President of Russian Gymnastics Federation introduced to Kabbalah through rabbi Laitman
Irina Wiener: I'm nobody, and there's no way to call me!
Irina Wiener, President of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics, Hero of Labor and (recently) full knight of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", has an anniversary on July 30. Irina Alexandrovna does not hide her age, but not only years - her wealth. There is much more. For example, Olympic gold medals won by Wiener's students. You can also count the highest awards of the world and European championships, but this task is more difficult - the number is much larger, it is much easier to make a mistake.
However, in a conversation with the head of the special project TASS "First Persons" Andrei Vandenko Irina Alexandrovna repeated more than once that she is just a guide helping talent to break through to the top, an ordinary coach...
But who will believe it?
About gingerbread, toughness, son, grandchildren, tears, favorite students and the "Cup of the Strongest"
- Whip or gingerbread, Irina Alexandrovna?
- Whip and gingerbread.
- And what should be more?
- The same. Although it's better that the gingerbread still weighs.
- How was it in your life?
- I got a whip more often.
- Fair?
- I think so. If I always received only gingerbread, I would not have learned to appreciate and cherish it.
- How do you think cruelty differs from toughness?
- The second is a manifestation of love. Specifically in my case - to the person I want to put on a pedestal, so that he can feel happiness and pride for himself, for his parents, for the country, for everyone who wishes him good luck and success. Without the manifestation of firmness, nothing good will work, there will be no victory. I know for sure.
And cruelty is a terrible thing that needs to be destroyed at the root.
- Don't you have it?
- Even a word causes me an attack of hatred and fierce rejection. No, I can and sometimes I'm strict, but not despotic.
- Yes, you have developed an image of a man... how to put it mildly... harsh.
- Don't believe other people's stories. It is necessary to rely on your own opinion or assessments of those who have no reason to lie and build a mess. Listen, let's say, to Dina Averin. She says: Irina Alexandrovna only seems so strict, in fact she is a very kind and gentle person. And it's true. Otherwise, why, with all my kind of rigidity, everyone called me the second mother in the eyes and behind the eyes?
It can't be outright flattery, right?
- What if they're afraid to say something else?
- Now what's the reason to be afraid of something? I haven't trained many of them for a long time, they have already grown up, they have become mothers themselves.
- The ability to admit mistakes, in your opinion, is a sign of strength?
- In my opinion, both strength and wisdom.
If I'm wrong, I can apologize even to a small child. And I'll enjoy it.
- When was the last time you asked for forgiveness?
- With me, I won't hide it, this happens very rarely, because, in general, I'm almost always right, and life proves it in practice. Usually everything ends with me getting a few nice words: "Thank you, Irina Alexandrovna, you spoke correctly from the very beginning, and we argued in vain, bled..."
But I'm not a saint and in those rare situations when I still make a mistake, I correct it and apologize
This is also professionalism. God made me like that, there was no pride in me and there is no.
- However, if we take the Hamburg account...
- Now it's not my account. Germany is an unfriendly country to Russia.
- Okay, I'll ask differently. When did you actually have to apologize? Not necessarily in sports - in life.
- At some point I realized that I was indebted to my son. When I was a child, I paid less attention to him than I should have. My students lived in our house all the time. Not even in the house, but at first in a one-room apartment... I was lost at trainings, training camps and competitions, endlessly messing with pupils, and my son often lacked neither strength nor time. So he got a debt.
- Is Anton fifty this year?
- You see, you know better than me. I don't follow my age. Neither their own nor someone else's.
- But you must have prepared a gift for the anniversary?
- Anton made it himself, having given birth to two amazing children in recent years. They decorate both my son's life and mine. It is especially joyful that a girl was born after three boys. Finally!
And also with my mother's name.
- The younger one, it turns out, Zoya. In honor of Zoya Zinovievna.
- Yes, Zoenka... Her character is similar to her - just as cheerful, cheerful, humorous.
And outwardly it's my copy.
- How old is a girl?
