Name: Irina Rodnina
Age: 68 years old
Place of Birth: Moscow
Growth: 152 cm
Weight: 57 kg
Activity: figure skater
Family status: divorced
Irina Rodnina - biography
The famous figure skater was many times the champion of the country and the world. She was the pride of the Soviet Union and is considered her in today's Russia.
Childhood, family
On the autumn day of the post-war 49 years, a Jewish family was born one whose biography did not begin as an Olympic champion, athlete and activist. Ira was very often sick, doctors treated the girl for pneumonia 11 times. Both the parents, the officer and the nurse, were concerned about their daughter's health. Irina's mother and father met at the front, had a lot of military orders and medals. To harden the child's body, the girl was placed in a figure skating school. But there was not only a hardening of the whole organism, but it became strong will babes.
The makings of a real athlete began to appear: Irina strove to win competitions at all costs. At the very beginning, she mastered single skating with his coach Yakov Smushkin. A little later, the coaching staff changed, and Irina began performing with a partner in pair dances Oleg Vlasov. From the first youth competition, the couple returned with third place.
The new coach Stanislav Alekseevich Zhuk replaced Irina's partner. Now Alexei Ulanov danced with Rodnina. After several years of joint work, the World Championship was marked by the victory of the created pair.
The European Championship that followed next again pleased the athletes and fans with the prize-winning place earned by the couple. More than once star couple brought gold to the country, but Ulanov decided to change his partner by marrying another athlete. Rodnina, in desperation, decided to leave figure skating, but on her way there was a little-known figure skater Alexander Zaitsev, who completely changed Irina's biography.
We trained a lot, helped each other, sharing our experience. This exhausting work gave its positive results - gold medals in competitions. This pair has become the most talented and focused on winning. This is evidenced by the closure that occurred in Bratislava at the World Championships, which turned off the music during the performance of Alexander and Irina. But the athletes heard the music in their souls and were able to conquer the jury. Their pair won the victory. Rodnina studied at the Central Institute physical education.
New coach
It was easy for Irina to conquer the audience, because along with her modesty and tenderness, she has incredible stamina and fortitude. And her open friendly smile and bright eyes accompanied this. But the time came when the beloved coach could no longer give Rodnina more than what he had already given in terms of skill figure skating. A pair of skaters, who were made family by joint work, became part of the pets of Tatyana Anatolyevna Tarasova. The young energetic coach introduced new elements into the skaters' program, the numbers became lyrical, bright and artistically expressive.
From that moment on, the partners began to create a new joint biography. And the first significant events were the marriage of Irina with Alexander and the birth of Sasha's son. Under the guidance of a new coach, the couple again won another gold. Irina became the champion ten times, the third Olympics - and the third gold in a row. The Soviet figure skater is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
No matter how familiar and pleasant successes and victories are, the athlete has a desire to leave the stage big sport. She worked as a mentor, she taught, but something went wrong.
Irina Rodnina - biography of personal life
Irina married her figure skating partner Alexander Zaitsev. She gave birth to a boy and, having recovered after childbirth, continued to perform on the ice of competitions. After decision to leave and a long search for herself outside of sports Rodnina broke up with her husband. But fate sometimes throws surprises, and Irina fell in love. Businessman and producer Leonid Minkovsky turned the life of the famous athlete upside down. The family leaves for the USA, where Rodnina begins to work as a coach. There were difficulties in the work, overcoming which, Irina gives birth to a daughter.
Her children Sasha and Alena were always there, they did not allow to despair. The son and daughter always supported their mother, but did not follow in her footsteps. Alexander chose the profession of an artist, and Alena became a TV presenter. Rodnina got better at work, she herself bought a skating rink in Los Angeles, while working as a coach at the figure skating center. The athlete often came to Moscow and created a school in the capital to teach figure skating.
Rodnina now
Currently, Irina Konstantinovna conducts extensive social and political activities. For the 1972 Olympics, the athlete was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. She is a member of the United Russia party, is a State Duma deputy of 5-6 convocations.
Lit the Olympic flame in Sochi at the opening Olympic Games in winter, has the title of Honored Master of Sports of the Soviet Union. Now Rodnina is a member of the Presidential Council for Physical Education and Sports.
Irina Rodnina is the most titled athlete in the history of figure skating.
Her sports biography like this: she won 10 times world championship and celebrated the triumph at the Olympic Games three times, won the USSR championship six times. How did it happen that she became a deputy of the State Duma?
