Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation, head coach of the Russian national team in synchronized swimming, honored worker of physical culture RF, Honored Coach of Russia, holder of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree, Vice President of the Synchronized Swimming Federation of Russia, master of sports in rhythmic gymnastics
Synchronized swimming is the only one of the water sports that has all the advantages of an artistic one - colorful performances, organic movements performed, a combination of strength and grace.
In 1997, the Russian team for the first time climbed the first step of the world synchronized swimming podium and has not left it to this day. During this time, more than one generation of athletes has changed in the team. The head coach of the team, the incomparable Tatyana Pokrovskaya, led them all to incredible heights of sportsmanship. Under the leadership of Pokrovskaya, Russian synchronized swimmers won all the gold medals at five Olympics in a row (!). And it is unlikely that in the history of world sports there will be at least one more coach who brought up 27 Olympic champions!
Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya was born on June 5, 1950 in the village of Solombala, Solombala District, Arkhangelsk Region. Father - Ivanov Nikolai Ivanovich (1914–1964). Mother - Ivanova (Demina) Vera Antonovna (1914–1988). Spouse - Pokrovsky Alexander Alexandrovich (d. 2013). Daughter - Ekaterina (born in 1972), lives in Brazil, works in the representative office of Gazprom. Grandchildren: Elizabeth (d. 2014), Ivan (born in 2015) and Anna (born in 2016).
Tatyana Pokrovskaya's father was born in Chelyabinsk, her mother was born in the village of Sukhtili, Chelyabinsk Region. They met and got married on the construction of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works - the famous "Magnitogorsk". Before the war, they had two children. In 1941, Nikolai Ivanovich went to the front, went through the entire war, was wounded several times, and met victory in Germany. Awarded with the Order of Glory. After the war, Nikolai Ivanovich graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, and the family lived for some time at a military unit in the Arkhangelsk region on the island of Solombala, where Tatyana was born. The youngest daughter, her father's favorite, she inherited his character - resolute, fighting, and nature endowed her with rare artistry.
In 1959 the family moved to Magnitogorsk. There, a second-grader Tanya, who dreamed of becoming a ballerina, enrolled in the rhythmic gymnastics section on her own, and a year later found a ballet studio. After some time, on the urgent advice of the teacher of the ballet studio, the parents sent their daughter to the Perm Ballet School, but it turned out to be too hard to live and study away from her home, and six months later she returned home.
In rhythmic gymnastics, Tanya Ivanova made progress. In the 7th grade, she became a candidate for master of sports, played for the team of the Chelyabinsk region. The ballet, as before, remained at the amateur level, and in the end, Tanya decided to devote her energies entirely to rhythmic gymnastics. After graduating from school, she entered the State Central Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Culture (GTSOLIFK).
Student years are a happy time. Tatyana studied "excellently". The gymnastics coach immediately selected her for the group. In addition to compulsory classes and training, there were also ballroom dancing and our own dance ensemble! In her 3rd year, Tatyana met her future husband. Alexander Pokrovsky is also a student of the GTSOLIFK, he studied a year older than her. A stormy romance began between the young people. A year later, Alexander graduated from the institute and went to serve in the army, and a year later they got married.
Tatyana has already played for the Moscow national team and had excellent prospects. In 1971, after graduating from the institute with a “red” diploma, she could remain at the institute as a rhythmic gymnastics coach, but she chose to leave for Moldova, where her husband was transferred to serve, and began working as a physical education teacher at a boarding school. In this provincial school, special attention was paid to sports, and the children had good results in athletics. Tatyana Pokrovskaya, who was very superficial in track and field athletics at the institute, had to show ingenuity so as not to drop her authority in the very first classes. T.N. Pokrovskaya recalls: “At the lesson, I showed the children such a start that they almost stood in my splits. When they ran, I didn’t understand why my children were poking their noses into the path. It turned out that I mixed up the distance between the starting blocks. And they didn't even show it. We thought: maybe a person from Moscow knows more? Well, my husband explained to me what's what. And the next day, as if nothing had happened, I say: yesterday we learned the training start, and now we will learn sports.
She was very fond of at school - young, cheerful! But it didn't take long to work here. In 1972, a daughter, Ekaterina, was born, and Tatiana moved to her mother in the Urals, and soon got a job with her husband in a new place - in the city of Elektrostal, Moscow Region, where Alexander got a job. The apartment was given immediately. In the barracks of the dormitory of the metallurgical plant there was one kitchen for the entire floor, one shower for the entire dormitory. But the difficulties of Pokrovskaya did not frighten. From her neighbors in the hostel, she learned all the tricks of life.
Tatyana led a children's group in rhythmic gymnastics, which at first worked on self-sufficiency and did not have a gym. When the group began to make progress, Tatyana Pokrovskaya received a position as a rhythmic gymnastics coach at the Metallurg stadium, and after a while she took the children to regional competitions, where she surprised everyone with the unexpectedly high level of training of her pupils, who could well have already been candidates for master of sports , but so far have not even performed anywhere.
Why did Pokrovskaya say goodbye to rhythmic gymnastics? In 1981, two talented gymnasts from her group, who already had the title of master of sports, without agreeing their decision with her, went to train with N.V. Shibaeva (Honored Trainer of the USSR) to her school in the city of Zhukovsky. This offended Tatyana Nikolaevna so much that she transferred all her athletes to another coach, and she herself accepted the offer to try her hand as a choreographer in synchronized swimming.
