She was born on December 27, 1934 in the city of Kherson in Ukraine. Father - Diry Semyon Andreevich (1906-1943), participant in the Great Patriotic War, died in Battle of Stalingrad. Mother - Barabanyuk Pelageya Anisimovna (1902-1975). Spouse - Feldman Yuri Izrailovich (born in 1938), Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian and International Academy of Electrotechnical Sciences, in the past - President, General Director of Joint-Stock Electrotechnical Company Dynamo OJSC, now - Advisor to the General Director of OJSC AEK Dynamo. Daughter - Latynina Tatyana Ivanovna (born in 1958), danced for 15 years in the choreographic ensemble "Birch". Grandchildren: Konstantin (born in 1981), Vadim (born in 1994).

The hard years of enemy occupation and post-war devastation fell on the lot of Larisa and her mother. To feed the family, my mother had to work day and night as a cleaner and stoker. Nevertheless, her unshakable principle - a daughter should be brought up no worse than people - acted under any circumstances.

I will never forget the war. And none of my generation will forget it. She brought us thousands of troubles. And among the families of my peers, there is not a single one who would not be scorched by the frequent unintelligible lightning of a military thunderstorm. Somewhere in the region of the great Battle of Stalingrad, in a land littered with fragments and soaked with gunpowder, my father was buried.

Larisa dreamed of ballet since childhood. The girl clearly imagined the huge stage of the Bolshoi Theater, the multi-tiered hall and stormy applause addressed to the ballerina Larisa Diriy, dancing on the stage easily, confidently, naturally. One day, after school, Larisa saw an announcement that a choreographic studio had opened in the House of Folk Art. Education in it cost 50 rubles a month, which was a significant part of my mother's salary, but my mother gave this money without hesitation. If at the same time some other paid school was opened somewhere (for example, playing the piano), then the last money would be given there.

The day came when we, sniffling with excitement, began to study the great wisdom of the ancient and wonderful art of ballet. Our leader, Nikolai Vasilyevich Stesso, seemed to us the direct closest heir to Petipa, and we often wondered: why is he messing with us in Kherson, and not commanding soloists and corps de ballet ranks on the stages of Moscow or Leningrad? Under the patronage of our leader, we got to the performance of the great dancer Lepeshinskaya, who had toured with us for only one day. If in the first minutes the question "Can I do this?" still arose subconsciously, then he retreated, as everything around him receded and faded, except for the stage. Then for the first time I really saw what is now commonly called words " wonderful world movements". Yes, it was a new, beautiful, dazzling world, and when the performance ended, we could not even believe that one person had taken us there.

Soon the studio closed - there were not enough parental shares. N.V. Stesso invited Larisa and another girl to continue their studies in the circle, which he led in one of the clubs. There, the girlfriends got into an almost adult club life: they were given numbers, they danced at amateur performances, went to evening movie shows. And yet the atmosphere was no longer the same, and Larisa decided to part with dancing. This is not to say that this decision was easy for her. This did not mean that she parted with the dream. After all, she already had gymnastics ...

I really liked gymnastics, as any child likes movements and as any girl likes the art of beautiful movements. I used to climb trees and attics and pull myself up on makeshift pipe bars, run along stone parapets and jump rope. In the end of my dancing career, the decisive role was played by the fact that the seemingly parallel courses of ballet and gymnastics nevertheless crossed.

“Leave gymnastics, Larisa, - it will coarsen you, enslave your muscles, and in general it’s not art, except perhaps closer to the circus,” Nikolai Vasilyevich Stesso told me politely, wringing his hands picturesquely.

Best of the day

“Give up, Laura, your hopak,” my first coach Mikhail Afanasyevich Sotnichenko said angrily. “This is not a serious matter. It only interferes with sports.

Something worked with hopak. But I believed Mikhail Afanasyevich. Childhood and youth quickly catch falsehood and truth. And every word of my first coach, a school teacher, was always true.

Gymnastics was becoming more and more part of Larisa's life. In 1950, she completed the first category and, as part of the national team of Ukrainian schoolchildren, went to the All-Union Championship in Kazan. However, the performance was unsuccessful: the young gymnast got a zero on the crossbar and then worried for a long time, bursting into tears alone. It was then that Larisa learned one firm rule: laugh with everyone, cry alone.

After Kazan, Larisa trained with redoubled energy and already in the 9th grade she fulfilled the standard of a master of sports. In Kherson, at the city stadium, she was solemnly awarded a badge and a certificate. She became the first master of sports of the USSR in her hometown. In 1953, Larisa graduated from school with a gold medal and was going to go to Kyiv to enter the Polytechnic Institute. Almost simultaneously, she was sent a call from Moscow to an all-Union gathering in Bratsevo, where the USSR national team was preparing, leaving for the World Festival of Youth and Students in Bucharest. She passed the decisive control qualifying competitions with dignity and soon received the coveted blue woolen suit with a white "Olympic" strip around the neck and the letters "USSR".

In the capital of Romania, the first gold medals in Larisa Diriy's sports career were won at international competitions.

In Kyiv, a student of the Electrical Engineering Faculty of the Polytechnic University Larisa continued training under the guidance of the Honored Trainer of the USSR Alexander Semenovich Mishakov. Sport has already dominated her and demanded more and more attention. From a simple hobby, he grew into a life's work. It became more and more clear to her that it was necessary to choose a path where the future profession would be connected with sports. And when it became obvious, she went to study at the Institute of Physical Culture.

Time passed, and one day in June 1954 we found ourselves in the Eternal City - Rome. The thirteenth world championship, and for the Soviet gymnasts - the first. And it took place in unprecedented conditions: under the open sky, in the shade, the thermometer showed more than forty degrees, it was scary to approach the shells. Fortunately, we started with floor exercises. I remember the feeling of unexpected ease with which I stepped onto the mat and started my run. Turns, high jumps, a jump with a turn - everything worked out, and it worked out quite well. I finished the exercise and heard applause.

The competition continued with balance beam exercises. My lips were completely dry, and it seemed that sweat would surely pour into my eyes, and the sultry air seemed like a thick fog. I whispered to myself: I won’t fall, I won’t fall, and instantly forgot that I had performed with such ease just recently. Dismount. Completely exhausted, I thought: no, you can’t perform like that. Meanwhile, Sonya Muratova dropped out of the fight, got a dislocation of the elbow joint. Maria Gorokhovskaya was in the lead, Tamara Manina, who jumped well, followed her, and Galina Shamrai and I took places nearby. The excitement was very great.

After the first day of the competition, we read in the evening newspapers: "Russia has an indisputable advantage. Soviet gymnasts are calm, cool, have excellent style and have an unconditional superiority over their rivals in the performance of the compulsory program exercises." If only the author of these lines knew what each performance cost our girls.

In the morning I decided: the worst is over. This time we started at ten o'clock, and the stands of the stadium were filled with spectators who protected themselves from the sun in a variety of ways. We were applauded in advance, even before the performance. And our freemen sparkled, began to play. Later, I was shown a translation of an article by the famous German gymnast G. Dickhut, which included the following lines: “What young Larisa Diriy showed us, we see very rarely ... It was the purest acrobatic work, in which an excellent ballet school was manifested, and wonderful musical flair that ensures harmony in complex exercises. This is an exemplary demonstration of world-class skill."

A true demonstration of mastery was Tamara Manina's floor exercises. The highest score in the free program, the largest amount and the gold medal of the world champion. Tamara is the world champion. I believed and did not believe in it, and rejoiced at the success of my friend, was surprised and drove away the thought that I could also perform well, because I am in the group of leaders. However, the heavy burden of leadership then was clearly beyond my strength. Fell off the bars! Quite rightly, the losses were estimated at two points. Both Tamara Manina and the most experienced Maria Gorokhovskaya failed. Fortunately, Galya Shamray withstood all the exhausting vicissitudes of the struggle and boldly attacked the peak, which, to tell the truth, we were afraid to think about.