Childhood
Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina was born on September 12, 1949 in the capital of the USSR. Her father served as an officer and was from near Vologda, her mother worked as a nurse, she was originally from Ukraine.
As a child, Irina had pneumonia more than 10 times. The doctors advised her parents to send the child outdoors more often to improve her health, they sent her to the skating rink, and this was the beginning of the hobby for the “figurine”.
The first children's coach of Irina Rodnina was Yakov Alekseevich Smushkin. Later, a talented schoolgirl was taken to the section at CSKA. The screening was successful, and until the age of 15, Irina Rodnina performed mainly in singles.
Everything changed when Czech specialists began working with the young figure skater, who worked with the army team under a contract. Under their leadership, Rodnina, together with Oleg Vlasov, won the first medal. It was the bronze of the all-Union youth competitions. It was 1963.
First change of coach
Already in 1964, Stanislav Zhuk undertook to train Irina Rodnina. Now he is one of the most famous names in the world of “figures”, and then he only recently ended his sports career and switched to coaching. Zhuk, together with his wife Nina, specialized in pair skating and even took bronze three times at the European Championship.
Starting to work with Irina Rodnina, Zhuk made her a partner with Alexei Ulanov. Already in 1968, Irina and Alexei won third place in the championship of the Union.
In the sixth year of their joint work, Rodnina and Ulanov win first places at the European Championship. The 1969 tournament was very difficult for the couple: Zhuk was not released from the USSR, they came to the competition without a coach, they took only second place in the compulsory program, leaving behind Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, but everything was decided in the free program. Elements of high complexity brought the pair an overall victory. For her, the athlete received the title of ZMS.
At the 1969 World Championships, Irina and Alexei won outright, taking first place in both types of programs. Those were the times when soviet school figure skating was far ahead of all rivals. Irina and her partner won all the major international competitions (World Cup and European Championship) until 1972, when the white Olympic Games were held in Sapporo, Japan. Not everything went smoothly for the skaters: in the short program, Ulanov made an ordinary salchow, although he needed a double one, and in the free program, the world champion herself made a mistake - in the cascade of jumps. However, in the end, Irina and Alexei were ahead of another Soviet couple (Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraykin).
Concussion and music stop
Ulanov and Rodnina were ahead of Smirnov and Suraykina at the 1972 World Cup, which was already after the Olympics. That success was a triumph of overcoming, as the day before the tournament, the athlete fell from support during training and ended up in the hospital. The doctors diagnosed her with a concussion, but Irina decided to go on the ice. And if the partners skated flawlessly in the short program, then in the free program, the freshly-baked Olympic champion felt unwell and ended her performance in a semi-fainting state.
The victory at the 1972 World Cup was for Irina and Alexei the last one won together. Ulanov decided to combine his personal life with sports and decided to ride with Suraikina, whom he was already married to by that time. There were rumors that the fall of Rodnina in training before the World Cup was set up by Ulanov himself.
Irina Rodnina then, according to Wikipedia, had a desire to leave the sport altogether. She missed the national championship, watching it as a spectator. Zhuk saved the situation by offering her to create a couple with the young Alexander Zaitsev.
Zaitsev's advantage turned out to be good technique jumping and fast learning. With a new partner, Rodnina won both the European Championship and the World Championship in 1973. At the World Championships in Bratislava, there was a famous incident that went down in the annals of history: during the performance of Soviet athletes, the music turned off, but the skaters did not leave the ice, but continued to skate in complete silence. The hall met this performance with applause. Subsequently, it turned out that these were the intrigues of the representative of Czechoslovakia, who was avenging the events of the Prague Spring, which had happened five years earlier.
Despite the mistakes, Irina and Alexander won the next World Cup. Although the audience was disappointed, the judges gave credit to a set of very difficult elements that day, giving them high marks.
Rodnina and Tarasova
In 1974, the couple changed coaches. From Zhuk Rodnin and Zaitsev moved to Tatyana Tarasova. The results didn't go down. The couple won the 1975 World Cup, and then Irina Rodnina took the second gold of the Olympics. It happened in Montreal in 1976.
Following the Olympic gold, there were victories at the 1976 and 1977 World Championships. The last world championship was overshadowed by the fact that the couple received a score of 6.0 only from the Soviet referee Valentin Piseev (later head of the FFKKR). A scandal began in the ISU in the spirit of “how long can this be tolerated?”, And the Soviet judges were suspended from work for the next season. However, in it, Soviet skaters won gold medals at the World Championships.