- Two years. He's already training in the gym. Once upon a time, my mother talked to my assistant Natasha Pospelova, who is still working with me, and repeated the phrase several times: when I come here as a little girl and knock on the door, you, Natasha, be sure to open it for me. You see, that's how it all happened...
- Let's name the other grandchildren.
- Daniil, the elder, 23 years old, he is already an adult. The second boy, Leonid, is 18. The younger one, Eitan, is three and a half years old.
- A rare name.
- Translated as "unshakable, strong". That's what he is.
- At least spend enough time with them or adopted children, they are gymnasts, are you still a priority?
- We live together, it's been a long time since we've been in a one-room apartment, and I'm certainly happy to see my grandchildren. If everyone is at home, we communicate, sometimes we play. In the mornings they always run towards you shouting: "Irochka!"
- Not grandma?
- What kind of grandmother am I?! It turns out that both older and younger children call by name, and I like it.
You know, I don't regret anything in my life. If today they offered to become young again, to go back decades ago, I would have refused without hesitation. I wouldn't hesitate for a second. Yes, there were not very simple moments, even difficult ones, but I don't want to go back and rewrite the past.
If I had started life from scratch, I would have repeated the path exactly
With all the losses, sorrows and, as they say, reverse waltzes, which, of course, were also there. But these are not my problems anymore.
- I didn't get the idea. Decipher.
- It's very simple: when you do something good to others, it's your choice. If in response you get the diametrically opposite, some nasty or meanness, the bad act remains on the conscience of the perpetrator. And he will not be responsible to you, but to the highest court.
- But do you remember any grievances?
- Anyway, yes, I don't forget. Although I know how to forgive. Especially for their children, if they made a mistake and then came back. I definitely don't hold a grudge against them. You have to be generous.
- Moscow doesn't believe in tears, and you?
- Never! Under no circumstances! I take into account only in case of physical loss, death of someone close to me. Here's the only exception. In other cases, it's empty.
However, once she was really upset when Yulia Barsukova suddenly decided to leave the big sport after winning the Sydney Olympics in 2000. She was in full bloom, I had no doubt that Yulia was in a hurry, making a mistake without listening to me. That's when I cried with her. She's from fatigue, I'm from disappointment.
A tear can come to me if I watch a movie and see a scene with injustice. But this, you will agree, is different. I'm also upset when elderly people and animals are offended. Also, by the way, my son has reacted since childhood, he was always on the side of the weak and defenseless. Anton took this feature from me.
- So if the student cries, she won't be able to make you cry?
- No chance! Pity is the lot of the weak.
You can cry only on the highest step of the podium
Remembering the difficult path that had to be overcome on the way to victory. In other cases, this is a sign of cowardice.
- You've probably been asked many times about your favorite students...
- Of course, there are a lot of them. If you name one, you'll offend the other. And it would take a long time to list everyone with whom I worked, although it would probably be the fairest. After all, without the desire to put your soul into every athlete, into her appearance on the carpet and the program element, nothing would probably have worked. No matter how much you suffer...
There is no heat without recoil. I always see off the children with the words: "Love and light".
- And yet: your personal rating?
- It doesn't exist, I've never made it up. As they say, there are a lot of second...
Of course, Alina Kabaeva is at the forefront for me. And not only because of the awards won.
- Earthling. From Tashkent.
- No, it definitely doesn't matter.
By the totality of talent and human qualities. She smiled in any situation, conquered the audience and the judges with an amazing mood. Besides, Alina always heard and listened to me. I once told you in an interview: even if I had commanded (absolutely smoratively, abstractly!), they say, jump from the tenth or twentieth floor, it's necessary, everything will be fine, and Alina would have stepped forward, would immediately execute the order without a shadow of a doubt. Because, I repeat, she believed me infinitely.
As a result, we achieved professional heights. A brilliant gymnast, a talented girl who managed to realize her potential. With its help, rhythmic gymnastics has reached a different level.
- Do you think such blind faith is good?