The USSR national team won the first place, and Larisa Latynina (Diriy) in its composition received the first gold medal of the world champion.

Melbourne was two years away. Larisa and her coach Alexander Semenovich Mishakov were looking for a special style where sport would be in harmony with artistry. The search was not easy. Sometimes I had to hear reproaches: "You drag ballet into gymnastics, but here you don’t need to show feelings."

Semenych taught us to think, to solve something on our own at every training session. However, he recognized improvisation at that time within very definite limits. "You first learn, repeat, and then wait for the spark of God," he told me. And I taught and repeated dozens and hundreds of times.

In March 1956, Larisa won major international competitions in Kyiv, defeating Tamara Manina, Sofya Muratova and Galina Shamray. Behind were the Czech Eva Bosakova and the Hungarian Agnes Keleti. Moreover, she won the all-around and won on three shells. In May, L. Latynina won the USSR Cup in Baku. This was followed by the USSR championship and two gold awards for the jump and floor exercises. This meant that the corporate style of Larisa was to the liking of the judges.

And then came December 3, 1956. The team consisting of P. Astakhova, L. Kalinina, L. Latynina, T. Manina, S. Muratova, L. Egorova entered the Melbourne Olympic platform. All are Olympic debutantes.

"Do everything as you can, as you have already done, and you will perform well," Alexander Semenovich told me. Previously, these words would have sowed many doubts in me, but now experience has already suggested: yes, perhaps this is true. I saw in training that I do a lot no worse than recognized masters.

After two shells, the best of us, Sonya Muratova, is in third place, and I am in sixth. After the jumps, we come out as a team in first place and win more points. Now you can calmly figure out your personal chances - there is a whole day of rest ahead. So, in the all-around in the first place, the Romanian Elena Leushtyanu. Agnes Keleti, as we expected, summed up the jumps - she is in fourth place ... Sonya is in second place, and I am in third. There are thousandths of points between us and the leader, and Tamara, who is in fifth place, loses a little to Keleti. So everything is ahead. "Third place is very good for you," Mishakov told me, "but you still have to hold on."

"Do everything as you have already done," I repeated to myself before the jump. I don’t know if it was the high automaticity of the skill, as I was told later, or something else, but from the whole jump, I only remembered landing on the boards. The fact that the score was the highest of the day, I found out later. But now the freestyle has passed: both Agnes Keleti and I have the largest and equal amounts. I rejoiced at this victory then still unconsciously, and then I already realized it as a personal achievement, as an advantage of style. Apparently, during these hours I believed in myself, after a break on the uneven bars I performed easily, calmly and received the highest mark for all days in Melbourne for women - 9.6. It also gave me a total of second place behind Keleti and a silver medal.

So, balance on a log. It was that moment of the 16th Olympic Games when the calm left me. At first, I felt like a enslaved mannequin on a log, and then, when the movements nevertheless gained ease, I thought: do not break, do not break. This is a very bad refrain. Under it you forget about everything else. Well, can an actor ignite the viewer if during a monologue he repeats to himself: "Do not forget, do not forget." He will not forget, but he will be quickly forgotten. After Melbourne, I managed to get rid of such a refrain. It seemed that not a minute and a half, but an hour and a half passed, until I jumped off the log. Here is the score. I don’t have time to perceive it yet, but I understand that since Lina and Lida are kissing and hugging me and all the girls are running towards me - victory!

On the ship "Georgia" I was given a badge and a certificate of the Honored Master of Sports of the USSR and a cake. Both were supposed to be in our delegation for gold medals. The badge is individual, cakes are for everyone who enters the cabin. For a long, long time "Georgia" walked ...

I remember many meetings in my homeland, but this first one after my first Olympic Games was especially unexpected. Until those minutes, until we descended onto the snow-covered Vladivostok coast, we all lived in the world of sports. Whether in the Olympic mixture of peoples, or in our delegation, or in a hall full of spectators, we were still in the familiar environment of people who knew the value of sports, victories and defeats. And only here we realized how many people, seemingly uninvolved in sports, were waiting for us, waiting for victory, watching and worrying, rejoicing and upset.

People met our train from Vladivostok at all stations and at such hours when it was time for us and those who met us to sleep. The train ran for more than 8 days, and all this time in our compartments, on the platforms of the stations, even where the train passed half-stations and sidings, we felt something incomparably more than benevolent curiosity and attention. We felt recognition, recognition of the people, recognition of a great country.

1957 Larisa Latynina wins the European Cup and wins all four exercises. In an equal struggle, her new style is affirmed.

Moscow Palace of Sports. Here, in 1958, the opening of the World Championship is being prepared, the second in a row, in which Latynina was to start. But unlike the first start in 1954, she had to defend the right to be called the best gymnast on the planet. The fight for this title began ahead of time, in December 1957 at the USSR championship. Larisa loses the competition for the absolute championship to Sofya Muratova. Wins only in floor exercises.

There are things in a woman's life that the magic of sports, or the arts, or the ability to build dams and fly planes recede. Everything recedes. I'm expecting a baby. It seems that I have just entered here, into the white-and-green house of the clinic on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard. In front of me is a calm gray-haired professor.

What are your plans, girl?

What are my plans now? What you say, I will do.

When I didn’t wait, I was going to perform at the World Championships in July.

In July ... - the professor thought about it and said calmly: - Well, speak out!

In July, and only not a word to anyone. Commissions, councils will begin, they themselves will be frightened and will frighten you.

But is it dangerous, doctor?

Listen to me girl! I understand gymnastics worse than you, of course, but in ballet, let's say, I'm a well-known midwife. And in medicine I already understand much better than in ballet and gymnastics. I tell you: if you are a brave person, speak up. The child will be healthy, the mother will be happy, the professor will be happy. What else? If you are a coward, sit down, start dying of fear right now.

Professor?!

Do you know what doctor Anton Chekhov said? "Where is art, where is talent, there is no old age, no loneliness, no illness, and half death itself." Risk? And I tell you that this is only your risk.

I went out and laughed out loud: it was heard on the whole boulevard. I could now shout over the bells that rang on the nearby five-domed church. Professor, thank you, professor!

"Only you risk," the professor told me then. But is it? There is a huge personal risk. It's scary to think about misfortune. But there is a risk of another kind: I am the leader of the team, I will perform last - this is recognition of the class, recognition of my ability to win. And this is a trust that you will think about more than once or twice.

"To her title of absolute champion of the Olympic Games, Larisa Latynina, of course, wants to add the title of world champion," they write in Soviet Sport. And who doesn't want to? Now, if only in one copy of the newspaper they wrote how to do it.

And here I am standing on the podium. I am awarded the gold medal of the absolute world champion. No, this is not a night, not a dream, not a dream: this is reality. There are still finals on shells ahead. As a team, we won the championship confidently and with a big advantage. I remember how the stands chanted: "Congratulations to Laura, congratulations!" This is not the rumble of someone else's hall, where you need to win support, sympathy. These are their own, native walls, native people. It's good to perform at home!

I remember the happy face of Alexander Semenovich Mishakov - the day before, Boris Shakhlin became the absolute world champion.

Two absolute world champions - students of the same coach - this has never happened in world gymnastics!

I managed to win first places in jumps and uneven bars.

Congratulating Tamara, who became the world champion in beam exercises, she whispered to her:

Tamar, but I'm expecting a baby.

Ah, - Tamara waved her hand, - you always come up with something utterly outrageous.

The professor turned out to be right: my Tanya was born a healthy, mobile girl. Ten days have passed since her birth, I turned 24 years old. I was a happy mom.

What more could you want? I had the highest titles in gymnastics ... But all this has already taken place. And again I waited, counting on my fingers, how much time would pass when I could again truly plunge headlong into our seething beautiful world of sports. Feet themselves led to the gym.

Spring has come, I said goodbye to the institute. I will not hide, I was pleased with the diploma with honors.

Ahead was preparation for the II Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. I was returning. Let it be difficult, painful, but returned.

