The Soviet school of gymnastics was rightfully considered one of the strongest in the world. The women representatives of this elegant sport attracted special attention to themselves. Olga Korbut, Elena Mukhina, Olga Bicherova, Natalya Shaposhnikova - this list goes on and on. A distinctive feature of these representatives of gymnastics was their miniature, which, however, did not stop them from demonstrating their fearlessness and courage during performances on various sports equipment.
Along with these celebrities is Maria Filatova - a famous Soviet gymnast, a woman with a very difficult fate.
Childhood
The small Siberian town of Leninsk-Kuznetsk was founded at the beginning of the twentieth century. The main wealth of this city is coal, and all the working activity in it was somehow connected with its extraction. So the Filatovs were a real mining family. In it, on July 19, 1961, the girl Maria, the future star of the gymnastics of the Soviet Union, was born.
For the first time, five-year-old Masha heard about this sport in the yard, from her friend. It was not difficult for her to persuade her parents to give her to the gymnastics section, since the Central Palace of Culture, where the training took place, was within walking distance from the Filatovs' house. And already the first competitions in bridge and twine Masha won.
In the future, the initial training group, where she initially got, was divided, and Filatova was in the group of Tatyana Ivanovna Ivanova, who became the first coach of the future champion.
First successes
After classes with Tatyana Ivanova, Maria Filatova goes to the group with the spouses Mametyev, Innokenty and Galina. They played a huge role in the formation of young Mary. It was under their leadership that she, speaking at domestic competitions, managed to get into the youth team of the Soviet Union. At that time, Masha was only thirteen years old.
Two years later, in 1976, Maria made her debut at the country's adult gymnastics championship. The debut was successful, and the fifteen-year-old girl took fourth place in the all-around all-around, which, with the competition that prevailed at that time in women's gymnastics, was an excellent result.
Olympic debut
In the same 1976, the Soviet team was preparing for the main sporting event of the four-year anniversary - the Olympic Games in Canadian Montreal. Maria did not get into the initial list of applicants for a trip to Canada. But during the last training camp, the girl managed to prove to the coaching staff of the Soviet Union team that she deserves a place in the main team of the country.
As time has shown, the coaches were not mistaken with their choice. The Soviet team, which included such stars of gymnastics as Nelly Kim, Olga Korbut, Lyudmila Turishcheva, managed to get ahead of the Romanian national team and win Olympic gold in a difficult struggle. Fifteen-year-old Maria Filatova made a great contribution to the overall victory of the national team.
In personal appearances, it was difficult for Filatova to compete with experienced rivals, as a result, in all-around she took the overall ninth place.
Farewell to Lenin-Kuznetsk
After a successful performance at the Montreal Olympics, Filatova Maria firmly staked out for herself a place in the main team of the USSR women's gymnastics team. Successful performances in the domestic arena alternated with successes at the largest world starts. So, the athlete had victories in the team championship at the World and European Championships, gold in the World Cup absolute championship, repeated victories in the championships and cups of the Soviet Union. And all these years, her first mentors, Innokenty and Galina Mametyeva, were next to Mary.
The main sporting event for our country was approaching - the Olympics-80 in Moscow. It was decided that the Leninsk-Kuznetsk gymnastics school will be relocated to Moscow. But a number of incomprehensible bureaucratic decisions led to the fact that Maria Filatova had to leave for Belarus, in the city of Minsk.
Moscow Olympics
All these changes in life led to the fact that Filatova was already preparing for the 1980 Olympic Games with another coach. The famous Belarusian specialist Nikolay Miligulo, who gave the world of gymnastics Nelly Kim, became Maria’s new mentor.
The tandem with the new coach brought Mary another Olympic gold received in the team championship. Also, the Olympic Games brought her a personal medal - Maria Filatova, whose achievements were quite significant, became a bronze medalist in performances on the uneven bars.
Ending a sports career
But after a triumphant performance at the Moscow Olympics, the athletic performance of a talented gymnast declined. There were still one-time successes, such as silver in the absolute championship at the 1981 World Cup. But Maria herself understood that the age of an athlete in gymnastics was short enough. And after the 1982 USSR Championship, where she took 9th place in the absolute championship, Maria decides to leave the big sport. At that time she was only 21 years old.
Personal life
Already living in Minsk, Maria met Alexander Kurbatov, also a former gymnast. After completing his sports career, Alexander was engaged in acrobatics, worked as a circus acrobat.
In 1986, Maria and Alexander played a wedding. A year later, the newlyweds had a daughter, whom their parents called Sasha. In the future, Alexandra followed in the footsteps of her parents and was actively involved in gymnastics, she performed quite successfully at the junior level. She won the state championship at a time when the Kurbatov family lived in the United States. True, in the future, the career of a professional athlete, Alexandra did not work out, and she became a coach-choreographer.
Life after the end of a sports career
In 1984, Maria Filatova, whose sports biography is considered in the article, graduated in absentia from the Novokuznetsk Pedagogical Institute with a degree in children's coach. For some time, Maria and her husband worked in the Minsk Circus, and Maria performed with a solo program on the teeter boards.
After maternity leave, Mary and her family were invited to Northern Ireland to work under a contract with the national team of this country. In Northern Ireland, the Kurbatov family lived for 4 years, from 1992 to 1996. This was followed by an invitation to the United States of America also for coaching. There, the Kurbatov family settled in the city of Rochester, in the state of New York. Here, gymnast Filatova Maria and her husband began working as children's trainers, recruiting their own gymnastic groups.
Homecoming
Despite a fairly successful overseas life, Mary's main desire was to return to her native Leninsk-Kuznetsk. The problem arose where no one expected.
Living in the United States on a green card, Maria Filatova was not eligible for a Russian passport. All the time, living in the United States, she tried to obtain Russian citizenship. It was a vicious circle: Filatov was supposed to appear in Russia to obtain citizenship, but it was impossible to get a visa without Russian documents. Attempts to obtain Russian citizenship under a simplified scheme for special services to the Motherland were unsuccessful. Maria received a response from the migration service that her services to the Fatherland are not a weighty argument for obtaining Russian citizenship.
Despite the official refusal, Maria Filatova did not abandon her attempts when she returned to her homeland. She wrote a letter to Russian President V.V. Putin, where she provided her arguments confirming the right to legally reside in Russia. Such famous people as the governor of the Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev, Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Alexander Karelin and many other famous political figures and sports stars of our country joined the fight for Maria. As a result, justice prevailed: on March 24, 2015, Maria Filatova received a Russian passport from the hands of the governor of the Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev. She was also awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Kemerovo Region”.
Currently, Filatova Maria Evgenievna, whose biography was presented to your attention in the article, lives and works with her husband Alexander Kurbatov in her native Leninsk-Kuznetsk, in a sports school named after Maria’s first coach, Innokenty Ivanovich Mametyev. And there is no doubt that not much time will pass, and we will see the pupils of this pair at major competitions in gymnastics.