There is one sport that is not just related to water, it involves athletes performing certain movements in the pool. With the help of them, various figures are created that the viewer likes so much. All this action takes place to the music, which complicates the task, but makes the performance interesting and very beautiful. Of course, we are talking about synchronized swimming.
Gymnastics missed the champion
Olga Aleksandrovna Brusnikina was born on November 9, 1978 in the capital of our Motherland - the city of Moscow, in a country that is no longer on the map - the USSR. Parents of the future champion, Alexander Alekseevich and Anna Mikhailovna Brusnikins, wanted to take care of the health of their beloved daughter, and therefore began to choose what kind of sport the child would engage in.
At first, the choice fell on gymnastics, but Olya was not accepted, since her growth was not quite suitable for this sport. After some thought, we decided to consider aquatic species. For the health of the child, this would be a great option. In 1985, mom brought her daughter to her first training session.
The coach Elena Vyacheslavovna Chumakova was engaged with Olya. Then no one had ever imagined that a girl who defends the country's honor in the international sports arena would grow out of a simple Moscow girl. Who knows, what would life be like if Olya were then taken to gymnastics.
Budding
Under the leadership of Chumakova Elena Vyacheslavovna Brusnikina, Olga trained for two years. Years of hard work were not in vain, since at the age of 16 they began to consider the girl as an athlete with high expectations. In 1987, no one even suspected that soon everything would change. Even the collapse of the country could not affect the indestructible nature of the athlete and her will to win.
All this will happen later. In the meantime, Olga Brusnikina found a new mentor in the person of Maria Vladimirovna Vov. Training continued, and Olga showed herself as a serious and promising athlete.
Thanks to excellent performance and frantic dedication, Brusnikin is noticed and taken away by a wonderful coach, Elena Nikolaevna Polyanskaya. The new mentor is particularly interested in Olga, makes her work and give all the best 100%, possibly anticipating the girl’s great sports future. And Polyanskaya was not mistaken. It is by training under the leadership of Elena Nikolaevna that Brusnikina will reach her highest places on the sports podium in the future.
But it is necessary to add that the team was formed only with the appearance of Lyudmila Filippovna Tarasova, who turned out to be an outstanding choreographer.
Special school and first achievements
Olga Brusnikina was trained at a specialized school for gifted children No. 1113. Necessary conditions played an important role in the development of the athlete. At the age of 15, Olya played for the Moscow Dynamo. Then her main achievement was the championship at the junior World Cup. In 1993, Olga won the competition, performing both solo and paired with Julia Pankratova.
Since that time, Brusnikina Olga - a member of not only the youth team, but also an adult. The year for the girl was very successful. As part of the adult team, Brusnikin wins the European Championship. And in 1995, the Russian team, which Olga played, repeated this success in the Austrian capital.
Only victories
Achieving success, Olga Brusnikina continues to study. The girl enters the Russian Academy of Physical Culture. Later, Olga decides to transfer to the rehabilitation department. Since there was not enough time for everything, she decided to go to the correspondence department.
A year after entering the RGAFK, the athlete starts performing with her idol of a young age - Olga Sedakova. The partner in the free program also trained under the leadership of Polyanskaya, was known in international sports circles and enjoyed great authority. Once Brusnikina shared with reporters that she used to love watching Sedakova train.
Sedakova’s experience and Brusnikina’s potential were successful in the form of gold at world competitions held in China. And also at the European Championships in Spain. Then there was a duel for who will solo. And here Olga goes around her partner.
Good luck also accompanies in the future, when Olga wins gold at world competitions, still speaking with Sedakova. Also wins group exercises with Maria Kiseleva.
And it seemed that Olga Brusnikina (synchronized swimming) would never stop winning and winning new awards. World and European Championships in the USA, Turkey, Finland and Seoul - everywhere there was only gold.
Olympic awards
Olga Aleksandrovna Brusnikina became the champion of the Olympic Games twice:
- 2000 - a duet with Maria Kiseleva and group exercises;
- 2004 - group exercises.
If Olga Sedakova, who ended her career in 1998, was replaced by Maria Kiseleva, then the latter was not so easy to replace. One way or another, at the end of the games in Sydney, Kiseleva leaves the sport.
Retirement
Left without a partner, Olga Brusnikina does not betray herself and splendidly performs at the World Cup in Japan. At the end of the solo program, not only the fans of the athlete applauded, but also the judges. When the music of Rimsky-Korsakov "Scheherazade" died down, no one had any doubt - this is gold.
Having gained another success at the championship in Japan, the athlete decided to end her career.
Triumphant return
In 2001, Olga Brusnikina, whose biography is brought to your attention in the article, marries Sergey Evstigneev, a water polo player with whom they have long been familiar. Then the couple leave to live and work in Italy, since Sergey was invited by the Italian club. Olga also did not sit idle and realized herself, working in the Italian Federation of Synchronized Swimming. Brusnikina even managed to train the Sicilian club of the city of Catania.
A year after completing her career, Olga unexpectedly receives an offer from her former partner, Maria Kiseleva. She wants to speak with Brusnikina at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Olga agrees.
Further, not everything was as smooth as we would like. In the struggle for the right to represent Russia at the Olympics, the Brusnikina-Kiseleva duet is inferior to younger athletes, and Davydova and Ermakova go to the competition.
Girls win gold medals in Athens. But this success, perhaps, would not have happened if Olga Alexandrovna had not shared her invaluable experience. Thus, this event was another small personal victory of the athlete.
After completing a sports career
Having stopped performing, Olga Aleksandrovna Brusnikina opened a sports school in the city of Chekhov, where she trains young talents. She is also the chairman of the Athletes Commission at the Olympic Committee and is engaged in other activities related to the sports life of Russia. Thanks to her professional activities, Russians have confidence that there will be more successes and victories.
Given the merits to the country, which she glorified with her victories, Olga Aleksandrovna Brusnikina, whose awards are already numerous, was quite deservedly awarded the Orders of Honor and "For Merit to the Fatherland."
Our country has someone to be proud of, and the younger generation has someone to take an example from. Let us wish Olga Alexandrovna good luck in all her endeavors!