And now the meeting of the coaching council, there are no special reasons for excitement: the Ukrainian team is six people, I should find a place there. The place was found, but I also heard such comments:

For the entire collection did not make a single combination to the end. Well, in Moscow, Mishakov will have to play for her ?!

Polina Astakhova is very strong in the USSR national team, Lida Ivanova-Kalinina, who became the champion of the USSR in 1958, is on the rise. Then, after the championship, a comic impromptu sounded: "We wish Kalinina to win under Latynina." Well, now with me it’s easy to win. Both Tamara and Sonya are ready to win. Or maybe someone else. Here in Voronezh, Tamara Lyukhina grew up - a thin, miniature, chiseled girl.

Moscow, Spartakiad. And I'm fourth again. Not a single gold medal. One silver - in jumps. But I'm happy. Still, I returned. Nothing that today the absolute champion of the USSR Lina Astakhova is much stronger than me. It's nothing that ahead of me are old rivals and girlfriends. I did not let the Ukrainian team down - the second behind Lina. Fourth in the Union, which means - again in the team. So, in the year that separates the Spartakiad from the Olympic Games, I will not be able to add?

It will be a very difficult year, ”Semyonitch told me thoughtfully then.

"It seemed to many that Larisa would no longer be able to return to trophies in the gymnastics arena" - these are the words from the newspaper. They were written after the Olympic Games in Rome. But they were said before the start of the Games. The Roman Olympics was marked by the sharpest rivalry between two outstanding Soviet gymnasts - Larisa Latynina and Polina Astakhova.

We started with jumps. Sony's best score is 9,566. I have - 9,533. Lina gets 9,466. After the second type, where Lina, having brilliantly completed the entire combination on the uneven bars, gets 9.8, and I 9.7, she becomes the leader. Neither before Rome, nor in Rome, nor after Rome, I have never been engaged in calculations of my own and other people's marks during the competition. If Semenych planned something for himself, he showed me all the notes after the competition: it worked, it didn't work. But when they called the amount of the leader and my next, there was nothing to count - I was losing thirty-three thousandths. And very calmly, I went to perform on the balance beam. Here I was “shaken”, and quite rightly “deductions” followed and the result was 9.366. Then - an excellent performance by Lina - 9.5. After we got equal marks for freestyle, it turned out that Astakhova was ahead of me by 177 thousandths, almost two tenths. Is it a lot or a little?

Meanwhile, Boris Shakhlin won another title of absolute Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics. I congratulated Boris and Semenych.

Well, - Alexander Semenovich told me, - tomorrow we will congratulate you.

Do you still believe?

Do you believe? Yes, I have written in the plan - two absolute Olympic champions. Do you know how plans are made and then approved? Show? So you won the world championship in Moscow, which means that now you can’t do less.

And jump again. Score 9.433, in one form I win back from Lina almost everything that she has accumulated during the first day. But the next view is the bars, where Polina was then unsurpassed. Here she returns her one-tenth. Then the log. Boldly forward. And, as always, don't think about evaluation, don't think about danger, don't think about rivals. Think about how best to perform, showing everything that you can do, spiritualizing the skill with feeling.

The result turned out according to the mood - 9.7.

Polina could not keep her balance. She fell and with a score of 8.733 dropped out of the fight for the championship. Many years later, I say again that I would be truly happy in Rome if we fought with her for absolute primacy on an equal footing to the end. This did not happen, and many were quick to declare that, if not for the fall, Astakhova would have become an Olympic champion. I can say: yes, it is very possible, it would have happened. But it may very well be that everything would have been decided in the last form.

I was preparing for the free, and before my eyes stood the face of Polina, crying on the bench. Many years later, in a very unpleasant conversation, they told me: "Sport has made you cruel." Cruel? I will never agree with this. Sport has made us adamant - that's right.

After a moment of weakness, Polina enters the platform and brilliantly performs freestyle. They applauded and shouted in all the stands. The spotlights illuminating the platform shone in a new way. And at that moment, preparing for my exit, I again did not think about the assessment, I knew: only an accident can now deprive me of the title of absolute champion. An accident is possible, but I don’t even think to be insured and cautious. I had to show everything that I can, express everything that I feel.

One and a half minutes of music, as well as ninety seconds of movement, is probably not enough to leave a very deep impression. And yet, merged together, they have a lot to say. In these moments, everything depends on you. Do not think about how to pass the diagonal and get into the rack, do not spend the last minutes repeating the flasks. Think about one thing: how best to convey everything you want to say with your movements, what each of them serves. Then, in Rome, I knew it. I really wanted these freestyles to become an event not only for me. I started and finished them in the same breath. Perhaps for the first time in my life, I captiously listened to the noise of applause. And even before the evaluation of the judges - 9.9 - she knew: she did what she planned.

And here are the results of the absolute championship: I am the first, Sonya Muratova is the second, Lina Astakhova is the third, Rita Nikolaeva is the fourth, Lida Ivanova is the seventh. A zero mark on the balance beam threw Tamara Lyukhina far away, but she also receives a gold medal for the team victory. As a team, we beat the Czech girls by almost nine points, and the day of the finals was our day.

The world press was full of enthusiastic responses. Newspaper "Messagero": "Russian girls collected handfuls of Olympic medals at the Terme." "Russian gymnasts are amazing" - a big headline in the Stockholm newspaper "Svenska Dagbladet".

"German Olympic Newspaper", on the front page: "Russian gymnasts, as it was already in Helsinki, Melbourne, turned out to be invincible in Rome. After success in the team event and triumph in the individual event in gymnastic all-around, Russian girls in the final competitions on individual apparatus 11 out of 12 Olympic medals played. English newspapers: The "calm gymnasts" of the Soviet Union "dominated the Olympic competitions." “Soviet gymnasts,” Gianni Rodari wrote in Paee Sera, “gave on television the most beautiful picture of the Olympic Games. We have never seen anything more beautiful than this performance of beauty, grace and harmony ...” “Soviet gymnasts swept away all opponents. They they took everything that could be taken away and stunned everyone ... For the third time in a row, the Soviet Union dominates gymnastics at the Olympics. A television commentator said: "Gymnastics is a festival of the USSR."

Look, one effusive fan told me that evening, it was phenomenal. Medals rained down on you from the sky, as in a good starfall.

No, sir, - I answered, - we get each medal from the sky ourselves. "Everyone has their own stars."

Possessing all the titles that exist in world gymnastics, being a recognized prima in this sport, L. Latynina for many years could not win the domestic championship of her country - the competition among her friends and rivals was so great. But this tradition was put to an end: in 1961, and then in 1962, Larisa became the absolute champion of the USSR.

In 1961, the grandiose exhibition hall of the city of Leipzig hosted the European Championship, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world in those years. L. Latynina won the European Cup and floor exercises. For the rest of my life, sports happiness and its ornament remained in my memory: a rumbling thunderstorm, the lights that went out during the performance and red-crimson roses that were presented to the winners in Leipzig.

1962 Prague is hosting the World Cup. The third championship of this level for Larisa Latynina. The very fact of holding the largest gymnastic forum in the capital of Czechoslovakia testified to the international recognition of the success of the gymnasts of this country, and above all Eva Bosakova and Vera Chaslavskaya - the main rivals of Larisa Latynina and her teammates.

It was necessary to prove the priority of the Soviet gymnastic school in the most acute struggle.

Before the start of tedious minutes. Five of our girls in front of me will pass the projectile. I am the leader of the team, the last one is the sixth. The first knows in advance: no chance for personal success, work only for the team. And the second, they believe, does not have much chance, and the third. That's why after the coach's reflections, before the competition, we already know their opinion exactly by the numbers: who is who in the team.

Finally the first day is over. There is no need to do the arithmetic itself: I am the leader. I win two and a half tenths. Yes, the predictions come true: the struggle is super-tense, nervous... Today the battle has just begun. In a day, in the evening, the palace of many thousands will support the leader of the Czechoslovak team with all their might. Hot palms of the fans do not know tired. It will be hot, it will be hot. Will my gold melt into silver in this heat? By this time, we will not be able to change anything, we will be witnesses. Interested, worried, finger-tightening, lip-biting bystanders. And we can decide everything in our favor the day before. Need to sleep.