- Of course. Alina knew: I would never do it, I would not recommend anything that could hurt her. That's how you have to believe the coach, hope for your strength and love gymnastics. Without it, victories cannot be achieved.
- Did there be disappointments because of the talent that failed to reveal itself?
- Unfortunately, there were a lot of such kids. Bright, but failed to conquer the peaks. Tests are always, in fact, a test of who is capable of what. We do not live and train in greenhouse conditions. Sport of the highest achievements requires dedication, iron character. It's easy to turn acidify and give up, but the real fighter is only hardened by difficulties. You have to be able to overcome, find the good in the bad.
I can, for example, remember how the same Kabaeva was unfairly accused of doping in 2000 and was excommunicated from international competitions for two years, and in 2003, when she came to the World Cup in Budapest, the name of her rival was shouted in her face, and Alina went to the last type of program and worked it out brilliantly, becoming the winner in the absolute championship.
- Did the hall support Anna Bessonova from Kiev, a student of Irina Deryugina, your eternal opponent?
- That's right. Bessonova is a young beautiful girl who got up while Alina was not performing. Everyone triumphed her at the World Cup. At that moment, I was sitting at the main judge's table and I was horrified, unable to imagine how Alina would cope. But she did everything at the highest level. Then I asked: how did you manage to survive this? She replied: I was going to the carpet and thinking, I'll come out now and show you Bessova! You'll have Bessonova! And she showed it. Do you understand? She melted all the negativity that was going to be poured on her, turning it into a positive. Also a kind of talent - turning a minus into a plus, hatred into love.
And there were many such cases in my lifetime. But here it is important to understand: real athletes always fight not only for themselves, but also for the honor of the country they represent.
- And what is the motivation today for your pupils, who still die in training every day, but are deprived of the opportunity to perform under the flag of Russia, listen to its anthem? At international competitions, they are promised a neutral status at best.
- Basically, nothing has changed. The motivation is the same: faster, higher, stronger. The desire to win and become the first has not gone anywhere.
Yes, the level of competition is certainly important, but I want to remind you or report, if you don't know: in the Soviet Union, and later in Russia, the main starts for gymnasts have always been the national championships. There was the toughest selection, there was the longest bench that had to be left behind to get into the leaders. And now in this sense the picture has not changed.
- But the top in any case remains the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
- Not anymore. It's not so obvious today. If the strongest teams of Belarus and Russia do not participate, it means that the motto proclaimed by Pierre de Coubertin no longer works.
It was and it's gone. Alas and ah! As for the admission of our athletes by the International Gymnastics Federation, the information requires verification and confirmation. I'm waiting for official comments from the Ministry of Sports of Russia, OKR. After all, FIG said that they would allow Russian and Belarusian gymnasts to participate in qualifying tournaments before the 2024 Olympics, but the final decision remains with the IOC. In addition, teams will not be allowed to the Paris Games in any case, which means that our girls will not be able to compete in group exercises. Agree, there may be additional tension in the team. No matter how much we once again try to push the Trojan horse...
In short, we proceed from the fact that the former world has disappeared forever, as it was before, it will no longer be, conditions have changed, we must accept a new given, and there is nothing, as they say, to shed tears. There are very strong girls in Russia in 85 regions, even 89. We couldn't afford it before, but now we're holding a competition for them called the "Strongest Cup".
In fact, there is a new sport at the junction with art - concerts, live music and voice. We were advised to consolidate copyrights, we want to get a patent, since this has never happened anywhere in the world. Synthesis of sports and art, which have combined into a single whole. Competitions are accompanied by performances of beautiful performers. We already had Ildar Abdrazakov, Mikhail Turetsky's choir, Philip Kirkorov, Nadezhda Babkina, Vika Tsyganova, the group "Quadro", the song and dance ensemble under the direction of Viktor Eliseev... Great teams!
- Show. A-la "Ice Age".
- You're talking like that for nothing. Derogatory. But in reality it turns out very touching, soulful. At some points, I could hear sobbing from the stands with my own ears. And then the melody changed, cheerful, incendiary music sounded, and the hall almost began to stomp.