By the beginning of the 1980s, Moscow was the center for the development and popularization of synchronized swimming in the USSR, where a powerful coaching school developed in creative search and competition. Future honored coaches of Russia worked here: Z.A. Barbier (pool "Moscow"), M.N. Maksimov (Department of Swimming State Center for Physical and Physical Education). It was Maria Nikolaevna Maksimova, who, having noticed Pokrovskaya in her work with gymnasts, invited her to her school of synchronized swimming "Petrel". Tatyana Nikolaevna went headlong into the development of a new profession, with her inherent energy and dedication. With enthusiasm, she led training in the gym, and sometimes, when Maksimova was busy at the institute, she worked with the team on the water. Synchronized swimming, which seemed to her a little like a sport, gradually became closer and more understandable. She learned to see the work of the hands of athletes under water, she realized how much depends on this work. It turned out that the task of a choreographer in synchronized swimming is akin to the work of an architect or engineer erecting complex structures on an invisible foundation.
Tatyana Pokrovskaya brought with her to the profession the ability to compose precisely artistic compositions, examining the artistic component through the prism of gymnastics and ballet school - stretched legs, grace, beauty of lines.
At M.N. Maksimova Tatyana Pokrovskaya learned a lot. She participated in the production of a composition for the duet Maximova (Irina Potemkina, Tatyana Khaitser) - the strongest then in the USSR. When working with her own duet, she was not afraid to experiment and, without knowing it, she anticipated the global trend in the development of synchronized swimming technique, trying to get athletes to perform choreography with both hands, although it was believed that one hand of a synchronized swimmer should be a support one.
In 1982, T.N. Pokrovskaya ended up in the Trud team, where Z.A. worked as a coach. Barbier. A wonderful young coaching team has gathered here. Junior team coach - Elena Gryzunova willingly advised Tatyana Pokrovskaya, taught the technique of synchronized swimming. The duet, which Pokrovskaya trained on her own, achieved significant success by entering the USSR national team.
In 1984, the state coach of the RSFSR, Valentina Sergeevna Nemogaeva, offered Pokrovskaya to train the team of the Olympic Reserve School in the city of Elektrostal. Pokrovskaya got down to business with enthusiasm, went her own way in work, invented strokes herself, came up with links between elements. Almost all of her athletes were included in the RSFSR team, and Irina Zhukova was included in the USSR team.
Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya belongs to the generation of coaches who came to synchronized swimming in the first half of the 1980s, who were united by the desire to learn and achieve high results. The Soviet coaching school developed rapidly, and Western coaches were happy to pass on their experience to Soviet synchronized swimming, which even then did not represent competition. Seminars were organized to exchange experience with foreign specialists. The championships of the USSR were held, gathering many teams and full stands of the Olympic pool in Moscow.
In 1985, the USSR national team for the first time went to the European Aquatics Championship in Sofia. The group, which included the pupil of Pokrovskaya Irina Zhukova, was prepared for the championship by Z.A. Barbier, duet - N.A. Mendygaliev. The head coach of the USSR national team was M.N. Maksimov. Tatyana Pokrovskaya went with the team as a second coach. The debutants achieved high results at the European championship: they took fifth place in group exercises, and entered the top ten in solo and duet exercises. The first victory at the European level came to the Soviet synchronized swimmers in 1986 - at the European Cup in Holland, where Tatyana Pokrovskaya went with the team already as a head coach, preparing the group. The team included her wards - Vera Artyomova and Olga Belaya, as well as Irina Zhukova. Tatyana Nikolaevna was so worried that during the group competition she left the podium and walked around the pool. She did not immediately believe when, after a free program, she saw her athletes running towards her with joyful cries of “We are the first!”. It was a real rejoicing!
At the 5th World Championship in 1986 in Madrid (Spain), Pokrovskaya also worked with the group. Her compositions were already more complex and mature, but the Soviet synchronized swimmers were still far from the level of favorites - the USA, Canada, Japan. The team finished in fifth place - second among European teams after France. In 1987, at the European Championships in Strasbourg (France), the USSR team for the first time won "silver" in the group and "bronze" in duets, two years later - at the European Championships in Bonn (Germany) - the debut victory came: Christina Falassinidi excelled in solo , silver medals were won by the Soviet group and duo.
In 1991, Tatyana Pokrovskaya became the head coach of the USSR national synchronized swimming team. This year turned out to be triumphant for the Soviet synchronized swimmers: at the European Championships in Athens (Greece), they won all three types of programs. Olga Sedakova became the absolute champion of Europe. In 1992, the Pokrovskaya team (now called the CIS team) seriously declared itself at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain), finishing fourth in solo and duet after the USA, Canada and Japan (competitions in the group then were not held at the Olympic Games). In the same year, at the World Cup in synchronized swimming, the team in the group climbed to the third step of the podium.
Meanwhile, the time for the development of sports in the country was not the best. Leading athletes began to leave to work in various shows abroad. In 1993, Tatyana Pokrovskaya decides to leave for Spain - to coach the team of the Balearic Islands club. Soon, her daughter Ekaterina, who graduated from the institute, also moves in with her, and free of charge, without a contract, helps her in her work as a choreographer and swimming coach. The working conditions in the Spanish club were excellent, but a year later Pokrovskaya did not renew the contract. Neither the management nor the club's athletes were set to achieve great sports results, and this was not in the style of Tatyana Pokrovskaya. In the summer of 1995, without even seeing her husband, who remained in Russia, Tatyana Nikolaevna and her daughter were already flying to Rio de Janeiro to take the post of head coach of the Brazilian national team.