The rhythms of Lysenko's prelude captured me for so long that, starting to prepare for Prague, I asked our composer-accompanist Yevsey Gdalevich Vevrik: "Let's do something new, but in the same rhythm." It turned out to be impossible to pick up music for such an order, and then Vevrik composed it. He sighed deeply.

Oh, double responsibility, the classics are not enough for you, and in our Union there are better composers than me. But in general (this is already confidential to me), what you need.

I myself saw, heard: "what you need." When my freestyle ended, I saw the mark - 9.9 and quickly looked at Vevrik. He sat at the instrument tired, stooped, and in the daylight his gray hair was visible. He smiled happily, slowly.

Thank you, Evsey Gdalevich.

Ah," he waved his hand, "if you only knew what I've been through. No, you don't understand that, - he waved his hand again, weakly, devastated. - I'll go for a walk, I'll think.

The Prague championship entered the history of world gymnastics as another triumph of Latynina: she is the absolute world champion (already two-time), the USSR team is the first, Larisa is still invincible in her favorite floor exercises. The fact became just as obvious: Vera Chaslavska came to world gymnastics in earnest and for a long time, which means that in Tokyo (and there were still 2 years left before the Olympics), a fierce struggle was coming.

You know, they are talking about me, - A.S. once said to me in an undertone. Mishakov, - that my ideas are outdated, I represent yesterday's gymnastics and that I am already a grandfather.

Well, I am the grandmother of our gymnastics.

We understood: when Boris Shakhlin lost the title of absolute champion last year on the last apparatus, some people were frankly happy: well, change of champions, progress. Enough with the same win. But that year Boris won again at the Spartakiad. And I ... lost to Sonya Muratova three tenths in the all-around. And she did not win a single gold medal in the shells.

You are a little tired, Larisa, - our doctor Mikhal Mikhalych said with conviction, coughing delicately.

Tired? Nothing like this. The Spartakiad had just ended, and already it was necessary to get ready for a long journey. In Brazil, in the city of Porto Allegro, the World Universiade. Let for someone I am the grandmother of Russian gymnastics, but I am not yet twenty-nine years old, I am a graduate student and must perform at student competitions.

After the Universiade, they dissuade me from going to Japan. Michal Mikhalych is leaning anxiously over my cardiogram. Extrasystole. In Russian: interruptions of the heart. It's not the first time I've experienced them. Before the European Cup, I went for a consultation with Professor Letunov.

I have to go to the hospital for a month, - Serafim Petrovich looked at me through the thick lenses of his glasses very angrily. He knew very well that I would not go to the hospital. We agreed: it will be enough to drink calcium chloride every day. I left a large bottle of this drug in a Moscow hotel. And now again this extrasystole.

Go for a consultation!

I go to the third ("decisive") floor of the Central Council and say: "It will be a big mistake if, a year before the Olympic Games, we leave rivals in Tokyo without competition!"

Offers?

Go to Tokyo!

And I'm going. And the extrasystole does not prevent me from winning the all-around, freestyle and balance beam. This is the open championship of Japan, I become the absolute champion of the Land of the Rising Sun.

However, all thoughts are about the Olympics, which will take place here, in Tokyo, but in a year.

Later, when they showed me the recordings of the workloads of 1964, it turned out that before Tokyo I had done almost twice as much work as usual. But fitness has never been measured by fitness alone. The psychological climate in front of Tokyo created a mood: you need to catch up. It seemed why? After all, I was the leader. Vera Chaslavska has not yet won a single competition against me, including the last one in Japan.

Before the start of the competition, the definition of the order of our performance in terms of shells clearly said: the coaches believe that there are two leaders in the team - Lina Astakhova and me. The time has passed when the struggle for supremacy was ours internal affairs. It was useless to fight the rival in tandem: we just lacked those hundredths that add up to tenths, and we lost six of them - which are given to one, only one leader. Once again I want to say that either Lina or I could be such a leader. Who exactly - the coaches had to decide. Some of us would certainly be offended. But someone, perhaps, could win the medal of the absolute champion. After all, even with the alignment of forces that was adopted, we lost a little. In the absolute championship, this time we were prepared for the second and third places.

Yes, we lost to Vera Cheslavskaya. And lost to a worthy opponent.

"On a pedestal, every step is honorable." I was able to perform almost exactly the same as in Rome on all apparatuses: uneven bars - the second, beam - the second, jump - the third.

Polina Astakhova became the Olympic champion on uneven bars. In front of the freestyle that took place on the last day, I knew: here, too, everything will be decided a little bit. Let someone reproach me with insincerity, but thinking about the victory, I did not think about the gold medal. After all, I have already won it and the most honorable - together with the team. But I needed a victory: I simply did not have the right to end the Olympic path with a defeat. And not only for me: before the last hours of the competition, we were still behind the American delegation in the unofficial team standings by eleven and a half points. Points, medals: the boring arithmetic of sports. But because it is boring to someone from the outside, you cannot abolish it. Then it turned out that after our medals with Polina, the victory of boxer Boris Lagutin in the final was required, and the delegation came out on top.

Ah, arithmetic! Well, not only arithmetic ... The Times wrote in those days about the freemen: “In the life of every person there are several moments of such beauty that causes tears and tightness in the chest. It can be a sunset in the mountains, a picture, some kind of musical excerpt, this may be one of those rare moments when a sport suddenly becomes an art form.

We experienced one such moment here in Tokyo, when Latynina charmed us with her floor exercises. At this point, she was not just a great gymnast. She was the epitome of youth, beauty and brilliance."

“Latynina remains in my memory. Now she is 29 years old, perhaps we will never see her like this again. But it is moments like those that she gave us this evening that give rise to eternal hopes.”

To this day, Larisa Latynina remains the only gymnast who managed to win gold medals in floor exercises at three Olympics in a row - in Melbourne (1956), in Rome (1960) and Tokyo (1964) and the only winner of 18 Olympic Games in the history of the Olympic Games. medals, of which 9 are gold.

And then the moment came when my hopes became less and less associated with big gymnastics. Back in 1962, in front of Prague, I, laughing, drove away the thought of parting with sports, thinking that oh, how far, far away until the moment of farewell. No one in our team had such an idea. But now 1964 has passed, and our miracle team is gone. Lida Ivanova and Ira Pervushina also left for Tokyo (both with knee injuries). After Tokyo, Sonya Muratova, Tamara Manina, Tamara Lyukhina said goodbye to gymnastics. And what is absolutely strange, those young people who diluted our team in Tokyo, Lyusya Gromova and Lena Volchetskaya, also left gymnastics.

On a January day in 1965, I was waiting in front of the Sports Palace for Alexander Semenovich, and my thoughts were completely unhappy. Recently, I lost the USSR championship here to a 15-year-old girl, Larisa Petrik. And surprisingly, I'm twice her age.

I'm getting ready to compete at the 1965 European Championship. And it brings me second places. Five silver medals. I won against Larisa Petrik, as predicted by Mishakov, and the first place was again against Chaslavskaya. And this time without any "buts". She's stronger, that's all. Then the autumn of the same year in Mexico City, when I finally realized that I could not make it to the Olympics. And if so, it was necessary to outline your own The Last Frontier. And I outlined it: September 1966, the world championship in Dortmund.

I have been asked questions more than once: "Did you have a desire to leave earlier, undefeated, or in the opeole of your last success in Tokyo?" And I, without hesitation at all, answered: “No. I never connected my gymnastics only with victories. If a strong opponent had appeared earlier and beat me in 1960 or 1962, would I have to leave? who did I beat? When an athlete tries to leave undefeated, although he can still give something to the sport, to people, he retreats. Outwardly, this courage - he left in the prime of life. In essence, this is cowardice: he is afraid to lose. I lost both in Tokyo and in Sofia. I knew very well that I would not win in Dortmund, but I also knew something else: I have enough strength to perform for the team! Unfortunately, in a bitter struggle, we lost only thirty-eight thousandths to the Czechoslovak team! .. He teaches and lose.

