Often in sports it is not enough to have only one talent to fully reveal your potential. Athletic anger, the thirst to win at all costs - some of these qualities were not enough for Polina Shelepen to successfully transfer from junior figure skating to the adult level. Having mastered the entire technical arsenal of her adult colleagues at the age of 12, she already at 19 finished sport and went into coaching.
First steps
Polina Sergeevna Shelepen was born in Moscow in 1995. She came to figure skating due to her dislike of kindergarten. Every morning began with the girl’s tears, so the parents decided to give Pauline to some sports section. At 4, she falls into the group of Eteri Tutberidze.
Then the trainer was engaged in athletes 9-10 years old. And at first they didn’t want to take the baby. But, looking at the persistent crumbs, the mentor took her to her. Everyone understood that the girl was seriously committed to great achievements, when in 2003 Polina Shelepen first appeared at the Zhuka memorial. The skater competed with rivals two to three years older than herself and did not reach the final of the competition. However, this failure great angered athlete. And a year later she made great progress, becoming one of the eleven best in the final of these competitions.
Success in juniors
By the age of twelve, Shelepin Pauline had mastered almost all the luggage of the technical elements of adult skaters, including cascades of triple jumps. The 2007-2008 season is a breakthrough in the career of a young athlete. For the championship of Russia in 2007 among young men and women, Polina goes in the status of an unknown skater. Eteri Tutberidze psychologically unloaded the girl, saying that she just skated for fun, without focusing on awards. However, Polina brilliantly skated her program and was ahead of all rivals. This season was very successful for the girl.
Then the girl received the silver of the Russian Olympics, the bronze of the junior championship of the country. Only age restrictions did not allow the athlete to debut on the international scene in the same year. Shelepen Polina won her first stage of the Grand Prix with a big advantage, beating her opponent by two dozen points. Victory in the second tournament brought her to the final of the entire series, where she lost only to Japanese Murakami. Over the next couple of years, the girl continues to collect awards at junior tournaments.
Early completion of a sports career
It so happened that the skater performed at that time when the generation that represented Lipnitskaya, Sotnikova, Tokhtamysheva grew up. The prospects of the athlete to get into the national team at an adult level became foggy. In order to be able to perform at major international competitions, Shelepen Polina in 2013 makes a difficult decision to change sports citizenship in favor of Israel. However, the Olympic Committee refused to represent her new sports homeland at the Games in Sochi in 2014. In the same year, the athlete unexpectedly announces the end of her sports career. So begins her coaching at the age of 19.
Shelepin Polina finished her performances early, without even really going to the adult level from junior competitions. However, she managed to leave her contribution to Russian figure skating. The famous short program by Yulia Lipnitskaya to the music from the film “Schindler's List” was originally invented by Eteri Tutberidze specifically for Polina Shelepen. Many proposals were made precisely by the young skater, even the red color of the dress was chosen by her. It remains only to wait for the successful implementation of the former athlete in coaching.