The couple missed the 1979 World Cup due to family reasons (due to the birth of a son, at that moment the partners were already married). That World Cup was won by the Americans Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, after which their compatriots, according to Wikipedia, began to criticize Soviet athletes for using prohibited elements.
However, the decisions at the Lake Placid Olympics were applied by the judges, who considered that the Soviet couple was doing everything within the rules. As a result, in 1980, Irina Rodnina won the third award the highest standard and became the most titled figure skater in pair skating in the history of the Olympic Games.
Out of ice
After the Olympics in Lake Placid, Irina Rodnina, who was already over 30, ended her figure skater career. On the one hand, she was very tired, on the other hand, age was already making itself felt, on the third hand, no one else had as many victories as she had. After the end of her career, she got a job at the Central Committee of the Komsomol, then, according to Wikipedia, she was a teacher at the Institute of Physical Culture.
Before the collapse of the USSR (in 1990), Irina Rodnina, who was a member of the CPSU, left for permanent residence in America. There he got a job in an international center near Los Angeles. Subsequently, in an interview, Rodnina said that the contract was for two years, but everything was delayed.
Her first coaching medal came in 1995. Then the Czechs Radka Kovarzhikova and Rene Novotny became world champions, for which the coach was even given honorary citizenship of the Czech Republic. Rodnina also helped train Americans Michelle Kwan and Angela Nikodinov. The first eventually won two Olympic medals (silver in Nagano, bronze in Salt Lake City).
Homeland and politics
In 2002, Irina Rodnina returned to Moscow. She put forward her candidacy in the elections to the State Duma in 2003, but she could not be elected, having lost. Did not bring her success and by-elections, arranged a year later.
Only on the third attempt, Irina Rodnina managed to get into the State Duma. In 2007, she passed the list of "United Russia" from the Omsk region. In that convocation of the Duma, she served as deputy chairman of the education committee. Since then, Rodnina has been re-elected twice (in 2011 and 2016).
In "ER" she is engaged in such projects as "School Sports" and "Yard Coach". Also, Rodnina at one time (in 2006) was a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. Now she is a member of the President's Council for Physical Education.
The former athlete was often criticized by the liberal public for her activities as a deputy. In 2012, Irina Rodnina voted for "Dima Yakovlev's law", which prohibits giving Russian children to foreign families, and in 2018, for raising the retirement age (up to 60 and 65 years, respectively).
In 2018, Irina gave great interview edition of Sports.ru, in which she spoke about her political views. She noted that she considers the law of Sergei Magnitsky a political continuation of the Jackson-Vanik act, and the sanctions imposed in connection with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 are illegal. Speaking about the Dima Yakovlev law, the United Russia representative also admitted that it was a kind of response to the Magnitsky law.
Rodnina also spoke to the opposition politician Alexei Navalny. She said that she considers him a major swindler who draws schoolchildren into politics.
Speaking of support for Vladimir Putin on the eve of the March 2018 elections, Irina noted that he looks like the most realistic candidate.
Scandals with Rodnina
The first scandal with Rodnina happened in 2005. Then her signature was under the appeal in support of the sentence to the owners of Yukos. Four years later, Rodnina stated that she did not sign this letter.
There is in the biography of Irina Rodnina and the fact of accusations of racism. In 2013, Rodnina posted a collage on her Twitter account, where US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle were depicted next to a banana.
The representative of "United Russia" at first referred to the freedom of speech, but after some time she deleted her post. Six months later, she even stated that her account on the social network was hacked, and she ardently condemns racism.
The next scandal, in which Rodnina was involved, happened in 2018. Then a group of journalists accused LDPR deputy Leonid Slutsky of sexual harassment. Rodnina, who is a member of the Duma ethics commission, together with other deputies, examined the complaint of Farida Rustamova (Russian Air Force Service) and her colleague Daria Zhuk (from the Dozhd TV channel) and did not find anything seditious. After that, several publications announced a boycott of the State Duma.
Personal life
The first husband of Irina Rodnina - since 1975 - was Alexander Zaitsev, with whom she skated in pairs. Rodnina's first marriage lasted almost 10 years (she lived with Zaitsev until 1983, the couple dragged on for a divorce for another two years). In marriage, their son Alexander was born. As Irina recalled, after leaving the sport, she quickly discovered that there was little that connected her with the elastic.