Vera Chaslavska and Natalia Kuchinskaya fought for the victory in the absolute championship. However, here the Czechoslovak gymnast turned out to be stronger. In some events, the score has already changed in favor of Kuchinskaya - she won three gold medals. At seventeen, no one before her had known such a phenomenal rise in gymnastics.

In 1966, Larisa Latynina finally ended her gymnast career, and the following year she received an offer to become the head coach of the USSR national team. The beginning of her coaching work coincided with the difficult times of the Soviet women's gymnastics: positions in the team and absolute championship were lost, there was a painful process of becoming essentially a new team.

It included four gymnasts who performed in Dortmund: Natalya Kuchinskaya, Larisa Petrik, Zinaida Voronina and Olga Karaseva (Kharlova). With them, already "smelling gunpowder" of international competitions, the main hopes were pinned. However, the team also included very young gymnasts: 16-year-old Lyudmila Turishcheva and 15-year-old Lyubov Burda. They were seen on the platforms of Leningrad, Gorky, Budapest, Bucharest, Paris ... And everywhere their main rivals were Czechoslovak gymnasts.

Before the Olympics in Mexico City in 1968, the task was to achieve victory in the team competition. The struggle turned out to be difficult, the debutantes of the national team made mistakes. But the task was solved: in the mandatory program, a slight advantage was won, which we managed to keep in the free program.

Happy Mexico! Six girls from the Soviet Union are returning the title of champions of the Olympic Games to our country. We won, and then not very many in the delegation could say that. I was congratulated, they talked about the youngest winning team in the history of gymnastics. Yes, average age our team is eighteen years old. You can think about a long-term perspective, about what each one will add in skill, and the whole team will cement itself after Mexico City, harden even more ... Our "miracle team" of 1956-1962 was already in our eyes.

It seemed that there was every reason to build on the success achieved at the Olympics next year. However, the illness of N. Kuchinskaya, forced breaks in training L. Petrik and Z. Voronina again put the USSR national team in difficult conditions. As a result, at the European Championships in Landskrona, the GDR athletes took the championship, and 17-year-old Karin Janz confidently took the place of the new leader in European gymnastics. She won four of the five gold medals. Comparing with this the achievements of O. Karaseva (gold and silver medals) and L. Turishcheva (bronze medals), one could come to pessimistic conclusions.

However, Larisa Latynina believed in her wards. She could not agree with the opinion of experts who, after the defeat in Landskrona, hastened to declare Janz's performance the style that belongs to the future. Her impeccable technical perfection, accentuated by the complexity of the program, according to Larisa Semyonovna, still could not serve as a model, and the assertions that Yants "soon and very soon" would be unattainable were too categorical. The leadership of the Soviet national team was convinced that the team had taken the right course and that soon our gymnasts would enter the cohort of the strongest.

After Mexico City, the Soviet team actually became the strongest in the world. Formally, it was necessary to return the title of champions at the next world championship in Ljubljana. By this time, Lyudmila Turishcheva and Lyubov Burda had advanced to the positions of leaders in the team, and 16-year-old Tamara Lazakovich became the only addition to the team. Zinaida Voronina also continued to perform.

The gymnasts were given a fundamentally important task: to return the absolute primacy. Events showed that she was on the shoulder of the new team leader - Lyudmila Turishcheva. She won in a bitter rivalry with famous German gymnasts Karin Janz and Erika Zuchold. Zinaida Voronina also performed well, taking third place in the all-around, uneven bars and floor exercises.

In 1971, at the European Championships in Minsk, yesterday's debutant of the national team Tamara Lazakovich took the first position in domestic, European and world gymnastics. Together with Lyudmila Turishcheva, they shared all the gold and silver medals of the championship.

On the eve of the XX Olympic Games in Munich, the USSR national team once again rejuvenated. According to the results of the qualifying competitions, experienced Larisa Petrik, Zinaida Voronina and Olga Karaseva retreated before the onslaught of young Olga Korbut, Antonina Koshel and Elvira Saadi. These changes were clearly beneficial: the Soviet team won team gold, Lyudmila Turishcheva became the absolute champion, and the same L. Turishcheva, as well as T. Lazakovich and O. Korbut, reigned supreme in the apparatus exercises.

1974 World Championship in Varna (Bulgaria). The team performed brilliantly, winning 5 gold (team, L. Turishcheva - all-around, beam exercises and floor exercises, O. Korbut - jump), 5 silver (4 of them - O. Korbut and one - L. Turishcheva) and 4 bronze (L. Turishcheva, N. Kim, E. Saadi, R. Sikharulidze) medals.

During the 1973-1974 competitions, we were constantly waiting for an attack on the leadership positions. Anyone who analyzes the development of world gymnastics must be aware that leaders who have gone far ahead are catching up with redoubled perseverance. Fashion in the art of gymnastics is dictated by those who are not satisfied with today's examples. A clear evidence of this was the tenth European Championship in Norway. These competitions were marked by a major success for the young Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci. Unfortunately, Lyudmila Turishcheva turned out to be unprepared for a sharp fight.

However, it would be highly unreasonable to speak of Comaneci's victory as an accident. The achievements of the Romanian gymnast are the fruit of thoughtful and very purposeful preparation. Despite her incomplete 14 years, it was she who said a new word in gymnastics in 1975.

At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, the rivalry between the gymnasts was sharper than ever. For the USSR national team, of course, the main task was to continue the tradition of victories in the team championship. Having won in Montreal, the team of Soviet gymnasts set a kind of unofficial record for the Olympic Games. The fact is that not a single team in any sport managed to win seven times in a row in the post-war Olympic cycle.

Nadia Comaneci became the Olympic champion in the all-around.

In apparatus exercises, under the then valid offset conditions, Soviet gymnasts won 8 medals out of 12 possible: 3 gold - one team, two - from N. Kim (jump, floor exercises), 4 silver - L. Turishcheva (jump, floor exercises), O. Korbut (beam exercises), N. Kim (all-around), bronze - L. Turishcheva (all-around) and scored about 74 percent of possible test points. Undoubted success. But...

Big sport is often big intrigues. This cup did not pass and Larisa Semyonovna. After Montreal, she was accused of the fact that our gymnasts lost the absolute championship to the Romanian athlete. They said: they say, gymnastics is not the same anymore, Latynina preaches femininity, but tricks, speed and complex elements are needed ... In 1977, tired of undeserved reproaches coming from sports officials, Larisa Semenovna, not seeing any further opportunity to work in such conditions, submitted a letter of resignation from coaching.

For four years, L.S. Latynina worked in the Organizing Committee "Olympics-80", where she oversaw the preparation and conduct of gymnastics competitions. After the usual coaching work, she mastered a new field for herself: she dealt with the construction and equipment of gyms, providing athletes with uniforms and necessary equipment, etc., represented the organizing committee at all major international gymnastics competitions held in those years, including championships world and Europe.

Then she worked in the Sports Committee of the city of Moscow, for 10 years she was the head coach of the Moscow national gymnastics team. Over the years, gymnasts from the capital have won the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, the USSR Cup.

In 1990 L.S. Latynina worked at the Charity Fund "Physical Education and Health", which was headed by the Honored Master of Sports, three-time Olympic champion Tamara Press, until 1992 Larisa Semyonovna was the Deputy Director of the Fund. In 1997-1999, she worked as Deputy General Director of the Russian-German joint venture Gefest. From 1991 to the present, she has been a member of the bureau of the Union of Athletes of Russia.