After the comfort and peace of the Balearic Islands, Tatyana Nikolaevna and her daughter were very shocked by the noisy, hectic life of the Brazilian capital. Pokrovskaya immediately threw herself into work, her daughter was actively learning Portuguese and soon found work in the tourism business. Soon, the backbone of girls formed in the Pokrovskaya team, ready to go even to Russia for their favorite coach. The President of the Synchronized Swimming Federation of Brazil provided full support. However, normal conditions for training were never provided. The national team didn't even have its own swimming pool. Despite this, Pokrovskaya was able to adequately prepare the team for the Pan American Games, where the Brazilian team took fourth place after the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Having settled on this worthy result, in October 1995 Tatyana Nikolaevna returned to Russia, to Moscow. The city has changed beyond recognition. First impression: a semi-dark hall of Sheremetyevo Airport, similar to a train station, with people sleeping on benches. The dull October weather, after the colorful landscapes of Rio, also did not add optimism. Motherland met Pokrovskaya not affectionately - more than six months without work. Finally, colleagues and friends (Polyanskaya and Nemogaeva) sounded the alarm. Tatyana Nikolaevna began working at the Trud school, where Valentina Alekseevna Teplyakova was the director, and her daughter Tatyana Danchenko was the head coach.
After the XXVI Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA), in which the Russian team took fourth place, the Russian Federation of Synchronized Swimming held the election of the head coach of the team. Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya was elected to this post by a majority of votes. The first thing she did in her new post was to invite Olga Sedakova, a pupil of E.N. Polyanskaya, who was working in Switzerland at that time, to return to the team. The prima of the Russian team, which did not know defeat at several European Championships in a row, returned. At this time, a painful generational change began in America, Canada and Japan, and Russia had a great chance to become a world leader. The very first tournament of Tatyana Pokrovskaya as the head coach of the national team - the World Cup in China in 1997, brought the team "gold". M.N. worked with groups in the team. Maksimova and O.I. Vasilchenko, with duets - E.N. Polyanskaya.
In 1998, the Russians won the World Aquatics Championship in Perth (Australia), the Goodwill Games and the European Cup in synchronized swimming. In 1999, they again won the World Cup and the European Championship in all three types of the program. Olga Sedakova ended her sports career as the absolute world champion. The first soloist of the team was Olga Brusnikina. In the duet, her only partner was Maria Kiseleva.
For the XXVII Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia), Tatyana Pokrovskaya herself trained the group, and the talented Elena Polyanskaya continued to work with the star duet of Kiselev - Brusnikina. Friendship, mutual support and complete unanimity reigned between the two coaches. Already accustomed to the highest marks, Tatyana Pokrovskaya and her athletes went to the Olympics only for the "gold" and got it - both in group competitions and in the duet competition.
After the Olympics, I had to recruit a new team. Having achieved the highest sports title of Olympic champions, many still young athletes left the sport, Maria Kiseleva also ended her sports career. Olga Brusnikina agreed to stay to train solo. In the duet, under the guidance of Tatiana Danchenko, young athletes, world champions among juniors Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova were preparing. It seemed that the rivals would finally be able to catch the Russian team at the change of championship generations. While preparing for the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka (Japan), Pokrovskaya more than once had to hear skepticism: ““ At least you will get to the final!” But she only wanted more. The result of the championship for the Russian team was the first place in the group and in solo. Olga Brusnikina defeated Frenchwoman Virginie Didier. A brilliant composition with the image of Scheherazade to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov was the final in her sports career. In the duet competition, the rising "stars" Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova lost the "gold" to the Japanese athletes.
The following year, 2002, the already strengthened team of Tatiana Pokrovskaya won the gold medals of the World Cup in Zurich (Switzerland) in the group and duet (A. Ermakova-A. Davydova) and silver in solo (A. Ermakova). Russian synchronized swimmers showed the same results in 2003 at the World Championships in Barcelona (Spain).
By the XXVIII Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens (Greece), the Russian team in synchronized swimming came up to the rank of unconditional leaders. Tatyana Pokrovskaya, a maximalist coach, constantly demanded iron discipline and complete dedication from her athletes. Training lasted 10 hours a day, and the girls were ready for any difficulties. Therefore, when the music was turned off twice during the competitions in the group exercises of the Russians, this did not prevent them from finishing the performance brilliantly. In Athens, the wards of Tatyana Pokrovskaya won the "gold" in the group and in the duet. In the decisive free program, performed to the music of Minkus from the ballet "Don Quixote", Davydova and Ermakova again confirmed their superiority over their rivals.
In 2005, for a great contribution to the development of physical culture and sports, high sports achievements at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in 2004 in Athens, T.N. Pokrovskaya was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree.
The Russian team in synchronized swimming held the next Olympic cycle, collecting all the gold medals at all European and world championships. The only exceptions were silver medals in solo by Natalia Ishchenko at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne (Australia) and the 2008 European Championships in Eindhoven (Netherlands).
In preparation for the Olympics, Pokrovskaya considered all eight teams that she had to compete with worthy competitors, not discounting anyone, and for safety net, she indicated one “gold” and one “silver” in the medal plan. But reinsured in vain!
At the XXIX Olympic Games in Beijing (China), the athletes of Tatyana Pokrovskaya once again confirmed the affectionate nickname "goldfish" given to them by their fans, winning competitions in groups and duets. A. Ermakova and A. Davydova became the first four-time Olympic champions in the history of this sport.
However, Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya did not have to rest on her laurels. There was a change of generations in the team. From the "golden" team of Beijing, except for Davydova and Ermakova, only Natalya Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina continued to perform. The ill-wishers kept repeating: “Let Pokrovskaya not take the team to the European Cup, otherwise she will be disgraced and they won’t give any place at the World Championships ...” But the Russians went and won. The duet of S. Romashina and N. Ishchenko knew no equal, a group of young athletes also did not yield to anyone.
At the World Championships in Rome (Italy) in 2009, the updated team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya won the technical and free programs. In combination, the coach decided not to field the team. A year later, the justification of the decision was confirmed: at the 2010 European Championship in Budapest (Hungary), there were no equals to the Russians in the combination.
The 2011 FINA World Championships were held in China. But neither the native walls, nor the new - closed - refereeing system, helped the main rivals of the Russians to win. All the "gold" of the world - seven out of seven medals of the highest standard - was won by the national team of Russia! Natalia Ishchenko won six (!) gold medals and became the most titled world champion.