The next husband of Rodnina was businessman Leonid Minkovsky, whom the champion met shortly after leaving Zaitsev. In a marriage with him, Irina had a daughter, Alena, who now works as a journalist (at one time she wrote for Russia Today). The marriage with Minkovsky lasted a long time only formally, as Irina recalled, she quickly found out that her husband had a mistress. After the demands for a divorce, a long judicial red tape began on the subject of who Alena's daughter would stay with.
Now Rodnina is already a grandmother. Her granddaughter's name is Sonya, she was born in 2008. Her father, Alexander Zaitsev Jr., works as an artist. At one time he lived in the States, now he lives in Russia.
For the third time, the illustrious champion is in no hurry to marry her husband, although the media at one time wrote about her warm relationship with the doctor Pavel Niederman, who lives in the USA.
"Tears of a Champion"
In her spare time, Rodnina wrote books: in 1978, The Rough Years was published, and 35 later, Tear of a Champion. The biography of Irina Rodnina, written by herself, got its name due to the situation at the awards ceremony at the Olympic Games in Lake Placid, when she burst into tears right on the podium. According to Irina, this happened not so much because of physical activity how much because of the moral.
In the book, the former athlete also spoke about the difficult relationship with Zhuk, because of which she changed her coach at one time. She also spoke about morals in figure skating. According to her, one day she discovered that broken glass was poured into her skates. Another time, at a training session, Oleg Protopopov defiantly interfered with Rodnina and Ulanov to train jumps and, as a result, he almost got hit in the face with the tip of a skate.
Leads Rodnina, who turned 70 years old, and social networks. She owns a Twitter account, the profile is Irodnina. She has over 50 thousand subscribers. She also has an Instagram page, an account - irina.rodnina, almost 11 thousand people read it.
In 2010, VTsIOM conducted a survey on who Russians consider "the idols of the 20th century." Rodnina took eighth place in it, ahead of Maya Plisetskaya, Dmitry Shostakovich and the legendary football goalkeeper Lev Yashin.
Rodnina Irina Konstantinovna is an outstanding Soviet figure skater who became famous throughout the world for her numerous brilliant victories at the European and World Championships. Rodnina made a huge contribution to Russian sport, raising figure skating to an incredible level.
From 1969 to 1980, figure skater Irina Rodnina did not lose a single competition. Irina Rodnina is an incredibly positive, cheerful person who has gone through a difficult life path.
The biography of Irina Rodnina is very rich, interesting, full of tense moments and dramatic events. Thanks to his rich inner world, faith in the best and willpower, the athlete managed to keep her youth and vigor, and today she does not look her age.
Childhood
Irina Rodnina was born on September 12, 1949. Her father was a soldier and her mother was a nurse. By the age of five, little Irina managed to recover from pneumonia. To strengthen her health and raise immunity, the parents decided to give their daughter to figure skating. The girl immediately fell in love with sports and was happy to attend training, trying not to miss a single class.
The very first coach of Rodnina was Yakov Smushkin. In the past, he himself was an athlete, the winner of many competitions. Smushkin taught Irina to slide on ice, the most difficult jumps, spirals, rotations and so on. Rodnina is not tall, and her graceful figure was the best suited for this sport.
Soon after the start of classes, Rodnina got stronger, and it was impossible to think that not so long ago she had been ill with pneumonia. After Irina passed the preview, she got into CSKA. At first, the young athlete skated alone, later she had a partner - Oleg Vlasov.
Career
Irina Rodnina is perhaps the most successful and purposeful athlete in the history of figure skating. Her coaches were Stanislav Zhuk and Tatyana Tarasova. The skater's partners at different times were Alexei Ulanov and Alexander Zaitsev.
In 1964, when Irina was fifteen years old, the incomparable Stanislav Zhuk became her mentor, and the well-known Alexei Ulanov became her partner. Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov trained around the clock without days off, and two years later they were performing as a couple at international competitions and brought brilliant victories to their country. The couple never lost.
In 1972, the brilliant duo won the gold medal at the Sapporo Olympics. However, this victory was not easy to achieve. The day before the competition, during training, Ulanov did not hold Rodnina, the athlete fell, hit her head on the ice and received a brain contusion. The coach and the whole team were sure that there would be no performance and no victory in sight. But, despite a severe headache and weakness, Irina gathered all her strength and courage, went on the ice and, together with her partner, won.
Despite this brilliant victory, the couple Rodnina and Ulanov soon broke up. There were rumors that Irina's fall was not an accident, that Ulanov dropped her on purpose. His wife was Lyudmila Smirnova, and he allegedly wanted her to be his partner in figure skating, which later happened. After Irina Rodnina recovered from her injury, the legendary Alexander Zaitsev became her new partner, with whom Irina always felt safe and free.
