and successful athlete who was one of the elite of the world rhythmic gymnastics in the mid-1990s, a multiple champion of the planet and a participant in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. For fans of the work of Alexei Kortnev (leader of the popular group "Accident"), she is probably just the wife of her favorite actor, a caring mother of their three children in common. And at the European Championship held in early May in Minsk, this slender, beautiful woman as a mentor, she sent to the carpet, hugged and motherly comforted one of the leaders of the Russian national team Margarita Mamun, who won two gold and silver medals, in case of a minor failure ...
Amina, taking this opportunity, I cannot but admit that I am very sympathetic to your spouse, who is equally charming both on stage and on the screen, even when reincarnated as notorious scoundrels, as in Ivan Dykhovichny's film "Prorva".
Amina Zaripova: Yes? Thanks, I'll pass it on to him! This is Leshin's first film role. As far as I remember, it was originally assumed that he would simply sing a peppy song stylized in the spirit of Stalin's time there. And then it turned out to be a full-fledged character, albeit a negative one.
By the way, have you ever been offered to act in films yourself?
Amina Zaripova: And I somehow starred with Alexei. The role was episodic, tiny, but even with words.
But on the carpet, in a few minutes you could touch, melt the heart of the viewer with your heartfelt, artistic and lyrical miniatures without a single word, being considered one of the best "artists" of the planet. You can imagine how disappointed you were when you took the most offensive, fourth place at the Atlanta Olympics, and even for your performance with practically no serious blots.
Amina Zaripova: I was depressed, I didn’t want to see or hear anyone then. Fortunately, in the Russian House in Olympic Village I met the famous basketball player Sergei Belov, who consoled me as best he could, explaining that life does not end with defeats, even such insulting ones.
He knew what he was talking about - after all, the basketball team failed its tournament ...
Amina Zaripova: Yes. And I told him I wanted to get really drunk. For the first time in my life. And we went to a gas station where they sold alcohol. But there everything was already sold out, apparently, to the same unlucky ones ...
But, as the wise man said, everything passes, and this too shall pass. Today you are among the coaches of the Russian national team, and your student Margarita Mamun is one of the indispensable contenders for awards, including higher ones, at tournaments of any rank. How satisfied are you with her performance in Minsk, what rating would you give her?
Amina Zaripova:"Four" with a plus. Rita was a little lacking in composure in the exercise with the tape, dropped the object, losing her medal. And so it would be, of course, "five". Two "gold" and "silver" in conditions of very serious competition, including with two great Belarusian gymnasts, who were supported by thousands of fans at this beautiful "Minsk-Arena" - not bad at all.
Melodies for her compositions, with the exception, of course, of the classic "Bolero" by Ravel, cannot be called famous or popular. Whose music is this?
Amina Zaripova: In the exercise with the tape, a work was performed by the great, I believe, Soviet composer Galina Ustvolskaya, a student of Dmitry Shostakovich. By the way, it was written specifically for the brilliant cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. And for the composition with the ball, we used the music of the Argentinean Astor Piazzolla, also, in essence, a classic of the 20th century.
I remember that about a year and a half ago, Mamun was written about as the most promising Russian gymnast and a likely contender for the world “throne”, vacated after leaving the carpet of the two-time Olympic champion Evgenia Kanaeva. However, now, as far as one can understand, Yana Kudryavtseva is considered the first number. Does your ward have any problems, maybe injuries?
Amina Zaripova: I am not trying to make my students look like me. I am sure: every gymnast should be an individual. A photo: Alexander Yakovlev/TASS
Amina Zaripova: Nothing serious happened, thank God, no injuries. It's just that Rita got into a transitional period, when Zhenya Kanaeva finished with gymnastics, Dmitrieva and Kondakova left. And Mamun was next behind them, was considered the 4th-5th number of the national team along with Sasha Merkulova and, as it were, automatically took their place, and quite deservedly so. She was a promising gymnast and still is. Rita is a very emotional girl, she has, I would say, "theatrical" thinking, she needs to get ready and go on the carpet like on a stage, on a performance. While it lacks stability, and we are working on it. Last year's World Championship, I think, was generally successful for us, now here, in Minsk, we performed well. Ahead of the 1st European Games in Baku and the 2015 World Cup in Stuttgart, we will try not to lose face there.
Are you trying to make a student look like you in your youth, to teach her some branded tricks?
Amina Zaripova: No never. I am against these clichés, whoever they refer to. Each gymnast must be an individual.
Does she have to deal with her weight?
Amina Zaripova: Of course, but Rita is an adult girl, she is 19 years old. This is a rather literate and intelligent person who knows that she needs to go out on the carpet, not me, and perfectly understands at what point it is necessary to stop and not pay attention to the goodies.
And you do not forbid to consume "extra" calories?
Amina Zaripova: No. I don't forbid her anything.
There is a year left before the Olympics in Brazil with a decent "tail", but now it's no secret to anyone that if nothing extraordinary happens, the main contender for the highest award among the "single skaters" will almost completely become one of the two Russian graces who got into the team. Perhaps the Belarusian prima Melitina Stanyuta will intervene in their dispute, although by that time she will be almost 23 ...
Amina Zaripova: And the Ukrainian Rizatdinova, the Israeli Rivkin, who is going to the third Olympics for herself, is she younger? The dream of any athlete is to perform at the Games, and Melitina is a cool, ambitious and hardworking gymnast and certainly wants and is able to achieve more than she already has. I am sure that at the 2016 Games she will compete for a medal in the same way as the younger and very promising Katya Galkina. Belarusian gymnastics does not need special recommendations, it is not for nothing that the European Championship through the efforts of Irina Leparskaya and her associates was held at such a high level.