The fight against the Chinese, who "breathed in the back" of Tatyana Pokrovskaya at the World Championships, continued in 2012 at the XXX Olympic Games in London (Great Britain). And here all the gold medals were again rightfully awarded to her wards: Natalya Ishchenko, Svetlana Romashina, Anastasia Davydova, Maria Gromova, Elvira Khasyanova, Alexandra Patskevich, Daria Korobova, Anzhelika Timanina, Alla Shishkina. According to the sum of the technical and free programs, the group scored 197.030 points.
The second and third places were taken by Chinese and Spanish synchronized swimmers. Anastasia Davydova became the first and only five-time Olympic champion in the world, and the Russian team celebrated its fourth Olympic victory in a row!
On April 20, 2014, by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation. She became the first among the workers in the field of physical culture and sports who was awarded a special distinction - the gold medal of the Hero of Labor.
In 2013, the XV World Championships in Barcelona (Spain) were held under the new rules for synchronized swimmers. Each element in the technical program was now evaluated separately, for which a third judging panel was formed. But for the team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya, this did not become an obstacle on the way to the podium. After all, there is no one more technical than Russians in world synchronized swimming! Again they won in all types of the program. Three-time Olympic champion Svetlana Romashina won gold for the team in solo. The duet Svetlana Romashina - Svetlana Kolesnichenko was recognized as the strongest in the world.
The next World Championship was held in 2015 in Kazan. On the eve of the home championship in May 2015 in the Netherlands, the team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya performed at the European Cup, limiting herself to only the Olympic types of the program (group and duet), and won tickets to the Olympic Rio de Janeiro.
After a break related to the birth of a child, Natalya Ishchenko returned to the team and again stood in a duet with Svetlana Romashina. In Kazan, they became world champions. Svetlana Romashina eclipsed everyone in the solo with the new Beauty program.
Gold medals - so expected, but no less valuable - were won by the group. The second place behind the team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya was taken by the Chinese synchronized swimmers, the third - by the Japanese team.
The home world championship in Kazan is the 16th in the history of sports, and for Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya - the ninth "golden" in a row - went down in the history of synchronized swimming as revolutionary due to the fact that it was here that for the first time the competitions were officially held in a new type of program - mixed - duet. The decision to include mixed duets in the competition program at the World Championships was made in the fall of 2014 at the congress of the International Swimming Federation. The athletes barely had six months to prepare. This news was greeted with skepticism by Russian specialists, and the main skeptic, by her own admission, was Tatyana Nikolaevna.
But they decided to take the risk anyway. Alexander Maltsev was the only (!) synchronized male who was training at that time at the Institute of Physical Education. “It’s good that at least we have it. It’s good that he has a sufficient level of training, ”Pokrovskaya said then. The coach of the mixed duet, Gana Maksimova, was more optimistic about the abilities of the athletes, but she was in no hurry to assess the prospects of the new sport.
A partner for Alexander Maltsev was selected in the national team. Darina Valitova has been playing for the national team for a year, becoming the European champion in the group. Tatyana Pokrovskaya did not really want to “give her away”, but in order to technically improve the duet, such a partner was needed.
The success of the Russian mixed duet at the World Championships in Kazan was another confirmation of the highest professionalism and experience of Russian coaches. Darina Valitova and Alexander Maltsev won the free program and lost to American synchronized swimmers Bill May and Christina Lam-Underwood in the technical.
At the next European Championship in 2016 in London (Great Britain), the team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya again showed herself brilliantly. In all types of the program, except for the free group, in which they did not participate, the Russians won "gold". This time, the Russian mixed duet in the updated line-up (Alexander Maltsev and Mihaela Kalancha) unconditionally led both in the technical and in the free program, ahead of the closest rivals - Italians Giorgio Minisini and Mariangela Perrupato - by three points. At this European championship, the wards of Tatiana Pokrovskaya brought the Russian team eight out of ten gold medals, which allowed the Russian athletes to become third in the overall team standings.
Before the start of the XXX Summer Olympic Games - July 24, 2016 - the IOC Executive Committee decided not to remove the entire Russian team from the Olympics, leaving the final decision on admission to the Olympic Games to the international sports federations. The team of Russian synchronized swimmers was admitted to the Olympics in Brazil in full force.
Tatyana Pokrovskaya, in her own words, was very worried about the members of the team, for whom it was the first Olympic cycle. “It was hard for me to imagine,” she said in an interview with the R-Sport portal, “that suddenly Natalya Ishchenko and other more experienced girls would have white metal among the“ gold ”. Her anxiety was caused by no means by the level of training of young athletes, but by the general situation around Russia's participation in the Olympic Games, which could affect the decision of the judges. But the authority of Russian synchronized swimming is so great that in Rio there were no provocations against the team of Tatiana Pokrovskaya.
The composition of the team has not changed compared to the last European Championship. Svetlana Romashina and Natalya Ishchenko have been added to the group. These currently strongest synchronized swimmers in the world won gold in the duo and then in the group, becoming five-time Olympic champions.
Tatyana Pokrovskaya and her team in Rio de Janeiro won the fifth Olympics in a row. Their main competitors, as in 2012 in London, were the Chinese team. Athletes from Ukraine and Japan showed a high level in the technical program. On the second day of the group competition, the Russians were the first of the contenders for medals. Their composition called "Prayer" was a combination of phenomenal complexity and beauty that did not leave indifferent either the audience or the judges. The fact that they made a confident step towards the Olympic "gold" could be judged immediately after their performance by the reaction of Tatyana Pokrovskaya, who, standing at the side in her "happy" pink blouse, applauded the wards. When the score became known - 99.113 points, any fight for gold medals could be considered over. The second place was taken by the Chinese sportswomen, the “bronze” in a serious struggle with the Ukrainian synchronized swimmers was won by the Japanese team.