At the end of her sports career, the skater was actively engaged in teaching. Soon she was invited to work in the States. She worked as a coach from 1990 until 2002. During this period, she had big problems in her personal life, she was already going through a divorce with her second husband. However, all these difficulties did not prevent her from doing her job brilliantly and professionally.
After returning to Moscow, the invincible Rodnina participated in various television programs, gave interviews and was actively involved in social activities. Since 2007, she has been a member of the State Duma.
Family
The first husband of Irina Rodnina was Alexander Zaitsev (her figure skating partner). Their wedding took place in 1975. Rodnina and Zaitsev had a wonderful son, Alexander Zaitsev Jr. Today he is a wonderful artist who, together with his wife, is raising his daughter Sophia.
The second husband of Rodnina was the entrepreneur Leonid Minkovsky. In this marriage, Irina had a daughter, Alena. Today Alena lives in the USA and works as a journalist.
In an interview, Irina Rodnina said that although her husband and children have always been her greatest happiness, living in the States caused her serious discomfort due to a lack of communication and a language barrier. On this basis, the spouses often had conflicts: Irina wanted to live in Russia. These disagreements led Irina and Leonid to divorce. The parting figure skater experienced hard.
Awards and social activities
Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina entered the top ten most famous personalities of the 20th century who made a significant contribution to the history of their country. This ten also includes such prominent people as Solzhenitsyn, Gagarin and Vysotsky.
Today Irina is a member of the Sports Council. She oversees many sports projects in the region of children's sports. In 2013, Rodnina opened the season in ice palace Omsk, where future world champions are engaged in figure skating.
Sports achievements of Irina Rodnina
Together with Alexei Ulanov, Irina Rodnina received the following awards:
- gold medal at the 1969 Olympics
- Gold medal at the 1972 World Championships
- Gold medal at the European Championships 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972
- Bronze medal at the USSR Championship in 1967 and 1968.
- Gold medal in the tournament for the prize of the Moscow News newspaper in 1969 and 1970.
Together with Alexander Zaitsev, Irina Rodnina received the following awards:
- Gold medal at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics
- Gold medal at the World Championships 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980
- Gold medal at the European Championships 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 Gold medal at the USSR Championship 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976
- Gold medal in the tournament for the prize of the Moscow News newspaper in 1977
At the elections September 18, 2016
August 23, 2019
September 15, 2019
September 21, 2019
Irina Rodnina awards
Order of Friendship (2016)
Order of Lenin (05/10/1976)
Bronze Olympic Order
Granddaughter - Sonya.
22.09.2019
Rodnina Irina Konstantinovna
Deputy of the State Duma of the VII convocation
Honored Master of Sports
News and Events
handing over state awards Russian Federation 2019
On November 21, 2019, a solemn ceremony of presenting state awards of the Russian Federation took place in the Catherine’s Hall of the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin presented orders to a number of outstanding Russian artists and athletes, representatives of the clergy, political and public figures. A total of 49 people received awards.
The State Duma proposes to resolve the issue of baby boxes
Meeting of Olympic champions by pupils of Sakhalin sports schools
The meeting of the Olympic champions by pupils of Sakhalin sports schools took place on the morning of November 4, 2015 at the airport of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The eminent "soldiers" - the winners of the Olympic Games, arrived in the island capital to open figure skating and cycling departments of the SDYUSSHOR CSKA.
XI Winter Olympic Games open in Sapporo
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games took place on February 3, 1972 in the city of Sapporo, Japan, which won the right to host the Games by a wide margin of votes from Canada's Banff, Finland's Lahti and America's Salt Lake City. Needless to say, it was the first winter Olympics held in Asia. But this Japanese city was not entrusted with holding the Games for the first time - Sapporo was supposed to host the Olympics in 1940, but because of the war with China, he refused to hold the competition.
Irina Rodnina was born on September 12, 1949 in Moscow. Father, Konstantin Nikolaevich, was a military man, and his mother, Yulia Nikolaevna, worked nurse. As a child, Irina had pneumonia eleven times, the doctors advised her to do more exercise and best of all outdoors. Therefore, the parents brought their daughter in 1954 to the skating rink, to the Pryamikov Culture Park.
