Natalia Safronova is a Russian volleyball player, winner of the Olympic Games silver medal, champion and multiple medalist of the World and European Championships. Unfortunately, due to a serious illness, she was forced to leave the sport.
Biography
Natalia Safronova was born in 1979 in Krasnoyarsk. The future athlete got into volleyball by accident. When an 8-year-old tall girl was walking with her mother in the park, a children's coach Zinaida Rusakova paid attention to her. So Natalya, together with her sister Alexandra, got into the volleyball section.
At a children's tournament in Yekaterinburg, trainers representing the local Uralochka club drew attention to Safronova.
Training in the new team opened up new perspectives for the athlete. At the age of 15, Natalya Safronova is a volleyball player of the Uralochka double, with the main team having a direct path to the national team.
Professional sports career
Since 1995, the girl began to play for the junior, and then the youth Russian team. In 1997, the dream of 18-year-old Safronova came true - a young game player was in the main team of the country.
The season 1998/99 turned out to be especially intense for Natalia. She played in two teams at once - for the Uralochki farm club Uraltransbank in the Russian championship and for J-tee in the Japanese second division. In addition to these tournaments, Natalya Safronova, together with the national team, won the 1997 European Championship and won the bronze of the World Cup 98.
In 1999, the Russian volleyball player again became the winner of the continental championship. These achievements allow Natalia to gain a foothold in the main team of Uralochka. In 2001, Safronova first participated in the “Final Four” of the European Champions League and took third place there.
The athlete spends the 2001/02 season as part of the Aeroflot-Malachite team. Here she becomes one of the best volleyball players in the Russian championship in terms of performance, and at the end of the tournament she returns to her native Uralochka.
In 2004, Natalia Safronova went to the Olympics in Athens. Unfortunately, she did not manage to play there for a single minute. Because of the desire to leave Uralochka, her coaches, who are simultaneously heading the Russian national team, took revenge on Natalya without releasing her for a single game. As a result, Safronova still became a silver medalist.
The next four seasons, Natalia spent in the Zarechye-Odintsovo near Moscow. Here she became one of the leaders of the team. with “Zarechye” Natalya Safronova managed to win the championship of Russia, win two cups of the country, and also reach the final part of the Champions League.
After the arrival of a new coach in the national team, the athlete was not only returned to her composition, but was also elected captain by a majority of votes. It was Safronova who led the team to the games of the world championship triumphant for Russia in 2006.
In 2008, Natalia unilaterally terminated the contract with Zarechye and transferred to Dynamo Moscow. In its composition, she became the champion of Russia for the fourth time.
Because of this transition, a scandal arose between the athlete and her former team, which soon grew into litigation, which lasted almost two years and undermined the physical and mental health of Natalia.
"Painful" care
In December 2009, during training, one of Dynamo volleyball players lost consciousness. It was Natalya Safronova. The volleyball player, whose condition was assessed as critical, was first delivered to the Sklifosovsky Research Institute.
Natalia spent a full 18 days in a stroke coma. When her condition stabilized a little, Safronova was transferred to one of the rehabilitation clinics in Cologne.
Currently, the ex-athlete lives with her husband mainly in the country. She hardly moves, but hopes for the best.
Despite such an unexpected and forced departure of Natalia from big sport, her teammates did not leave her friend in trouble. They regularly held charity auctions and events in her support. The Russian team also dedicated their victory at the 2010 World Cup to their ex-captain Natalya Safronova.