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In an interview with RT, she commented on the refereeing scandal that erupted after the performance of mixed pairs at the World Championships aquatic species sports in Budapest. According to her, the Russians Michaela Kalancha and Alexander Maltsev, who remained second, losing to the Italians, performed very well. The famous athlete also appreciated the fact that among the judges was the father of the world champion Giorgio Minisini.

The mixed doubles synchronized swimming competition at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest ended in a serious judicial scandal. The Russian duo of Michaela Kalanci and Alexander Maltsev remained second, losing to the Italians Manila Flamini and Giorgio Minisini by only 0.034 points. After the end of the performances, it turned out that the judges included the father of Minisini, who became the world champion.

In Russia, many disagreed with the arbitrators’ assessments and called them biased. RT spoke with three-time Olympic champion Olga Brusnikina, who explained that the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) do not prohibit judges from officiating at performances involving their own relatives.

- What impressions did the mixed doubles competition leave you with?

I only saw the performance of our duet. I didn’t follow the Italians, since I was at training camp myself, and there was no opportunity to sit in front of the TV. I can’t paint you a complete picture, but Kalancha and Maltsev did everything at a very good level. Except that they had a small mark on ejection. The rest of the guys' performance looked very dynamic. As a result, the outcome of the fight for gold was decided by two or three scores. Perhaps the Italian judge helped his compatriots somewhere.

Now everyone is talking about the fact that among the judges was the father of the Italian who became the world champion, Giorgio Minisini. How normal is this practice?

There are no rules in synchronized swimming that prohibit parents from judging their own children's performances. In fact, anyone can do this by going through a special referee school and passing exams at the International Swimming Federation. I don't think any special rules were applied to Minisini. I’m not very familiar with the history of this judge, but referees are usually invited to the world championships by the FINA technical committee for synchronized swimming. So the presence of Minisini in Budapest is not the result of the efforts of the Italians.

In synchronized swimming overall rating folds up in the following way: 30% of it is technical difficulty, another 30% is awarded for execution and 40% for artistry. Is it possible to see how a particular judge rated the performance of a particular duet?

The decrypted protocols should contain such information. They contain all the judges' scores.

- Can athletes and coaches view these protocols?

Naturally. They are placed in boxes every day national federations. All members of the delegation can familiarize themselves with the papers. In general, everything that happened really upset me. Attempts to dislodge the Russian duo from the top were also made at the 2015 World Cup in Kazan. Then the victory was given to the Americans Christina Jones and Bill May. It's difficult to say whether this was done intentionally. But it should be noted that in mixed doubles the level of scores is, in principle, lower than that of women, who score 95 points. Still, mixed is a very young species.

- Maybe relative judges are appointed specifically to interrupt Russian hegemony?

In any case, one judge is not able to decide everything, since there are only 15 arbitrators. Plus, I repeat, there are no rules that prohibit judging your own relatives. We can make any guesses, but in response they will tell us that everything was done according to the letter of the law.

If we ignore the refereeing scandal in mixed doubles, what emotions did the performances of other Russian synchronized swimmers leave behind?

The team gave results, despite a serious update, which took place on all fronts: this is both a duet and a soloist. Even in Tatyana Pokrovskaya’s group, there are only two Olympic champions left. But Russia holds its own and continues to remain head and shoulders above its rivals. In many free programs, the gap between domestic synchronized swimmers and their competitors is more than two points, that is, almost every judge puts Russia in first place and confirms the country’s leadership in this sport.

Of course, there were certain concerns precisely in connection with their departure, but the professionalism of the coaches who prepare synchronized swimmers for the national team continues to bear fruit. I have already talked about the group, but its composition at the World Championships also included girls who had recently left the junior team. Over this year, Pokrovskaya has done a lot of work so that they can complete the Olympic technical program. As a result, the Russian team continues to hold a very high bar.

Synchronized swimming - the history of emergence and development in the world and Russia

History synchronized swimming Representatives of the most ancient civilizations began to write. In Egypt, girls picking lotus flowers demonstrated miracles of grace, holding a basket with their hands and moving only with the help of their legs. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the daughter of a famous swimmer, who felt so free in the water that, according to legend, she received the name Beloved of the God of the Seas. IN Ancient Rome Swimming of girls and boys with round dances to music was an obligatory part of the water extravaganza program. It is believed that the development of synchronized swimming as an independent sports discipline began in Europe at the end of the 19th century. Moreover, the “pioneers” in mass competitions were not women at all, but men who competed with each other for the first time in Berlin in 1891. The next country to join the development of the new sport was Great Britain, where a year later its own group of synchronized swimmers appeared. And at the beginning of the 20th century, “artistic swimming” began to conquer France, where the “Chaika” club was formed.

