The second half of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s was the time of the undivided rule of two great Russian gymnasts. Two athletes so different and unlike each other. On the one hand, the high, constantly in the spotlight, Svetlana Khorkina, and on the other, a small, serious answer to journalists' questions, serious Elena Zamolodchikova.
Nevertheless, they were united by one thing - they were the last great champions brought up in the legendary Soviet school of gymnastics. After them, a failure occurred for some time, and only in the last few years, girls from a new generation of Russian athletes began to show decent results.
Elena Zamolodchikova - two-time Olympic champion, medalist of world championships. Her story deserves special attention.
How a little girl from a communal apartment became a big gymnast
Zamolodchikova Elena Mikhailovna was born in September 1982 in Moscow. Dad was a military man who devoted his whole life to service, and my mother was a teacher of computer science. Since childhood, Lena has become accustomed to harsh living conditions. Her family occupied two out of four rooms in a communal apartment. The athlete herself recalls this period of life with warmth, in her memory there were joint games with other children in the corridors of a common home.
Unlike many other girls, Lena was not forced to play sports by force. On the contrary, legends tell of how, as a tiny baby, Zamolodchikova could sit for hours at the TV screen, watching gymnasts compete. The fate of the girl was decided - she was sent to the school of the Olympic reserve.
The first and only trainer in her life is Nadezhda Maslennikova. Initially, no one saw great potential in Lena. There were obvious problems with plastics, choreography. However, there are no difficulties that Elena Zamolodchikova could not overcome. The gymnast compensates for the lack of plasticity with explosive acrobatics, jumping, developed coordination. Possessing a short stature ideal for gymnastics, Lena was distinguished by well developed and graceful muscles. Her favorite disciplines were floor exercises and a vault, where she could demonstrate her best qualities.
Champion's path athletes
Elena Zamolodchikova enters the Russian national team at the age of 14. The first major international competitions are the World Youth Games held in Russia. There she became a winner.
Without getting out of the gym, Elena Zamolodchikova prepares for the main starts of her life - the Olympic Games in Sydney. At the 1999 World Cup, she takes the gold medal in her favorite vault. To her, she added silver in the team and bronze in the all-around, thus collecting a complete collection of medals of all virtues.
Elena goes to the 2000 Olympics in the shadow of her oldest teammate, Svetlana Khorkina. All the attention of the press, fans, first of all, was paid to the legendary champion of the games in Atlanta in 1996.
This allows the 18-year-old athlete to calmly prepare for the competition without being distracted by extraneous things. If Svetlana could not stand the burden of responsibility and terrible stress, having made a number of offensive mistakes, then Zamolodchikova calmly acts in her main disciplines, showing the maximum.
The result is gold in both floor exercise and vault. The athlete adds silver to team medals to gold medals.
Difficult period
The same qualities that made Elena a great champion, and let her down. To keep fit, the gymnast spends whole days honing her skills. The girl’s strong but fragile body cannot withstand the constant inhuman overload.
Injuries fell on the athlete one after another.
She is still able to become the world champion in the vault in 2001, to take awards in team competitions. But for the Olympics in Athens, the gymnast is no longer in such a combat uniform as four years earlier. Nevertheless, Elena remains one of the leaders of the Russian national team, and largely thanks to her, the women's gymnastics team wins a bronze medal.
Zamolodchikova wants to repeat the feat of Svetlana Khorkina and take part in the third Olympics, which will be held in Beijing in 2008. She is preparing according to a special schedule, the coaches are in her position, but at the very last moment Elena makes a difficult decision to give way to younger athletes. After big victories, being an extras at major tournaments is not in her nature. In 2010, she finally left the big sport.
Life out of competition
Elena Zamolodchikova from childhood lived in gymnastics and remained in it even after the end of her big career. After graduating from the Academy of Physical Culture, she becomes a children's coach in her native school of the Olympic reserve.
Openness and participation in social events is not what distinguishes Elena Zamolodchikova. The personal life of the legendary athlete remains a secret for a wide range of people. Nothing is known about men in her life. As Elena herself says, she has not yet met a person worthy of herself.
Zamolodchikova also took part in the television project "Cruel Intentions", where she became a winner. She says with irony that only after that they began to recognize her on the streets.
Continuous injuries prevented Elena from fully revealing herself in sports, but her unique performances in Sydney, at the World and European Championships, will forever remain in her memory. Athletes like her are a rarity.