I want to emphasize that on holidays - Defender of the Fatherland Day, Mother's Day - we hold charity concerts, we invite children of servicemen, low-income and large families. Viewers can simultaneously see the rhythmic gymnastics program and hear performances of wonderful singers and ensembles.
- But, you will agree, it's not a sport anymore. If you call a spade a spade.
- I don't agree. Categorically. Why not sports? At any competitions, gymnasts have always performed to the accompaniment of music. We made a recording and turned it on. And here comes a live voice. It's much better. And the reaction of the hall is completely different. We gather a huge number of viewers. Five thousand people come to the concert-performance. Previously, such an audience was only at the finals of the World Championships and the Olympics. Competing in a full hall is much more interesting and responsible. And the girls do what they are supposed to do, show new programs, throw ribbons, balls, hoops, catch them...
We have judges sitting, evaluating the numbers and then announcing the winners. This is a new format of the competition, which was dictated by the sanctions against Russia imposed by international sports officials.
About intuition, vocabulary, Kabbalah, artificial intelligence, regalia, Usmanov and expectations
- Speaking of judges. The story between Lina Ashram and the Averin sisters, which has been going out from the Olympic Tokyo, is closed?
- You know how much it cost me to try to protect my children. In Tokyo, the assessment of Dina Averina, on which the fate of the gold medal in the all-around depended, the panel of judges did not withdraw six minutes, although according to the regulations it should have been within a maximum of one and a half. Then even our president mentioned this episode in a conversation with Dina. All unbiased people understood: injustice is being done to Russian athletes. That's what I said publicly. I think I have the right to my own opinion after winning 51 medals of the Olympic Games and 416 medals of the World and European Championships.
- Decent numbers.
- I think so too...
As a result, the International Gymnastics Federation disqualified me and did it so cleverly that I will have to miss not only the next Olympics in Paris, but also the next one, which will take place in four more years - in 2028. I was punished for not being able to bring out the Russian team, I will not get accreditation. This is now freedom of speech and democracy for a person who prepared a team for five Olympics, which did not know a single loss. What do you think of the option?
However, I never give up, I always find a way out of any situation. I have already managed the Russian national team remotely twice. In 2016, she did not attend the Olympics in Rio because of her mother's illness, was next to her in Israel, unable to leave her for at least a week to fly to another continent. But I was equipped with something like a command post, four large monitors were installed, on which the picture from Brazil was displayed in real time. I saw everything that happened in the arena, where the gymnast competitions were held, and in the training room. The process was completely under my control.
The situation was repeated in 2021. Now I'm sick and couldn't fly to the Games in Japan. Brazilian experience was used this time in Kyrgyzstan, where ideal conditions were created for me to work. And the time difference with Tokyo was only two hours. Now huge TVs were on Issyk-Kul...
Do you understand? We must be able to turn evil into good, and bad into good.
Bishop Mstislav, the rector of the monastery in Tikhvin, once said: Irina Alexandrovna, you have a special mission. I was sincerely amazed: which one? He explained: the whole world has seen many times how you saw off your athletes and baptized them in chase, taking them away for sports feats for the benefit of the Fatherland...
Yes, it was. For example, at the London Games in 2012, I came out with a myrrh-flowing icon. In Japanese Kitakyushu, where we won all the gold at the World Cup in October 2021, I also took out the icon...
- Which One?
- Both times it was the Seven-Shot Icon of the Mother of God. However, in Tokyo I took the one written by another master. The first one, London, was returned to the mother for restoration, who has about a hundred icons.
- Didn't you regret getting involved in a litigation with FIG?
- I've already answered about the attitude to pity. My strength is that I always tell the truth. It's easy to do, but it turns out that not everyone likes it. It's okay. I'll survive.
- Do you believe in intuition?
- In general, yes. This is a sign of genius. The ability to foresee, to anticipate the development of events is the moment of truth.