L.S. Latynina - Honored Master of Sports (1957), Honored Trainer of the USSR (1969), Honored Worker of Physical Culture Russian Federation(1997). She was awarded the Order of Lenin (1957), the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1980), three Orders of the Badge of Honor (1960, 1969, 1972), the Order of Honor (2001), and medals. For outstanding services, the President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, presented L.S. Latynina in 1991 with the Silver Order of the International Olympic Committee. "Children's" branch of UNESCO - UNICEF - awarded Latynina "Golden Tuning Fork". The name of Larisa Latynina is included in the unique list of athletes in New York - the Hall of Olympic Glory. In 2000, at the Olympic Ball in the nomination "The Best Athletes of Russia of the 20th Century", she was included in this magnificent ten, and according to a survey of the world's leading sports journalists, Latynina, along with Alexander Karelin, was named among the 25 outstanding athletes of the century.

Peru L.S. Latynina owns the books "Sunny Youth" (in Ukrainian, 1958), "Equilibrium" (1970, 1975), "What is the name of this girl" (1974), "Gymnastics through the years" (1977), "Team" (1977). She was published in the magazines "Ogonyok", "Znamya", "Theatre", "Physical Culture and Sports", "Sports Life in Russia", took part in television programs.

I've been through a lot. Was married twice. But in the end I was lucky, I met Yura.

Yuri Izrailovich Feldman - Doctor of Science, professor, academician, worked as the general director of the Dynamo plant, now he is an adviser to the general director of the Joint-Stock Electrotechnical Company Dynamo. We have complete mutual understanding and common interests. For example, all my life I loved to deal with flowers. When the house was built, it became possible to create a winter garden. And my husband also fell ill with this passion. He will go to a flower shop, see some handsome man with silky leaves and take him home. Once I was in the hospital. Yura bought a palm tree, put it in the winter garden, took a picture and brought it to me: "So that I don't miss home ..." And we met thanks to the same sport. Yura - a former cyclist, raced at the same time as the Olympic champion of Rome, Viktor Kapitonov. It so happened that in 1985 we were vacationing together in the Moscow region, in the Voronovo rest house. My future husband invited me to play tennis somehow, and when he found out that I couldn’t hold a racket in my hands, he suggested that I learn this game and train with him on the tennis court. Since then, tennis has become a serious hobby for both of us.

We got married in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin on the territory of the Dynamo plant. In the restoration of this church, Yura, while still being the chief engineer of the plant, took an active part.

The married couple Larisa Latynina and Yuri Feldman have another common hobby. From her youth, Larisa Semyonovna loves to sing, and Yuri Izrailovich in student years was a soloist of the popular vocal and instrumental ensemble "Searchers". Now they sing a duet, more often romances, which bring them unspeakable joy. For several years they have been playing tennis and billiards together.

In the early 1990s, L. Latynina and Y. Feldman received a plot of land of 12 acres and began building their own house. Subsequently, they were lucky enough to rent almost 3 more hectares. Now there is everything you need for life and what you could only dream of before: a man-made pond, a tennis court, greenhouses and a homestead, where their numerous pets live - the cow Malyshka, the Bourgeois bull, Mike's heifer, horses Nochka and Zvezdochka, goats , turkeys, chickens, seven cats, a huge Caucasian shepherd dog named Lott ... The couple planted an orchard (over a hundred roots), and recently laid a whole pine forest. Larisa Semyonovna breeds flowers, does not shy away from any work in the garden and vegetable garden that she has been accustomed to since childhood, and takes care of animals. They are helped in this by family friends - Anatoly and his wife Valentina.

Together with them, the son of Yu.I. Feldman Sergey with his wife Irina and grandson Yura, as well as her husband's brother Yakov Izrailevich.

Once I had an idea to send my daughter Tanya to ballet. But she didn't decide. Tanyusha attended the section for two months rhythmic gymnastics, then she was engaged in diving, and not bad, until she "earned" inflammation of the middle ear. In the end, I sent her to the Moiseev school. After graduating from it, Tanya danced for 15 years in the Beryozka ensemble. She traveled all over the world, and on tour in Venezuela she met her future husband, Rostislav Ordovsky-Tanaevsky Blanco.

At first I was totally against it. Husband is a foreigner! But did they ask me. One thing was reassuring, that Rostislav has Russian roots. His great-grandfather was the governor of Tobolsk. In 1918 he left for Yugoslavia with his family. Rostislav's father was born there, who, despite the fact that he lived far from his homeland, was fluent in Russian, knew our history and literature. He also taught his son his native language, although Rostislav is half Spaniard and was born in Venezuela.

The ironic Larisa Semyonovna likes to call herself "the grandmother of Russian gymnastics." However, fresh thoughts social role sports, about the ways of development of her favorite gymnastics give the right to call Latynina a poet, a romantic of the beautiful world of movements. She was recently named to the Board of Trustees of the Latin American Dance World Cup.

L.S. Latynina is akin in spirit, in thought to the poetry of S. Yesenin, F. Tyutchev, I. Brodsky. She prefers Rachmaninov's music. Allocates outstanding masters of ballet - M. Plisetskaya, U. Lopatkina, R. Nureyev, M. Baryshnikov. For more than 30 years, she has been friends with the soloists of the ballet theater named after K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko by Galina Savarina and Mikhail Salop. Her other hobbies include painting and theater. She is a fan of T. Shmyga, O. Ostroumova, L. Guzeeva, V. Gaft, A. Mironov. His favorite films are "Cruel Romance" and "Gone with the Wind".

Latynina Larisa Semyonovna(maiden name - Diry; genus. December 27, Kherson, Ukrainian SSR, USSR) - Ukrainian Soviet gymnast, nine-time Olympic champion (1956, 1960, 1964), Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1956), multiple world and European champion (1957-62), USSR (1956-64 ) in individual and team competitions, Honored Trainer of the USSR (1972), Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation.

Family

• Husband (first marriage) - Ivan Ilyich Latynin
  • Daughter - Tatyana Ivanovna Latynina (born 1958), danced in the Beryozka ensemble
  • Son-in-law - Rostislav Vadimovich Ordovsky-Tanaevsky Blanco (born 1958), businessman
    • Grandchildren: Konstantin (born in 1981), Vadim (born in 1994).
• Son - Andrei (deceased)
• Husband (third marriage) - Yuri Izrailevich Feldman (born 1938), Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian and International Academy of Electrotechnical Sciences, in the past - President, General Director of Dynamo Joint-Stock Electrotechnical Company

see also

Write a review on the article "Latynina, Larisa Semyonovna"

Notes

Links

• - Olympic statistics on the site Sports-Reference.com(English)

An excerpt characterizing Latynina, Larisa Semyonovna

At the beginning of August, Helen's case was completely decided, and she wrote a letter to her husband (who she thought was very fond of her) in which she informed him of her intention to marry NN and that she had entered into the one true religion and that she asks him to complete all the formalities necessary for the divorce, which the bearer of this letter will convey to him.
“Sur ce je prie Dieu, mon ami, de vous avoir sous sa sainte et puissante garde. Votre amie Helene.
[“Then I pray to God that you, my friend, be under his holy strong cover. Your friend Elena"]
This letter was brought to Pierre's house while he was on the Borodino field.