Then Irina ended up in Zhdanov Park, as there were more ice rinks there and her mother enrolled her daughter in the section. Irina's first children's coach was Yakov Smushkin. Later, another coach, Zina Podgornaya, suggested that her parents send a talented student to the Dzerzhinsky Park in Maryina Roshcha. After passing the screening, in 1960 Rodnina got into the CSKA figure skaters section, where she performed as a single skater until the age of fifteen. Since 1962, her coaches were the Czechs Sonya and Miloslav Balun, working under a contract with CSKA. A year later, paired with Oleg Vlasov, the young figure skater took third place in the all-Union youth competitions.
Since 1964, Stanislav Alekseevich Zhuk became Irina's coach, who paired Rodnina with Alexei Ulanov. In December 1966, the athletes made their debut at the first international tournament: "Moscow Skates" and in the next season the couple became one of the leaders in figure skating in the USSR. In December 1967, they won the Moscow Skates tournament, in January 1968 they took third place in the USSR championship, performing the first short program to the Moldavian melody "Lark", after which the skaters got into the national team. At the first European Championships after the short program, Rodnina and Ulanov took third place, but made mistakes in the free program and took fifth place.
Stanislav Alekseevich Zhuk complicates the program more and more, including for the first time in history pair skating parallel jump double axel and combination of jumps. The couple arrives at the 1969 European Championship without a coach, since Stanislav Zhuk was banned from leaving, but even without a coach, the couple made a sensation. Despite the second place in the compulsory program, where they lost to Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, in the end they took first place due to more complex elements and a high pace of execution of the free program, and 8 judges out of 9 gave the first place. In the same year, Irina Rodnina received the title " Honored Master of Sports".
At the 1969 World Championships, Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov win by a clear advantage, winning both types of competitions and getting all the first places from the judges. However, the following year, in 1970, at the USSR Championship in Kyiv, the couple skated the compulsory program extremely unsuccessfully, with two gross errors and taking only 8th place. However, after a clean free program, they turned out to be the winners.
By 1972, the rivalry with the second domestic pair, Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraykin, was becoming more and more acute. At the 1972 Olympics, in the short program, Alexey Ulanov did a single salchow instead of the mandatory double salchow. In the free program, Rodnina made a mistake in the cascade of jumps and, as a result, Smirnova and Suraykin were ahead by only two votes of the judges. For the victory at the 1972 Olympics, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
Further, the day before the 1972 World Championships, during training, Irina fell from support, ended up in the hospital with a concussion and intracranial hematoma. Despite this, Rodnina took to the ice. The pair skated cleanly in the short program, receiving marks up to 6.0. In the free program, Irina felt unwell and ended the program in a semi-conscious state. After the World Cup, the couple breaks up. Alexey Ulanov, being married to Lyudmila Smirnova, pairs up with her. During this period, Rodnina seriously thought about leaving the big sport, so the USSR Championship in April 1972 watched from the stands.
Soon, Stanislav Zhuk invited Irina Rodnina to pair up with the St. Petersburg figure skater Alexander Zaitsev, with whom she performed at the demonstration performances in Zaporozhye. A partner who has good jumping technique very quickly masters all the complex elements. Mutual understanding and consistency in the new pair is noticeably higher than in the previous one, which was immediately noted by the judges. At the 1973 European Championship in Cologne, Rodnina and Zaitsev not only defeated Lyudmila Smirnova and Alexei Ulanov by unanimous opinion of all 9 judges, but also received 12 ratings of 6.0 out of 18 possible.
At the 1973 World Championships in Bratislava, an incident occurred that went down in the history of figure skating. There was a short circuit in the radio room and the sound was turned off during the free program by Rodnina and Zaitsev. Coach Stanislav Alekseevich from behind the side gave instructions to continue the program and the couple skated without music to the applause of the audience. Referee Karl Enderlin, noting the "will to win" of the couple, however, instructed to reduce the scores due to skating without music. The couple refused to perform the program at the end of the competition, which is why not a single mark of 6.0 was given. Subsequently, it turned out that the closure was deliberately organized by a Czech employee who was trying to take revenge in this way. Soviet Union for the suppression of the Prague Spring five years earlier.
In 1974, Irina graduated from the Central Institute of Physical Culture. At this time, the relationship between the couple and the coach became complicated, and from October of the same year, on their own initiative, they transferred to the young coach Tatyana Anatolyevna Tarasova, who treated the students on an equal footing, more like a partner in a common cause. In addition, Tarasova tried to bring more artistic expressiveness, already in the first season of 1975, putting on a short program to the music of Alexei Mazhukov.