- I mean, we planned to record this interview in Sochi, where you wanted to hold a training camp, but then everything was canceled. And a day later, the coast of the Caucasus began to be washed into the Black Sea. Did you know anything?
- No, of course. That's the way things were. They're already deciding for me up there...
The children were supposed to train in a large hall on six carpets, and I decided to take a break at the sea at the same time. But then I told myself: no, no vacations. My mother often repeated: you, Ira, must work until the last breath, the line coach should always be there. And I stayed in Moscow, called the whole team to work here. Only the group exercise team trained in Sochi. I wasn't too worried about them, because they lived in Dagomys, on the mountain, and didn't feel all these floods and tornadoes at all.
- Do you have the main base now in Novogorsk or in Luzhniki?
- In Novogorsk we train, and in the Palace of Gymnastics in "Luzhniki" we hold international tournaments, competitions "Cup of the Strongest", sometimes - training camps in front of them. Convenient: you don't have to go to the offices and beg someone for a playground. We make our owell ourselves and live by it.
- You are going to open another center called RDD in Vatutinki, aren't you?
- Not me, but my son. I'll throw a cap in the air with delight. Anton again built a crazy, fantastic roof over the palace. As before he came up with in Novogorsk, and his idea was adopted by Italian designers. Then we repeated it together in Luzhniki. Not a roof, but a curly, floating tape. Now a new incredible project with multi-level projections, halls, platforms...
In short, huge amounts of money and space architecture. Even the houses have names there - Valery Gergiev, Valentin Yudashkin, Svetlana Zakharova, Vladimir Mashkov, Igor Chapurin...
- And yours.
- My son wanted it that way. Of course, together with his colleagues from the "Rodina" group, he previously asked for the consent of each of these outstanding people. They gave the go-ahead.
For me, the main thing is that the gym turned out to be of dazzling beauty.
- When is the opening?
- As far as I know, mayor Sergey Semenovich Sobyanin should arrive in mid-August.
- I read, the project pulls more than two billion rubles. Whose money?
- Private investors. Definitely not mine.
- And what is the abbreviation RDD?
— Russian Design District. We wanted to call it in a modern way, but I immediately said that I would not use foreign words. Basically!
- Unfriendly vocabulary again?
- Exactly. As if the native language is not enough for "Motherland"! I warned you: if you leave it as it is, I will criticize you from morning till night. And Anton and his partners quickly changed everything to RDD, left three letters without decoding.
I like the projects my son is doing. It has a taste. Grandfather was a good musician, a violinist, my father is a People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR, my mother dreamed of a career as an actress, and became a brilliant doctor. Creativity is in our blood, in genes. Anton's love for architecture turned into it. True, he does not draw himself, but chooses outstanding projects, God sends him brilliant masters who help him bring ideas to life.
- You're also an "artist" who can't draw, right?
- Absolutely! Not mine. But I don't need to, it's enough to get information from space and broadcast further. Strictly speaking, I'm just a guide. The book will be published soon, it will be called "I'm Nobody". It was ordered by Alina, and I've been dictating life stories for three years. They were carefully recorded, and now these memories will come out.
- Well, so... Not without coquetry.
- Why?!
- Judge for yourself: having so many titles and regalia, call yourself a no one...
- Not a gram of shemanism. Absolutely! I'm nobody, and there's no way to call me! My task is to transfer the acquired knowledge, to convey it, without splashing, to my children, students. Someone from above chose me as a guide in rhythmic gymnastics.
Or do you think Tchaikovsky or Korolev were some other? No!
- Something tells me, they were geniuses.
- Chosen ones! I am a deeply religious person and I believe: all geniuses are messengers of heaven... Our president is also given to us by the Lord. As they said before, the anointed one of God.
And the great Albert Einstein admitted at the end of his life that he was only a resident. This is his own expression. Academician Natalia Bekhtereva also wrote that she was sent to Earth. Like many other scientists.