The second time, already at the end of the Battle of Borodino, having escaped from the Raevsky battery, Pierre with crowds of soldiers headed along the ravine to Knyazkov, reached the dressing station and, seeing blood and hearing screams and groans, hastily moved on, getting mixed up in the crowds of soldiers.
One thing that Pierre now wanted with all the strength of his soul was to get out of those terrible impressions in which he lived that day as soon as possible, return to the usual conditions of life and fall asleep peacefully in the room on his bed. Only under ordinary conditions of life did he feel that he would be able to understand himself and all that he had seen and experienced. But these ordinary conditions of life were nowhere to be found.
Although the balls and bullets did not whistle here along the road along which he walked, but from all sides it was the same as it was there, on the battlefield. There were the same suffering, tormented and sometimes strangely indifferent faces, the same blood, the same soldier's overcoats, the same sounds of shooting, although distant, but still terrifying; in addition, there was stuffiness and dust.
After walking about three versts along the high Mozhaisk road, Pierre sat down on its edge.
Twilight descended on the earth, and the rumble of the guns subsided. Pierre, leaning on his arm, lay down and lay for such a long time, looking at the shadows moving past him in the darkness. Incessantly it seemed to him that with a terrible whistle a cannonball flew at him; he winced and got up. He did not remember how long he had been here. In the middle of the night, three soldiers, dragging branches, placed themselves beside him and began to make fire.
The soldiers, looking sideways at Pierre, kindled a fire, put a bowler hat on it, crumbled crackers into it and put lard. The pleasant smell of edible and greasy food merged with the smell of smoke. Pierre got up and sighed. The soldiers (there were three of them) ate, not paying attention to Pierre, and talked among themselves.
- Yes, which one will you be? one of the soldiers suddenly turned to Pierre, obviously meaning by this question what Pierre thought, namely: if you want to eat, we will give, just tell me, are you an honest person?
- I? me? .. - said Pierre, feeling the need to belittle his social position as much as possible in order to be closer and more understandable to the soldiers. - I'm a real militia officer, only my squad is not here; I came to the battle and lost mine.
- You see! one of the soldiers said.
The other soldier shook his head.
- Well, eat, if you want, kavardachka! - said the first and gave Pierre, licking it, a wooden spoon.
Pierre sat down by the fire and began to eat the kavardachok, the food that was in the pot and which seemed to him the most delicious of all the foods he had ever eaten. While he greedily, bending over the cauldron, taking away large spoons, chewed one after another and his face was visible in the light of the fire, the soldiers silently looked at him.
- Where do you need it? You say! one of them asked again.
- I'm in Mozhaisk.
- You, became, sir?
- Yes.
- What's your name?
- Pyotr Kirillovich.
- Well, Pyotr Kirillovich, let's go, we'll take you. In complete darkness, the soldiers, together with Pierre, went to Mozhaisk.
The roosters were already crowing when they reached Mozhaisk and began to climb the steep city mountain. Pierre walked along with the soldiers, completely forgetting that his inn was below the mountain and that he had already passed it. He would not have remembered this (he was in such a state of bewilderment) if his bereator had not run into him on the half of the mountain, who went to look for him around the city and returned back to his inn. The landlord recognized Pierre by his hat, which shone white in the darkness.
“Your Excellency,” he said, “we are desperate. What are you walking? Where are you, please!
“Oh yes,” said Pierre.
The soldiers paused.
Well, did you find yours? one of them said.
- Well, goodbye! Pyotr Kirillovich, it seems? Farewell, Pyotr Kirillovich! other voices said.
“Goodbye,” said Pierre and went with his bereator to the inn.
"We must give them!" thought Pierre, reaching for his pocket. “No, don’t,” a voice told him.
There was no room in the upper rooms of the inn: everyone was busy. Pierre went into the yard and, covering himself with his head, lay down in his carriage.

As soon as Pierre laid his head on the pillow, he felt that he was falling asleep; but suddenly, with the clarity of almost reality, a boom, boom, boom of shots was heard, groans, screams, the slap of shells were heard, there was a smell of blood and gunpowder, and a feeling of horror, fear of death seized him. He opened his eyes in fear and lifted his head from under his overcoat. Everything was quiet outside. Only at the gate, talking to the janitor and slapping through the mud, was some kind of orderly. Above Pierre's head, under the dark underside of the plank canopy, doves fluttered from the movement he made while rising. A peaceful, joyful for Pierre at that moment, strong smell of an inn, the smell of hay, manure and tar was poured throughout the courtyard. Between the two black awnings one could see a clear starry sky.
“Thank God that this is no more,” thought Pierre, again closing his head. “Oh, how terrible fear is, and how shamefully I gave myself up to it! And they…they were firm, calm all the time, to the very end…” he thought. In Pierre's understanding, they were soldiers - those who were on the battery, and those who fed him, and those who prayed to the icon. They - these strange, hitherto unknown to him, they were clearly and sharply separated in his thoughts from all other people.
“To be a soldier, just a soldier! thought Pierre, falling asleep. – Enter this common life with your whole being, imbue with what makes them so. But how to throw off all this superfluous, diabolical, all the burden of this external person? One time I could be it. I could run away from my father as I wished. Even after the duel with Dolokhov, I could have been sent as a soldier.” And in Pierre's imagination flashed a dinner at the club where he summoned Dolokhov, and a benefactor in Torzhok. And now Pierre is presented with a solemn dining box. This lodge takes place in the English Club. And someone familiar, close, dear, is sitting at the end of the table. Yes it is! This is a benefactor. “Yes, he died? thought Pierre. - Yes, he died; but I didn't know he was alive. And how sorry I am that he died, and how glad I am that he is alive again! On one side of the table sat Anatole, Dolokhov, Nesvitsky, Denisov and others like him (the category of these people was just as clearly defined in Pierre’s soul in a dream, as was the category of those people whom he called them), and these people, Anatole, Dolokhov loudly shouted, sang; but behind their cry was heard the voice of the benefactor, speaking incessantly, and the sound of his words was as significant and continuous as the roar of the battlefield, but it was pleasant and comforting. Pierre did not understand what the benefactor was saying, but he knew (the category of thoughts was just as clear in the dream) that the benefactor spoke of goodness, of the possibility of being what they were. And they from all sides, with their simple, kind, firm faces, surrounded the benefactor. But although they were kind, they did not look at Pierre, did not know him. Pierre wanted to draw their attention to himself and say. He got up, but at the same instant his legs became cold and bare.
He felt ashamed, and he covered his legs with his hand, from which the overcoat really fell off. For a moment, Pierre, adjusting his overcoat, opened his eyes and saw the same sheds, pillars, courtyard, but all this was now bluish, light and covered with sparkles of dew or frost.
“Dawn,” thought Pierre. “But that's not it. I need to listen to and understand the words of the benefactor.” He again covered himself with his overcoat, but there was no longer any dining box or benefactor. There were only thoughts clearly expressed in words, thoughts that someone said or Pierre himself changed his mind.
Pierre, later recalling these thoughts, despite the fact that they were caused by the impressions of that day, was convinced that someone outside of him was telling them to him. Never, as it seemed to him, was he in reality able to think and express his thoughts like that.

There are many Olympic champions in the world. But only one woman has won gold at the Olympics - nine times! Gymnast, record holder Larisa Latynina, nee Diry (born December 27, 1934 in Kherson) held an absolute record for most of her life. Indeed, until 2012, she was the most titled Olympic athlete in history and still maintains leadership among athletes. And this amazing woman won all her victories only thanks to her work and talents.

Eight-year-old Larisa became an orphan when her father died during the Great Patriotic War. The mother worked two jobs as a stoker and a cleaner, but still managed to get money to study the girl in a choreographic studio. However, the studio (the only one in the city) closed: for Larisa, who dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina, it was a blow. I had to go to the gymnastics studio. The nine-time Olympic champion got into the sport almost by accident ...

At the age of fifteen, Larisa took part in the all-Union championship for schoolchildren - and lost these competitions miserably. But failure tempered the future champion.

In the ninth grade, the girl became a master of sports, the only master of sports in Kherson. And at the age of eighteen she won the first international awards (gold) at the youth festival in Bucharest. The next year, 1954, was Rome: Larisa Diriy (she would become Latynina only after her first marriage) became the world champion for the first time.

During performances, Larisa demonstrated not only technique, but also excellent artistry. The coaches even reproached the girl for being "". One way or another, the failed ballerina defeated the rest of the gymnasts over and over again. From the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, Larisa took away a whole scattering of medals: four golds (in the absolute and team championships, in vault and floor exercises), silver (bars) and bronze (team exercises with an object). When the team returned on the liner to Vladivostok and traveled by train to Moscow (long-distance flights were still rare at that time), people greeted the gymnasts at every station and half-station.