"Water ballet", as synchronized swimming was originally called, was not recognized until 1920. The key factor Conquering the world was the first championship in Montreal, Canada, organized four years later, and the spread of the passion for this elegant and sophisticated sport in the United States and throughout Europe. At the same time, the mass participation of women synchronized swimmers in competitions began, which gradually displaced men from them.

In 1952, synchronized swimming received the long-awaited official international recognition and modern name. At the French Championships, previously unused musical accompaniment was used, at the Olympics in Finland there was a demonstration performance by American women, and a separate committee was created at FINA.

The emergence and development of synchronized swimming in the USSR

The year 1908 can be considered the beginning of the development of this sport in Russia. It was then that a swimming school was founded near St. Petersburg, where they passed standards in 12 disciplines, including quite unusual ones. On weekends, holidays were held here, during which students performed various figures on the water.

Demonstration performances by women of up to 24 people, in which the best athletes of that time participated - Khatuntseva, Kuznetsova, the Vtorov sisters, Fedorova - became popular already in 1930. After the war, independent groups began to organize, one of which performed in 1957 at the stadium. Lenin in Luzhniki.

The preliminary stage or formation of synchronized swimming in the USSR occurred in 1961-1969 - from the first official capital championship to the inclusion of annual city competitions in the calendar. The second stage - Moscow - where the opening prize of the season was played, individual championships and Moscow Cubes were held, lasted for 10 years until 1979. During this period, requirements for categories and standards, competition rules and a qualification program were approved. The structure of the created Moscow Federation under the leadership of the head. The department of the State Center for Physical Culture and Physical Culture O. I. Logunova included V.V. Belokovsky, O. Kireeva, A. Mindlina, O. Viltsin. The first coaching schools of O. Kireeva (Luzhniki), T. Dobychina, Z.A. also began to actively develop. Barbier (“Moscow”), M.N. Maksimova (Department of Swimming, State Center for Physical Education and Physical Culture).

In 1974, at the request of the Federation, the editors of the magazine “Soviet Woman” established a spring competition prize dedicated to March 8th. Two years later, the All-Union Commission was created under the USSR Sports Committee with the first chairman in the person of the famous Maya Plisetskaya and the third stage in the development of synchronized swimming was launched, which began to conquer the entire Soviet space. Evidence of this is the appearance of the titles “Master of Sports of the USSR” and “MS International Class” in synchronized swimming, regional and republican teams - Belarusian and Ukrainian, Georgian and Moldavian, Uzbek, Kazakh and Armenian.

The third stage - the All-Union - lasted from 1979 until the collapse of the USSR and began with the first All-Union competitions in Elektrostal, where new stars were lit: Potemkina, Frolova, Heitzer.

In 1980, the XXII Olympics took place in Moscow, where synchronized swimming was recognized Olympic form sports and has been included in them since 1984 as an exclusively female discipline. First, competitions take place in singles and doubles with technical and free program, and then group performances are added. In 1986, Soviet athletes went to their first world championship, in 1988 juniors began to participate in competitions, and after 3 years the USSR ceased to exist and the modern - Russian - stage of the development of synchronized swimming began.

Olympic medal winners

Soviet synchronized swimmers did not participate in the XXIII Olympiad, held in Los Angeles. The reason is simple - the boycott is in response to similar actions by the American team and a number of other teams that refused to come to the socialist country.

The two Los Angeles Olympic gold medals from both sets went to Tracy Ruiz of the United States. In 1988, Caroline Waldo from Canada became the champion in Seoul. At the XXV Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, American Christine Babb-Sprague won the singles event. doubles won by the duo of Sarah and Karen Josephson. Four years later in Atlanta, single and pair performances were replaced by group exercises, but the highest award again went to synchronized swimmers from the USA.

The dominance of American athletes ended in Sydney, where two sets of awards began to be played out - among duets and teams. From 2000 to 2016, synchronized swimmers from Russia took home gold medals in Australia, Greece, Japan, Great Britain and Brazil.

Among the strongest athletes in the world who have won the maximum number of awards, our legendary girls are in the lead:

Anastasia Davydova. Five-time Olympic champion in group and duet, 13-time world champion and 7-time European champion.
Anastasia Ermakova. Four-time Olympic champion, 8-time world, European and Russian champion.
Olga Brusnikina. Three-time Olympic champion, 4-time world champion.
Maria Kiseleva. Three-time Olympic champion, 3-time world champion, 9-time European champion.