Do you think Alexander Pushkin wrote poems himself? He was chosen by the higher mind. Mohammed did not speak at all, but he left behind the Quran. I knew it closely, I was friends with Valeria Mikhailovna Porokhova, who translated this outstanding work into Russian. She told me how difficult it is to accurately convey the musicality of Arabic poems. Only a highly educated person could do it. Apparently, everything came to Mohammed from somewhere above, he heard, and someone else helped to write down thoughts.
But that's my philosophy.
- You are interested in Kabbalah, aren't you?
- To be honest, I haven't studied it in detail before, but it so happened that one day a lady came to me and said that the famous Kabbalist Michael Laitman wanted to talk to me by teleconference. He made programs with popular directors, journalists, scientists, and that time he needed a teacher, a coach. I replied that I had no idea about the subject of the conversation, and then they gave me different books. I began to read them, delve into them and realized: it's a curious thing! After that there was a telebridge with Lightman.
Since then, I became interested, after which my son became interested in teaching. But Anton took up Kabbalah in full, seriously. Without prayer, he doesn't sit down at the dinner table, doesn't get up because of it, doesn't go to bed... My son's life has changed a lot, he believes (and I see) that everything is thanks to faith, this attitude. After all, Kabbalah is not so much a religion as a science of the universe. What was written there a long time ago is now being implemented in practice. These are nanotechnology, digitalization, and artificial intelligence. In a sense, everything is a repetition of Kabbalah. Previously, this science was closed, now it has been allowed, which allows you to build life according to other, correct laws.
Although I've lived like that before. The son says: Mom, what we're learning, you've been doing for a long time.
- Do you believe in artificial intelligence?
- How can I tell you... We're moving forward. Humanity does not stand still, but so far it has mastered a negligible percentage of knowledge. I love Nikolai Roerich very much, I often listen to his "Seven Great Mysteries of the Cosmos", which describes our existence, life after death, and what is happening on Earth and in the Universe. I infinitely believe in Nikolai Konstantinovich, in his mind, I know that both he and Elena Petrovna Blavatskaya were special people. They understood a lot and gave us...
- You mentioned Anton several times today, but didn't say a word about Alisher Usmanov.
- Why should I talk about him?
- At least for the reason that we lived together for thirty years.
- No, uncle, much more! Forty-four years.
- There were thirty in a legal marriage. From 1992 to 2022. Fact!
- I was with him at different times, which, believe me, is much more important than the stamp in the passport.
- Does Alisher Burkhanovich continue to help you or have you lost the main sponsor?
- Why are these questions, tell me?..
Surely you know: they speak about former spouses either well or not at all. I prefer to be silent. I don't want to touch the past. When my help was needed, I was there for him in the most difficult time. If I had started all over again, I would have done exactly the same. I can't leave a person in a difficult moment, it's my nature. And what happened next, as I already told you, it's not my problem.
The page is turned upside down forever. Amen.
- It feels like you have a grudge against your ex-husband.
- I'll say it again: it's very personal. Maybe someday I'll decide to comment on this. Hardly in an interview. More like in a book. But not in the one that comes out now. I'm not ready to talk in detail yet.
We broke up for real, although many people think that such a cunning move was invented by the horse to avoid sanctions. No, no and again no. And I didn't fall under any bans for the reason that I have neither trusts nor anything else. I always tried to do everything myself, not to take anything from anyone. Even at his.
- What about your villa on the Croatian island of Korcula?
- First of all, not on Korcul, but in the city of Orebich, which is located on the mainland.
Yes, he bought this villa for me, there was a base for the summer training camp of our national team. She's not here now.
That's it, they closed the topic until I was really angry with you.
- How do you plan to celebrate the anniversary?
- My children and close friends will come.
- How many students will you call?
- After the brilliant performance of our gymnasts at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, I found myself in London and was invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace, where I was seated next to the queen's husband. And so Prince Philip asks: "How many children do you have?" I honestly answered: 100. He looked with his eyes wide open and asked again: how 100?! I explained: all the coach's pupils are children. At least that's what I always called them. Persistent Philip clarified: and you personally? I say: "One". And he said a sacramental phrase: "That's enough."
