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Tatyana Tarasova
Tanya was brought to the figure skating section at the age of four. “If she was born a girl, then at least she will learn to skate,” said the father, the legendary hockey coach Anatoly Tarasov. Tatyana turned out to be his worthy daughter. 41 gold medals at the World and European Championships, 7 Olympic gold medals – such a “catch” from her pupils. On February 13, Tatyana Anatolyevna celebrates her 76th birthday.
“I became unfit for work”
Since childhood, Tanya has played hockey with boys, had a sports category in diving, and was involved in athletics. But I literally fell ill with figure skating. I mightn’t live without him, I spent hours at the skating rink.
Tarasova had to give up her career as a figure skater at the age of 19. It’s amazing how she didn’t break following that ridiculous and tragic story. Dad’s upbringing had an effect.
Anatoly Vladimirovich tempered the character of his daughter constantly and with passion. Before school, Tatyana always did exercises and ran around the house in any weather. Cut off the circle – get a penalty, late for classes – the rise is postponed to an earlier hour.
In 1966, Tarasova won her first major victory. Together with partner Georgy Proskurin, she won the Winter Universiade in Italy. Further – as in a bad dream. Award ceremony, circle of honor. Tatyana stumbles over the carpet and falls.
“The injury is a habitual dislocation of the shoulder. You might forget regarding support. I really did not want to let the coach and partner down, I worked for some time. And the hand all the time treacherously flew out of the shoulder joint. I became unsuitable, ”recalls Tarasova.
“We won’t have artists!”
That’s what Anatoly Vladimirovich said when Tatyana thought regarding what to do next. I was terribly worried, and very bad thoughts came to my head.
Tarasov did not begin to mess around with his daughter. When she decided to try to enter GITIS, she categorically demanded:
“Tomorrow you will go to your skating rink, pick up children and work. I hope you don’t become a bad coach. All!”
For the fact that dad did not let her make the choice herself, Tatyana Anatolyevna is still grateful to him. “He sent me to where I was happy all my life,” says Tarasova. Among her students are Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev, Natalya Bestemyanova and Andrei Bukin, Alexei Yaudin and other remarkable athletes.
The students replaced the children’s coach. Tarasova did not succeed in becoming a mother. “Once I had children to have – all the time there were the Olympics and work. I wanted children, but I didn’t deal with this issue well, ”Tatyana Anatolyevna will say how she cuts off.
Pupils are her support and support. Having been widowed at 64, Tarasova was left alone.
“This is very painful”
With her first husband, actor Alexei Samoilov, Tatyana divorced two years later. Tarasova entered into the next alliance with an athlete, track and field athlete Vasily Khomenkov. They had known each other since they were young.
According to Khomenkov’s first wife, an affair with Tarasova flared up when the athlete was still not free. Wife, tennis player Marina Chuvyrina, gave the athlete two children. Despite this, a divorce followed.
Tatyana and Vasily did not get along very well. After a serious quarrel with his second wife, Khomenkov died tragically. He was only 29. Tatyana Vladimirovna avoids this topic in every possible way.
With the pianist, People’s Artist of the USSR Vladimir Krainev, Tarasova found true happiness. The couple lived together for over 30 years. Her husband helped Tatyana create music for programs. Krainev died suddenly in 2011 from a ruptured pulmonary artery.
In recent years, Tatyana Vladimirovna has been experiencing serious health problems. She suffers from a disease in which the functioning of the brain is disrupted. Tarasova also complained of severe back pain and had to use a wheelchair.
And yet she still cannot do without her favorite thing. He comments on TV, is directly related to the show “Ice Age”. In 2005, she was appointed as a consultant to the Russian Figure Skating Federation.
Tatyana Anatolyevna’s work is always not enough. She, inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, happened to complain regarding the lack of demand:
“I am being misused. It hurts a lot when you’re not used the way you might be. I look at American colleagues, they are over 80, and they go to the rink and teach. And I can’t go anywhere.”
Photo source: Igor Utkin / TASS Photo Chronicle, Vyacheslav Un Da-sin / TASS Photo Chronicle, Larisa Kudryavtseva, Kuzmin Valentin, Alexander Konkov / TASS Photo Chronicle, Daniil Oparin / “KP”