The brilliant results are the merit of the talented and persistent athletes themselves, the head coach of the Russian national team T.N. Pokrovskaya and the senior coach T.E. Danchenko.

Tatyana Nikolaevna switched to synchronized swimming from rhythmic gymnastics. A creative approach, a real gift for uniting people around her so that they become a cohesive team, and the ability to train strong athletes in a short time helped her achieve the triumphant success of the team at the Olympics, World and European Championships.

Tatyana Evgenievna is a former synchronized swimmer - champion of the USSR and Europe among juniors. Under her leadership, Russian athletes took gold medals in four in a row Olympic Games, won the World Championships 21 times and the European Championships 14 times. The junior team does not know losses either. For more than 20 years, N.A. has led her to victories at world competitions. Mendygalieva - ZTR of Russia and master of sports in scuba diving. Synchronized swimming in Russia today

The USSR Synchronized Swimming Federation was replaced by the FSPR with its president in the person of A.V. Vlasenko is a member of FINA, LEN (European Swimming League) and Olympic Committee Russia - which is represented by the vice-president of the FSPR I.P. Kartashov and first vice-president O.A. Brusnikina. Synchronized swimming is intensively developing in 21 constituent entities of Russia and has 20 regional federations in regions, large cities, territories, autonomous regions and republics. With 6,000 athletes in dozens of youth sports schools, sports schools and sections, 150 specialists work who continue the work of leading coaches and directors of group compositions - Z.A. Barbier, M.N. Maksimovov, O.I. Vasilchenko, T.N. Pokrovskoy, N.A. Mendygalieva, M.G. Terekhova.

Strict requirements for performance technique and high competition determine the complexity of the new tasks that synchronized swimmers face before the next Olympic Games. After all, you need to not only take the lead once, but also forge further victories. A strict selection and training system allows us to develop promising, gifted athletes - today's juniors and tomorrow's heroes of world competitions. Expansion of staff and growth of professionalism coaching staff, increasing the number of groups initial training and improvement sportsmanship makes it possible to improve the level of performance, prepare worthy replacements for departing stars and maintain the status of a sports superpower.

For several Olympic cycles in a row, the Russian women's synchronized swimming team has been methodically collecting all the first awards at the world's largest tournaments. One of the “golden” mermaids of this team was Maria Gromova, who successfully competed in high level more than ten years. During this time, she managed to win three Olympics and become a multiple world and European champion.

Life in the pool

Maria Igorevna Gromova was born in Moscow in 1984. Her parents wanted their daughter to go in for sports, they tried to get her into the rhythmic gymnastics section, figure skating. However, little Masha was a little large for these sports, so we had to look for other ways. This is how synchronized swimming appeared in the biography of Maria Gromova. An important role in the final decision was played by the fact that this was the least traumatic sport, and the risk of harm to health was minimized here.

Masha came to the pool at the age of six, like all children, she first learned to float on the water and swim. Gradually, the girls in her group began to perform some elements and reveal their abilities to their mentors. Maria's first coach was Elena Piskareva, who remained next to her throughout her career.

Gromova herself at first had no particular desire to overcome herself and do tedious stretching exercises. Like all children, she wanted to play and hang out with friends. However, it so happened that she performed unsuccessfully at some children's competitions, ending up at the back of the group. Here the character has already leaped, and the girl began to reach out to her friends, trying to become the best. The results went by themselves, she began to get into the country's youth teams, being a year younger than the girls in her age category.

Transition to adult level

Already at the age of sixteen, Maria Gromova joined the main national team, falling under the supervision of the head synchronized swimming coach Tatyana Pokrovskaya. The rules in the team were quite strict. Being essentially a maximalist, Pokrovskaya sought to hone every element of the program to an ideal level, forcing her students to repeat the same movements many times.

The pool where the synchronized swimmers were training was empty after evening, swimmers and platform jumpers were leaving, but Maria Gromova and her teammates trained until exhaustion, sometimes staying until twelve o’clock at night. Under such conditions, there was not even a need for strict control over the young girls outside of training, since they themselves did not experience any other needs other than rest and sleep.

These titanic efforts were not in vain; Pokrovskaya’s players invariably took all the first places at big tournaments. In 2001, Maria Gromova became the world champion in group exercises for the first time in her life, then in the same year she won the European Cup.

Collecting medals

The Moscow athlete approached her first Olympics in 2004 with the status of a multiple world champion. In 2003, another Golden medal world championships, won the European Cup. However, the Olympic Games were a special tournament during which sports fans they forgot about hockey and football and discovered other sports, which included synchronized swimming.