Of course, there will be no 100 children at my anniversary, but a decent team of those who have already grown up and can wear evening dresses will gather.
- You were born in Samarkand, almost immediately moved with your parents to Tashkent, where you lived for more than forty years. How long have you been there?
- In Samarkand — very much. I can't even remember what year. But I try to come to Uzbekistan regularly. It's expensive and important for me.
Do you want me to read a poem?
I live in Uzbekistan,
I love my native land.
It's good in winter and summer,
But especially in the spring.
Come to us, guys,
From the Volga, from the Don and from the Neva.
Our Tashkent is our capital,
Younger brother of his native Moscow.
The author is a children's poet Kudrat Hikmat.
- It would be possible to finish on this high note, but literally a couple more questions. You became a Muscovite in 1992, right?
- Yes, after the collapse of the great country, which was called the USSR. I never supported it, I always remembered where I grew up and to whom I owe my success. Although by status both then and now I feel like a linear coach. I was, are and will remain.
- Does "linear" mean "sady" into Russian?
- Of course. The rest, as they say, are related products - the president of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics, a professor and so on...
- Let's continue: Hero of Labor, full Knight of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"...
- No, it's different. Titles and awards are not positions. Each order or medal is the result, thank God, of the work appreciated by our country. So, I didn't work for nothing.
- Do you have a ceremonial-excend costume with all these results?
- No. I've never trumped them. Even the star of the Hero of Labor was worn only on May 9, wearing it for the first time after our president pinned it to me.
- It was in 2015.
- Probably. I've already said: I don't try to remember the dates. My history was only good at school. And that's because I needed an A to get a medal. And in principle, I don't study history at all.
- Why did you need a medal then?
- To enter the Tashkent Medical Institute. Only doctors were recognized in our family.
As a result, she received a silver medal because of the four in Uzbek language. And at the medic institute I got a B, I had to pass all the exams. And I went to the competition in Chisinau. I returned home and took a certificate with a medal to the Institute of Physical Education. I think the first and last time they saw an applicant with such high scores...
- How did the family react to the choice made?
- Parents resigned themselves, but decided: if I don't become a doctor, she should be a candidate of sciences.
- As a result, you defended your doctoral thesis...
- This was preceded by a long way. I entered graduate school, but soon realized: Goethe is right. "The theory is dry, my friend, and the tree of life is lushly green." I dropped everything, started working. Later, many years later, when serious results in sports appeared, my friend Raisa Terekhina, whom I met thanks to gymnastics, offered to write a thesis. She is an international judge, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor at the Lesgaft Institute. I refused, but Raisa Nikolaevna managed to convince. She said: I'll ask you questions, and you answer. I agreed: it's possible. So we talked after training. As a result, everything turned out to be scientific work. First to the candidate's thesis, then to the doctoral thesis. My grandmother and parents' dream came true...
- What do you expect from tomorrow, Irina Alexandrovna?
- Nothing.
- Bad!
- I live for one day. The current one. Tomorrow may not come. Do you remember there was such a mini-series "If tomorrow comes"? What if not?
Children of the eagle tribe can dream of. They are entitled to age.
I already have a different repertoire: "Dreams-dreams, where is your sweetness..."
There are dreams, but sweets have decreased something...
Therefore, it is better to live in the present. The day has passed, thank you for it, Lord! There is a roof over my head, food too. The main thing is that peace should reign as soon as possible. I pray about it and worry a lot. Both me and all my children.
We can work even harder, strive for new sports victories and only believe that troubles and problems will recede, bypass us...
- Have you stopped looking beyond the horizon a long time ago?
- It's always been like that. There is a certain, as they say, planning horizon, training schedules, a grid of competitions and tournaments, but these are only dates.
Today decides whether to come tomorrow
- Let him come. And brings you more gingerbread.
- To make the knees wider than the shoulders? No, everything in moderation! Whip is also needed.
However, we have already discussed this...