In 1957, Larisa triumphantly completed the European Championship, winning gold medals in absolutely all categories. However, next year the girl could have left the sport: the fact is that Latynina was preparing to become a mother. Not being sure of her sporting future, Larisa hid her pregnancy, went to the World Championships and won first place there. Surprisingly, she did this on the advice of a doctor. Daughter was born healthy child, later became a dancer, fulfilling her mother's unfulfilled dream. Now Latynina already has two adult grandchildren.

Childbirth is a big test for a gymnast. Nevertheless, Larisa managed to fully recover and continued her career as a winner. She won gold, silver and bronze at both the 1960 Rome Olympics and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Latynina completed sports performances at the age of 31: a rare “longevity” for a gymnast.

However, Larisa was not used to sitting idle and immediately began a new, no less successful career. Latynina was the head coach of Soviet Olympic gymnasts in Mexico City (1968), Munich (1972), and Montreal (1976). The Soviet team during this period was the world leader.

However, despite all the merits, Larisa was dismissed from her post in 1977. Later, she was a member of the organizing committee of the Moscow Olympics, in the 80s she coached the Moscow national team, and in the 90s she was deputy director of the Physical Education and Health Foundation. Nine-time Olympic champion and now takes an active part in sports and public life countries. Looking at this woman, you can’t say that she is already over eighty!

Larisa Latynina - Soviet gymnast, nine-time Olympic champion. The record she set for the number of Olympic medals (18, half of them gold) lasted almost half a century. They say about this woman that the thirst to win is in her blood.

Childhood and youth

Larisa was born in December 1934 in Kherson. Father Semyon Diriy left the family when the girl was not yet a year old, died in the Battle of Stalingrad. His name is engraved among thousands of other names on a monument in Volgograd. In memory of the daughter, a collage assembled from two photographs was left. On the first - Larisa with her mother, her father sent his photograph shortly before the war, along with a letter in which he asked for forgiveness.

Mother Pelageya Anisimovna, an illiterate village woman, worked two jobs (a cleaner and a stoker) so that her daughter could live no worse than other children. And she studied perfectly at school, showed a strong-willed character in order to meet expectations and be the first in both games and hobbies.

View this post on Instagram

Larisa Latynina in her youth

At first, Latynina dreamed of a career as a prima of the Bolshoi Theater, she worked in a studio, which paid for half of her mother's earnings. A year later, the studio closed, but the gymnastics section that existed at the school smoothed over the feeling of loss.

The basics of ballet gave Larisa plasticity, expressiveness and the ability to improvise, putting her soul into her movements. The girl quickly outstripped her friends, even though they were older and more experienced. Coach Mikhail Sotnichenko was afraid that she would become conceited, and tried to put her in her place, giving impossible orders. He inspired the future champion with a desire to lead not only in training and competitions, but also in everyday life, to help, to do something on an equal basis with others.

Personal life

At the dawn of her career, Larisa's personal life developed successfully. She met her first husband Ivan Latynin at school. The young man studied at the nautical school. Mom, having learned that her daughter had a boyfriend, demanded to bring him home. She, after a few years, insisted on marriage.

Larisa Latynina with her husband Yuri Feldman

By that time, Larisa had achieved success in sports, her colleagues looked after her. Pelageya Anisimovna was afraid that one of them would take away her beloved child, and the young man who liked the first time would be left with nothing.

In 1958, Larisa and Ivan had a daughter, Tatyana. By the way, the gymnast performed at the world championship, being in her fifth month of pregnancy, and no one even knew about it. The marriage broke up when the woman realized that they were strangers to each other. For competitions and training, this was somehow not noticed. The couple parted calmly, without scandals, and continued to communicate, even when they got new families.

Ivan, who lives in Moscow, has a daughter, but the man did not marry her mother Nina, who remained in Kyiv.

View this post on Instagram

For Larisa, the house was in second place after sports, but she was selflessly raising her daughter. Tatyana Latynina did not follow in her mother's footsteps, she danced in the Beryozka ensemble, went on tour abroad, where she met her future husband Rostislav.

The son-in-law of the athlete is half Spaniard, originally from Venezuela, a descendant of the governor of Tobolsk, founder of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia. Together with Tatyana, the businessman raised the sons of Konstantin and Vadim. Now Larisa Semyonovna is nursing her great-grandchildren Daniil and Michel, Kostya's children.

Latynina also had a son, his name was Andrei. He died, the cause of death was not called, and his mother prefers not to advertise the details.

View this post on Instagram

The same mystery surrounds the second husband of Larisa Semyonovna, whose name she does not mention either in her memoirs or in any interview. It is only known that the athlete lived with this man for 10 years, deceived by the illusion of love and receiving only grief and suffering in return.

I don't wish that on any woman. For myself, I crossed out these years from my life and never return to them. Thank God, gymnastics saved me at that time. I devoted myself entirely to coaching, preparing our national team.

With her third husband, then the chief engineer of the Dynamo plant, Yuri Feldman, Larisa met on vacation. The novel lasted 3 years. Yuri grew up career ladder, was a member of the CPSU and the party committee, and when he announced a divorce, problems began at work. Then he came to Latynina with one suitcase. The couple later got married.

Larisa Latynina and Michael Phelps

For Feldman, the gymnast is also the third wife. From his first marriage, he has a son, Sergei, who gave his father a grandson, Yura Jr. Larisa Semyonovna considers the boy to be her grandson.

Sport

In the 9th grade, Larisa Diriy passed the standard for the 1st category, and in 1953 she graduated from school with a gold medal. The sports biography of the gymnast from the very beginning was not perfect, there were also unfortunate failures. So, at the 1950 All-Union Championship in Kazan, she performed unsuccessfully and cried alone for several hours.

The loss only inspired the strong-willed girl to new exploits. Soon she became not only the first master of sports in her native city, but also took 4th place in the gymnastics championship among adult athletes.

From the Polytechnic Institute, where Larisa entered, having moved to Kyiv, she had to move to the Institute of Physical Education. And at the World Championships in Rome in 1954, for her, as for the winner, the anthem of the USSR sounded for the first time - Diriy won a gold medal in floor exercises.

Larisa Latynina on uneven bars

The athlete became the champion of the Olympic Games in 1956 and 1960, won the title in the national team in 1956, 1960 and 1964. The girl received four bronze medals for floor exercises, vaults, bars and beam. Silver Latynina brought exercises on the uneven bars (twice), balance beam, vaults and all-around, but the brightest performances took place in the free programs: here the gymnast had no equal.

In 1963, in Tokyo, Larisa acted for the last time as the captain of the Soviet gymnastic team, then for a couple of years she participated in international competitions, gradually receding into the background.

From 1966 to 1976, the gymnast worked as a coach. Thanks to her mentorship, the USSR women's team won gold medals at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics. She brought up outstanding gymnasts, including Lyudmila Turishcheva, Olga Karaseva, Larisa Petrik, Lyubov Burda, Tamara Lazakovich, Nelly Kim. In 1972, Latynina was awarded the title of Honored Coach of the USSR.

View this post on Instagram

Larisa Latynina and her medals

Larisa Semyonovna's record for the number of awards and titles was broken by swimmer Michael Phelps. The American has 23 Olympic gold medals.

Latynina stood out against the general background and appearance. She was always dressed latest fashion. A miniature beauty (height 161 cm, weight in her youth did not exceed 52 kg) attracted the eyes of others - a leather jacket, a corrugated skirt and a beret. Later, the gymnast admitted that this beauty was not easy to get. On trips abroad, the athlete saved on food in order to buy a stylish thing, because then there was nothing in Soviet stores.

Larisa Latynina now

From an apartment on Stary Arbat, Larisa and Yuri moved to the Moscow region. Small country cottage area, received by Feldman as the general director of Dynamo, has grown to the size of a farm. Latynina's main hobby is gardening. She takes great pleasure in housekeeping, raising cattle and poultry, finding happiness in simple family joys, which she lacked so much in her sports life painted to the minute.