At the 1975 World Championships, during the warm-up before the free program, Irina Rodnina collided with Uwe Kagelmann, as a result of which she decided to abandon one support. However, the judges again unanimously gave the couple first place, with scores up to 6.0. In the same year, the wedding of Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev was widely celebrated, even American television came to film the celebration.
Before the 1976 Olympics, Alexander Zaitsev “overtrained”, excitement also affected, and after a cleanly executed short program, several mistakes were made in the free program, including the skater touching his hand when landing from a double axel, but the triple flip twist was excellent. All judges gave first places, 10 marks 5.9 and 8 - 5.8 points. Both programs are set to gypsy and Moldovan melodies. At the 1977 World Championships, the short and free programs were cleanly performed.
IN free program 1978, Tarasova included two lifts with a change of hand, a butterfly jump performed by partners holding hands, a rollover descent from a support, as well as other original elements. The couple missed the 1979 season due to the birth of their son Alexander. In the next Olympic year in 1980 in the American Lake Placid, Rodnina and Zaitsev won a historic third victory, performing both programs absolutely cleanly. Television screens bypassed the footage of the skater's tears of happiness during the awards ceremony.
Irina Rodnina became the most successful figure skater in the history of pair skating: three times Olympic champion, ten-time world champion, eleven-time European champion and six-time champion of the USSR. From 1969 to 1980, she did not lose a single competition in which she participated with partners. At least one example can give an explanation for such a long series of victories in all competitions: in one of the most intense programs in the history of figure skating, the free pair Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev performed over 30 elements, a number of which were many years ahead of the development of pair skating, in including 6 complex supports.
In addition, many connecting “elements between elements” were used: original spirals, steps. The program was performed at great speed and extremely synchronously. All this amazed the imagination of the judges, who unanimously gave the pair the first places in terms of the sum of the marks, and the pair received the absolute first nine places out of nine possible for both short and free programs.
After the end of her amateur career, Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina worked as a coach in the Central Committee of the Komsomol. Then as a senior coach in the Dynamo society. Conducted pedagogical activity, teaching at the Institute of Physical Culture. Since 1990, she lived in the United States for twelve years, worked as a coach at the International Figure Skating Center in Lake Arrowhead.
Rodnina was the coach of the Czech couple Radka and Rene, who in 1995 became world champions. During this period, the Russian woman began new stage life by becoming a coach with a reputation. And now the American colleagues had difficulty experiencing her success. Irina Konstantinovna worked fourteen hours a day. In the same year, she was awarded honorary citizenship of the Czech Republic. The athlete helped prepare Michelle Kwan and Angela Nikodinov.
Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina was awarded the Order of Lenin, as well as two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor. In 1999, the athlete was awarded 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. Twice winner of the National Prize for Public Recognition of the Achievements of Women in Russia "Olympia".
Since 2005, Rodnina has been hosting the author's program on the Radio of Russia "Stadium". He is the author of the book "Unsmooth Ice". In 2006, she was a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, and was also a member of the presidium of the All-Russian public organization "League of Nation's Health". In parallel, she acted as the chairman of the central council of the All-Russian public organization "All-Russian Voluntary Society" Sports Russia ".
In December 2007, Irina Konstantinovna was elected to the State Duma of the 5th convocation on the list of United Russia from the Omsk Region. In the Duma, she took the post of deputy chairman of the education committee. In December 2011, Rodnina was again re-elected, becoming a deputy of the State Duma of the VI convocation on the list of United Russia from the Omsk region. In the State Duma of the VI convocation, he is a member of the Committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States and Relations with Compatriots, is a member of the faction of the United Russia party.
Irina Konstantinovna is a member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Physical Culture and Sports. In February 2014, together with Vladislav Tretiak, she lit olympic fire at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics. In the same year, the champion entered the Guinness Book of Records as an athlete who has not lost a single competition in her career.
Later, on the Day of Russian Unity on November 4, 2015, Irina Rodnina, along with others Olympic champions visited Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. On the same day, the opening of the figure skating department took place. sports school CSKA at the Kristall Sports Palace. The former figure skater also spoke at a press conference supporting the project of opening additional sports sections at schools.
At the elections September 18, 2016 Rodnina Irina Konstantinovna was again elected a Deputy of the State Duma of the VII convocation from the constituency 0118, Dmitrovsky - Moscow Region. Member of the faction of the political party "United Russia". Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs. Member of the State Duma Commission on Parliamentary Ethics. Start date of office: October 5, 2016.