After the Olympics, Tatyana Pokrovskaya agreed to continue working with the national team until the XXXII Olympic Games, which will be held in Tokyo (Japan) in 2020.
Tatyana Nikolaevna is not one of those coaches who are always confident in themselves and insist that their students are the best. She constantly says: “We are the weakest!” And this is one of the secrets of her success. “Sport is a struggle, it is always surprises. We have to work - more than others. Look ahead - further than others. Cooking new things before others,” she says.
T.N. Pokrovskaya - Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation, Honored Coach of Russia, Master of Sports in rhythmic gymnastics. Laureate of the sports award "Glory" in the nomination "Best coach" (2005). Vice-President of the Federation of Synchronized Swimming of Russia.
Raised 27 Olympic champions. Prepared masters of sports of international class: silver medalist of the European Championship in synchronized swimming (duet, group) I. Zhukova; silver medalist of the European Championship (group) O. Belaya; silver medalist of the world championship (duet) Yu. Beloglazov; European champion (group) V. Artemova.
Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation, cavalier of the orders "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree, Alexander Nevsky, Friendship, Honor.
Tatyana Pokrovskaya has a Yorkshire Terrier named Daniel. He is present at all trainings. The team calls him an anti-stress and a brand of the Russian national synchronized swimming team.
She was always talked about a lot on the eve of the Summer Olympics: after all, Tatyana Pokrovskaya is a world-class coach, and it is thanks to her and her girls that our country has received the highest award for the fourth time and is a recognized leader in synchronized swimming throughout the world. Therefore, in the documentary film, released on Channel One on August 6, a lot of attention was paid to her.
One can even say that in Rio 2016. More than sports, Pokrovskaya became the central figure. And for good reason: Russian athletes once again proved how strong our synchronized swimming school is, having received gold medals and all the highest possible scores! This is an absolute world record in this sport.
By the way, the girls have a tradition of throwing their coach into the water of the pool. It is good that in Brazil there were not such strict morals as in the UK, because in London, at the 2012 Olympics, they were not allowed to express their gratitude in this way.
The absolute victory for the synchronized swimmers was brought by the most difficult production of "Prayer" - the aching music and the movements of the girls were so mesmerizing that everyone followed the performance with bated breath. And then the space literally exploded with applause.
When Tatyana Nikolaevna was asked why she put on this particular program for the Olympic Games in Rio, she replied that it was in memory of her granddaughter Lisa.
Last year, a terrible tragedy happened in the Pokrovskaya family: her beloved granddaughter, 15-year-old Lisa, passed away. The cause of the girl’s death is called an incurable disease, but there are no exact data, as well as photographs of the head coach’s granddaughter, on the Web - Tatyana Nikolaevna does not want to expose her grief for public discussion. Yes, and 2014 was a difficult year, Pokrovskaya lost her husband. I even thought about leaving the sport, leaving my career ... But the team begged her to stay. Indeed, despite the fact that many consider her tough, even cruel in the treatment of athletes in the pool, Pokrovskaya received her position quite deservedly. And for a 35-year career in this field, she was able to bring synchronized swimming to an unattainable height. And the fifth victory in a row at the Summer Olympics is the best proof of this.
Now the plans are to prepare a new, no less complex program for the next Olympics - in 2020 in Tokyo. Russian synchronized swimmers will surprise the world again - how could it be otherwise?
Pokrovskaya Tatyana Nikolaevna - head coach of the Russian Federation sports team in synchronized swimming of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Center for Sports Training of Russian National Teams", Moscow.
She was born on June 5, 1950 in Arkhangelsk. Russian. She was engaged in rhythmic gymnastics, became a master of sports. In 1971 she graduated from the State Central Institute of Physical Culture Order of Lenin (now the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism) in Moscow. From 1971-1981 she worked as a rhythmic gymnastics coach.
In 1981, she switched to coaching in the USSR national team in synchronized swimming. In 1991–1992, he was the state coach of the USSR and Russia combined teams in synchronized swimming. In 1992, the synchronized swimming team under her leadership took part in the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain). From 1992-1996 she worked as a synchronized swimming coach in Spain and Brazil.
In 1996 she returned to coaching in Russia. Since 1998, he has been the head coach of the Russian national synchronized swimming team. Under her leadership, the team has achieved outstanding sports results and won all the highest titles in this sport.
Over the years, the team has won all the gold medals (duo, group) at five Summer Olympic Games: in Sydney (2000, Australia), Athens (2004, Greece), Beijing (2008, China), London (2012, Great Britain) and Rio de Janeiro (2016, Brazil); gold and silver medals (solo, duet, group, combi) at the world championships (1998, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) and Europe (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016), as well as at the World Cup and other competitions.
Her pupils are distinguished not only by brilliant technique, but also, which is very important, by the will to win. Among her students: five-time Olympic champions A.S. Davydova, N.S. Ishchenko, S.A. Romashina, four-time Olympic champion A.N. Ermakova, three-time Olympic champions O.A. Gromov, M.A. Kiseleva, E.R. Khasyanova.
Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2014 for special labor services to the state and people Pokrovskaya Tatyana Nikolaevna was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation with the award of a special distinction - the gold medal "Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation".
Vice-President of the Federation of Synchronized Swimming of Russia.
Lives and works in Moscow.
Honored Coach of the RSFSR. She was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th class (November 4, 2005), Alexander Nevsky (April 12, 2013), Honor (April 19, 2001), Friendship (January 15, 2010), medals, Honorary Diploma of the President of the Russian Federation (January 23. 2014).