For a great contribution to the strengthening of Russian statehood, the development of parliamentarism and active legislative activity, Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina August 23, 2019 was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd class.
The first annual secular award in the beauty and business industry "Person of the Year 2019" was held September 15, 2019 in Moscow. More than a hundred nominations and prizes were presented on the stage of the Sovereign House of Celebrations. The organizers of the award invited representatives of the Russian Book of Records, who presented Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina with an award in the nomination "The largest number of gold medals."
Irina Rodnina and head of the Central Sports Club of the Army Artem Gromov September 21, 2019 signed a cooperation agreement between CSKA and All-Russian Federation school sports. Within the framework of the agreement, work will be carried out to develop physical culture and sports and health work, as well as the promotion of physical culture and the active participation of children and adolescents in socially significant and military-patriotic events.
Irina Rodnina awards
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", II degree - For a great contribution to the strengthening of Russian statehood, the development of parliamentarism and active legislative activity (23.08.2019)
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree (09/06/1999)
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (11/10/2009)
Order of Friendship (2016)
Order of Lenin (05/10/1976)
Two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (03/03/1972; 04/09/1980)
Medal "For Labor Valor" (05/30/1969)
Medal "Participant of the military operation in Syria" (2016)
Bronze Olympic Order
Twice winner of the National Award for Public Recognition of the Achievements of Russian Women "Olympia" for 2002 and 2003
Laureate of the "Russian of the Year" award (2005) in the nomination "Triumphant"
Honorary Doctor of St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise since 2015 close 1982 - Where Champions Go (documentary)
The elder sister is Valentina Konstantinovna, a mathematician.
First husband - Alexander Zaitsev (married in 1975), ice partner. Their wedding was celebrated very widely, US television came to the shooting.
Son - Alexander (born February 23, 1979), ceramic artist.
Granddaughter - Sonya.
The second husband is Leonid Minkovsky (married since 1986), businessman and film producer.
Daughter - Alena. Lives in Washington. One of the leading news programs on the North American Internet resource HuffPost Live.
Soviet figure skater, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina was born on September 12, 1949 in Moscow.
In 1974 she graduated from the State Central Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Culture.
She has been engaged in figure skating since 1957 in the Central sports club Army (CSKA). She trained with Czech specialists Sonya and Milan Valun. Riding in a pair with Oleg Vlasov, Irina Rodnina managed to take third place in the all-Union youth competitions.
Later, Stanislav Zhuk became Rodnina's coach, who paired her with Alexei Ulanov.
In 1967, Rodnina and Ulanov became the winners international tournament"Moscow Skates" (later - a tournament for the prize of the newspaper "Moscow News"), and in 1968 - the champions of the USSR.
In 1972, Rodnina and Ulanov became Olympic champions in Sapporo (Japan).
After the Olympics, the couple broke up. Soon Stanislav Zhuk picked up another partner for Rodnina - Alexander Zaitsev. For the first time, Irina Rodnina performed together with Alexander Zaitsev at the 1973 World Championships, where for several minutes they had to skate without musical accompaniment, but they did not interrupt their program and finished it to a standing ovation from the audience.
Since 1974, the couple has been training with Tatyana Tarasova. From 1973 to 1978, Rodnina and Zaitsev constantly took first place in the European and World Championships.
In 1976 and 1980, the Rodnina/Zaitsev pair won Olympic gold.
In 1981, Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev moved to professional sports. Played on tour, coached. For some time Rodnina worked in the Central Committee of the Komsomol, then as a senior coach at Dynamo.
In the 90s, Irina Rodnina lived in the USA, worked as a coach at the International Figure Skating Center in Lake Arrowhead near Los Angeles. In 1995, the Czech couple Radka Kovarzhikova / Rene Novotny, who trained under the guidance of Rodnina, won the world championship.
In 2006-2008, Rodnina was a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chairman of the Commission of the Civic Chamber on the formation healthy lifestyle life.
Since 2007 - Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the fifth convocation. Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education.
December 4, 2011 Irina Rodnina was elected to the State Duma of the sixth convocation. Member of the State Duma Committee for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Relations with Compatriots.
Rodnina is a member of the interdepartmental commission for the development of elite sports and the interdepartmental commission for the development of physical culture, mass sports and traditional types of physical activity of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the development of physical culture and sports.
He is a member of the General Council of the United Russia party. Supervises the party projects "Children's Sports".
She was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree and IV degree, and the bronze Olympic Order of the International Olympic Committee.