Laureate of the National Sports Award "Glory" in the nomination "Best Coach" (2004).
- Tatyana Nikolaevna, is it true that you were not going to connect your fate with synchronized swimming?
I can't stand swimming in the pool either. I do not like this water - I disdain. Back and forth, back and forth you dangle - it annoys me. I only swim in the sea. Or in the ocean. But the swimmer of me is very unimportant, to be honest. I don’t like my head in the water, I breathe incorrectly ... And I would not connect my life with synchronized swimming in any case. I still can’t understand how it is possible to hang upside down in the water, and even not see what your legs are doing.
Have you ever asked your girls about this?
- I asked ... They laugh and claim that they see their legs. I say: you don't know how the audience reacts. And they: well, we emerge ... You know, once I tried to hang upside down on the "Round Lake" upside down. The water in the pool was muddy, and I did not understand at all where the bottom was, and where the top was. She panicked like a caught fish. The girls caught me, and I still remember this horror: God, how scary! And they still manage to feel their movements with an accuracy of a degree: an angle of fifteen, an inclination of thirty ...
- You also have such a frightening term - to fall asleep under water. I was told that there were cases when, from a strong breath holding, athletes really fell asleep there ...
- When we were just looking for ourselves in synchronized swimming, there was such a fashion - to lengthen the ligaments. That is, most of the program to work under water. We all jumped then. The Russian school is generally different. Now synchronized swimming is being taken away for relief - they say, you can’t hold your breath for too long, but we still stand our ground. I remember when we started doing this, the Americans came up to us and said: let your children breathe, what will they just come up like fish, grab air and go under water again ... Yes, cases when athletes cannot swim out and they have to be caught , really exist. But in training, this rarely happens. Mostly in competitions, in the compulsory program. When the already difficult breathing fetters the excitement ... It is a very difficult sport. That's why I say: how do they endure all this? This is not clear to me. Unclear.
- And this is the coach who won the Olympics twice ...
– Although I don’t understand the feelings of the girls, I see a lot from above. It would seem that the legs stick out above the water, and that's it. What else can be seen? Once I thought so too, but now you grasp everything at the same time: how they stroke, how they hold their breath, work with their hands. It seems that everything is the same - only the legs are above the water, but from their movement I can even determine from afar what mistakes they are making down there. It all comes with experience.
Best of the day
“I am a very impulsive coach. And my biofield is probably very strong. When I scream, the equipment sits next to me, so I really don’t need a microphone.
- Do you know that your girls are afraid of you?
- I know. Even those who are not yet in the national team, but on the way. They know that I have a very serious discipline. And the fact that they will have to work in a way that they have never worked before.
Are you a fanatic?
- Do you think that a coach should be born?
- Definitely.
- It is still not clear how you could not master your sport so thoroughly. Or do you care who to train?
- I came at a time when everyone, if desired, could become a coach in this sport. Synchronized swimming was then like a child. We all went by touch. And I had very good teachers - Marina Maksimova, Zoya Barbier. Synchronized swimming in Russia began with them. After rhythmic gymnastics, where I worked as a coach, it seemed to me that this was not a sport at all. The most interesting thing is that my husband convinced me to do it. He then worked in the Moscow sports committee and wanted his wife, fanatically devoted to rhythmic gymnastics, to be at home more often, to sit with the child. So I had nowhere to go.
- And the husband in the end miscalculated?
- And how! At one time (he was a military man), I went with him, as a Decembrist, to serve in the darkness. She worked as a physical education teacher in a public school. By the way, I have very good memories of that time. Although the school was provincial, very serious attention was paid to sports there. In athletics, the kids had very good results. Well, I showed such miracles - you can put on a comedy. I was a gymnast and track and field athletics at the Institute of Physical Education took place from time to time. If only to set off. Well, in the lesson, such a start showed them that they almost stood in a split, upside down. When they ran, I didn’t understand why my children were almost poking their noses into the path. It turned out that I mixed up the distance between the starting blocks. And they didn't even show it. We thought: maybe a person from Moscow knows more? Well, my husband explained to me what was happening. And the next day, as if nothing had happened, I say: yesterday we learned the training start, and now we will learn sports ... Who knows, maybe we would have stayed there, but I always wanted more. I already knew for sure that I would be a coach. And she was accustomed to work in such an exhausting mode from childhood.
- The head coach of our "artists" Irina Viner somehow noticed that they, in the same women's sport, have a boa constrictor on the left, and a cobra on the right. At any moment you can expect anything. Is it difficult for you in this sense?
- Not harder than in the men's team. Trust me, there are plenty of intrigues out there. When we had two duets (Anastasia Ermakova - Anastasia Davydova and Olga Brusnikina - Maria Kiseleva. - "NO") fought each other, everyone said: what a situation, how terrible! But there was nothing like that. Razors in boots, as in figure skating, I heard, it happens, no one put them on. The atmosphere was, of course, a little nervous. But the coaches and girls behaved very worthy.
- So, having lost the selection, Brusnikina and Kiseleva went to complain to Fetisov?
You understand, they are offended. They returned to the sport for the sake of a duet, and suddenly the rivals, very young, cross the road. I, too, maybe at first believed more in Brusnikin and Kiselev, and it was a surprise to me that the young won. So everyone could do that, offended. But there were no provocations in the group. Masha and Olga - they are generally smart. We got through this difficult time. Yes, and Ermakova and Davydova were not so hairy. Both chuckles. And the fact that there was such competition only benefited everyone.
- What does this award "Glory" mean to you?
- The fact that they recognized the work of our entire coaching team in my person. It's good that our work is beginning to be valued no less than the work of athletes. Still, the work is going on equally. Let the athletes have a lot of physical wear, but the moral of the coaches is much more. Our work is terribly nerve-wracking. And thank God that they began to understand: a lot depends on the coach. Because no matter how talented you are, there is no coach - and there is nothing. And it happens the other way around. In good hands and without talent, you can become an Olympic champion. I had one girl in the team - Vera Artemova, so when she came to us, she was diagnosed with scoliosis, turning into the fourth stage. And this is not an isolated case. And now there are children in the national team who have achieved everything only by perseverance and the work of coaches.
- Did you prepare for the World Championship with a calm heart, or is each such tournament for you like the first one?
- There are coaches who are always confident in themselves and say that their students are the strongest. And I always think that mine are the weakest. And it doesn't let you calm down. Even girls sometimes bring me up. Forever, they say, you, Tatyana Nikolaevna, exaggerate. But I am like a distorted mirror. You have to punch them in the nose. Right now, I answer them, at the European Cup, for example, we beat the Spaniards, but we have not yet seen the main rivals - the Japanese. In general, I remind them all the time: our rivals are growing. Let "on us", but grow. And everyone is working in earnest now. And Spain, with which we came into contact at the training camp and gave her all our secrets to the mountain. The Americans, who have now risen again after the recession, have also taken our course. The Japanese, who crawl everywhere and have simply amazing working conditions. In general, we need to build the sport of the future. Like in China. Because in the near future not only those who have brilliant coaching staff will win, but also those who work in good conditions. Here we are, as an elite team, of course, we receive all kinds of help and support from sports organizations, but for now we only hope that someday we, two-time Olympic champions in the group and in the duet, will still have our own pool at home ...
Opokrovskaya's opinion
denver 17.06.2010 03:47:45
the creature mocks the girls! She even hates the pool! such coaches should be driven in zashey!
The death of two-time world champion in synchronized swimming Olga Larkina, which happened in early December, shocked everyone involved in this sport. The 20-year-old girl was just beginning her ascent to the heights and was considered one of the main hopes of the national team on the way to the Beijing Olympics. No one could even imagine that a terrible disease was dormant in this strong beautiful body. The correspondent of Izvestia tried to figure out how this could happen, and why the terrible diagnosis of "aortic aneurysm" escaped the attention of doctors who regularly conducted medical examinations. The ill-fated December 2 was no different from other similar days at the training camp of the national team in Ramenskoye. Synchronized swimmers are just starting to prepare for the new season, and therefore their loads are far from the limit. The morning session looked like an easy workout. The girls first swam in the pool, then for an hour they worked out the acrobatic entry into the water, from which any performance begins, and then, to the musical accompaniment, they began to draw up a program. 15 minutes before the end of the workout, Olga complained of pain for the first time.
- She swam up to me and said that her back hurts, - the head coach of the national team Tatyana Pokrovskaya, who has seen everything in her lifetime, squeezes a handkerchief in her fist and periodically applies it to the corners of her eyes. - Our doctor gave her a pill, and Olya continued work – fortunately, there was very little left until the end of the lesson. After dinner, the pain did not subside, and Larkin again went to the doctor. He gave her an injection of baralgin and massaged her back. I allowed Olya to skip the evening workout and stay at the hotel. There were no black thoughts at all - when staging acrobatics, girls often complain of pain.
By evening, Olga's health had noticeably worsened. As luck would have it, the team's doctor at that time left for Moscow, and only one masseuse remained on the farm. Complaints of severe girdle pain in her back alarmed her, and she called the medical department of the Athletic Training Center. Its leading specialist Irina Rodionova six months ago, before going on promotion, she herself worked as a doctor for synchronized swimmers, and knew all the athletes firsthand.
- It was about six o'clock in the evening, restores the chronology of events Rodionov. - I was told that Olya felt sick, described all the symptoms. Several diagnoses immediately appeared in my head: gastritis, inflammation of the gallbladder, or kidney stones. We agreed that they would give her a no-shpu and call an ambulance. I did not believe in the seriousness of this case, but I decided to hospitalize the girl just in case.
Olga was taken to a local medical center, but an hour later she left it. Now no one can say for sure why it was decided to change the Ramenskoye hospital to Botkinskaya. Either the athlete did not like the interior, or she wanted to come home and change clothes. Be that as it may, she fell into the hands of doctors again late at night.
In the Botkin hospital, Larkina was immediately taken seriously: they took blood tests, took a picture of her lungs, ultrasound and gastroscopy, checked her liver and gallbladder. An entry was made in the registration journal: "The patient was admitted in a satisfactory condition."
On December 3, new tests followed. I was a little worried that I could not make an accurate diagnosis in any way: the liver was in order, the gallbladder, too, the pancreas, again, seemed to be normal. To check the patient's veins, the doctors were going to inject a contrast agent into her blood. The procedure was scheduled for Monday.
In the afternoon, Rodionova spoke with Olya on the phone. The pain was still there, but it seemed to be getting better.
The communication session, which took place at 18 o'clock, also did not inspire cause for concern - everything was fine.
The last conversation took place at about 9 pm - the girl complained that the pain had become noticeably stronger.
Early on the morning of December 4, Irina Rodionova was awakened by a phone call. Olya's mother Marina was on the other end of the wire. “I was asked to urgently come to the hospital. Do you know what happened?” she asked anxiously. Rodionova began to frantically get ready. Just as she was about to leave the house, the phone rang again.
“Olya is dead!” – her mother's voice was so distorted that she did not immediately recognize him. This death shocked everyone who had anything to do with synchronized swimming. People could not believe that "ordinary" pain could lead to such an outcome. The team's training sessions were temporarily suspended, and the entire team came to Olga's funeral at the Southern Cemetery. Larkina's personal trainer Larisa Malysheva had a backache from all the experiences - for several days she could not even get to work. Yes, and Pokrovskaya is still holding on to her heart.
After the autopsy, doctors will make the final diagnosis: rupture of the thoracic aorta. In their conversations, the scientific word “aneurysm” is most often heard. An aneurysm is a rupture of the aorta that occurs due to thinning of the walls. A disease that is much more characteristic of older people - their vessels are usually thinned by atherosclerosis. In young people, aneurysms are much less common - one in thousands, tens of thousands. There is very little chance of survival with such a diagnosis. Even modern American handbooks give sad statistics: only 2-0% of young people with an aneurysm can last more than five years.
It turns out that Olga Larkina was doomed. Nature, having endowed her with a tall, over 180 centimeters tall, slender figure and chiseled legs, which people from neighboring sports schools came to admire, did not take care of a reliable circulatory system. But the heart refuses to accept this, and endlessly sorts out possible options for salvation. Native athletes also do not want to believe that her end was predetermined. Olya's grandmother at the wake, they say, said so directly to the coaches: it was you who did not save our girl!
Was this death really inevitable? If the national team doctor had been present at the training session in Ramenskoye, the decision on hospitalization could have been made much faster. If not for the feverish rushing from one hospital to another, the doctors would have received a few more hours to make a diagnosis. Extra half a day, which in the end was not, maybe it was they who decided the fate of the patient. And the endless "if only", beating in the brain ...
However, experts believe that the resulting delays did not play a fundamental role in the fate of the athlete. Irina Rodionova throws up her hands:
- Even if the doctors could make a correct diagnosis, they simply would not have had time to prepare the operation. To do this, you need to turn off the heart, have a huge supply of blood. And then, who would do it?! It is beyond the power of an ordinary surgeon, here you need to call a specialist. All this took at least a day or two; a few hours wouldn't make a difference. Also, remember, it was the weekend.
It is unlikely that those who claim that the girl was “driven” in training are right. We repeat: at this time of the year, the loads simply could not be high. Here are the blows from the entrances to the water (the team just practiced acrobatics) can provoke a rupture of a congenital aneurysm. But it could happen from any push – in transport, for example.
It was necessary to save Larkin not in December 2005, when the flag on the clock almost fell, but many years ago. Moreover, athletes of the level of the national team regularly undergo a complete medical examination. However, it turns out that an in-depth medical examination - UMO for short - is not a panacea for all ills. Doctors have to examine 3,000 athletes who are part of the extended compositions of various Russian teams, where can you keep track of everyone. And the funds allocated for these purposes, as always, are not enough. The cost of UMO of one athlete seems to be not so little - about 5 thousand rubles. But, given the high cost of medical services, only the most necessary can be done with this money: take a couple of tests, do an ECG with fluorography, and have an examination by specialists. There is neither time nor finances for such subtleties as checking the circulatory system.
There is another side of the coin. For any professional athlete to lose the opportunity to do what they love is a real tragedy. When most of the 1–0 years of life have been spent on sports, being forced to miss even a few workouts is perceived as a serious loss. Coaches recall how the same Olya was going through, having broken her little finger at the beginning of the year in one of the classes. “She was so worried about being expelled from the national team, she was so eager to get back to the pool,” they say. In the end, the athlete put a special splint made of waterproof material on the damaged area. You should have seen her shining eyes when she got the opportunity to rejoin her teammates.
– I just can’t imagine how it would be possible to tell Olechka that for health reasons she should leave the sport, – says Tatiana Pokrovskaya. – Moreover, I have already had such cases. So, a few years ago, our girl ended her career at the direction of the doctors: she had only one kidney, the second was in its infancy. And she had just begun to reach the peak of her career, won the world championship ... What tears, what experiences! Then for a long time I heard reproaches of bias behind my back. Say, it was not a medical prescription that was to blame, but my partiality. However, these are all emotions. The leaders of the Federation of Synchronized Swimming of Russia in the "Larkina case" intend to rely only on proven facts. “Now we are conducting an internal investigation into what happened,” Igor Kartashov, president of the federation, told Izvestiya. “Most likely we will not punish anyone. We just want to understand how this could happen. This is necessary to avoid repeating such stories.”
Most likely, the main result of the investigation will be the holding of a medical conference with the participation of doctors from all national teams of the country and invited experts. It will surely once again emphasize how important it is to pay full attention to the diagnosis of the health status of athletes. But will these spells help in conditions when there are simply no opportunities for a full-fledged diagnosis? Now it is no secret to anyone that the health of the vast majority of Russian athletes leaves much to be desired. This is not hidden by the experts themselves. “Almost every one of our girls has one or another deviation,” admits Tatyana Pokrovskaya. “If they are all expelled from the sport, there will simply be no one to perform.”
Many athletes in the West are in the same situation. But they have long learned to control the state of their stars by means of medicine. Widespread, for example, are special sensors that are attached to the chest and allow you to check the activity of the cardiovascular system at home. In Russia, athletes, after completing a series of exercises in the old fashioned way, feel the pulse on their arm. You can say absolutely the right things a thousand times, but until they are put into practice, there is zero sense from them. And we will only have to wait, who will become a new victim of some "rare" disease that cannot be detected with a banal x-ray or stethoscope.
The tragedy of Larkina recalled the death of Sergei Grinkov
The death of top-level athletes from cardiovascular diseases is not such a rare occurrence in Russian and world sports. The tragedy of Olga Larkina made me remember a similar case with two-time Olympic figure skating champion Sergei Grinkov. In November 1995, the 28-year-old athlete died of a heart attack right on the ice. Later, doctors discovered an atherosclerotic narrowing of the left coronary artery in Grinkov. A few years later, also in training, the heart of the Togliatti Lada hockey player Vyacheslav Bezukladnikov could not stand it. In September 2001, a basketball player from Kazan UNICS and the Russian national team, Yadgar Karimov, was found dead in his room. Doctors determined that he died of sudden cardiac arrest.