During the preparation period, the stay at the national team became truly barracks-like. Every day there were two training sessions, each of which lasted at least five hours. After such drills, the girls’ movements at the tournament itself became practiced to the point of automatism; they performed the most complex cascades of jumps and lifts with a smile on their faces.

Rivals from China and Spain tried to catch up with the Russians, but this was impossible. So in 2004, Maria Gromova became an Olympic champion for the first time in her life.

The competition within the team was very tough, talented juniors were breathing in their backs, but Maria found her niche in the team. Being a relatively large girl (height 172 cm, weight 61 kg), she played the role of “Atlanta” on the team. That is, during lifts, she was below and holding her teammate on her shoulders, acting as a kind of springboard for jumping. At the same time, it was strictly forbidden to touch the bottom with her feet; she performed this athletic work while floating on the water.

Fade into the shadows and return

In 2008, after winning her second Olympics, Maria Gromova decided to take a break in her career. After winning all possible tournaments, it was difficult to find further motivation to perform, and the athlete left the pool.

She spent her free time wisely, devoting it to her education. Unlike many athletes, she chose not a physical education university, but an institute of economics, management and law.

However, it is always difficult to end a career at just twenty-four years old. Two years later, Maria Gromova, along with several other friends from group exercises returns to the team and begins to prepare for the London 2012 Olympics.

She prepared the “Lost World” program for the main tournament of the four-year anniversary, the preparation of which took place in conditions of strict secrecy. Rivals from other teams have more than once borrowed particularly effective techniques from Russian team, and they tried to avoid repetition of excesses.

The new program was replete with the most complex technical elements; there were about ten emissions and supports alone. Particular responsibility fell on Maria, who, with such elements, was a kind of foundation for a complex structure. However, she did her job perfectly and helped the team win another victory, thus becoming a three-time Olympic champion.

In 2012, Maria Gromova made the final decision to leave the sport and left her active career.

Natalya Ishchenko is a Russian athlete, one of the main stars of the national and Olympic synchronized swimming team. During her career, the synchronized swimmer became world champion 19 times, conquered the top of the European championship 12 times and climbed to the top step of the Olympic podium five times. She is the only athlete in the history of the European Championships to win all four events during one tournament.

Natalya was born in the city of Smolensk, but she considers Kaliningrad home, where the future champion spent her childhood and early youth. The girl was five years old when her mother took her daughter to sports complex"Youth", which released a lot professional athletes. At first, Ishchenko studied two disciplines at once - rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming.

Then, at the age of nine, after her parents divorced, she began to spend more time in the pool and gym than at home. Then it became clear that sport for her could turn out to be not just a hobby, but a future profession. Natasha had to make a difficult choice between a gymnastics mat and a swimming pool.

The girl settled on synchronized swimming. First of all, Natasha was supported there by honored Kaliningrad coaches Svetlana Ustyugova, Lada Stepanovich and Lyudmila Mizina. In addition, it turned out that Ishchenko’s body itself seemed to be designed for water sports.

The girl's lung capacity is approximately 6.5 liters, which is almost three times more than that of the average person. Thanks to this, a synchronized swimmer can easily hold her breath underwater for at least 3.5 minutes.

When Natalya Ishchenko turned 14 years old, the girl was noticed by the leaders of the Moscow Olympic Center water sports, which prepares future champions in synchronized swimming, diving, speed swimming and other types of competitions. Later, Natalya entered and graduated from the Russian State University named after.

Sport

The first big competition where Natalya Ishchenko’s talent was revealed was the European Championship in Madrid, Spain. There, the young synchronized swimmer won her first medal at the senior championship. A successful start led to the fact that today the athlete has collected 19 gold and 2 silver awards from world championships, which she brought from Montreal and Melbourne, Rome and Shanghai, Yokohama, Changshu and Kazan.

The girl also won the European Championships in Budapest, Eindhoven and London. The year 2010 stands out in Ishchenko’s career. She set a record by winning in all types of disciplines that are played in synchronized swimming - combination, group, solo and duet. The girl herself believes that she is comfortable performing alone in a solo program, since she does not need to monitor the actions of her partner.

However, experts most highly appreciate the duet performances of the athlete with her national team colleague. At the 2012 London Olympics water dance synchronized swimmers elevated this couple to the main step of the sports Olympus. Moreover, Natalya demonstrated her victorious performance while being unwell: the day before she caught a cold and entered the pool with a temperature of 38 degrees.

Sports fans from Russia hoped that Ishchenko would help the Russian team win new awards at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. And the girls performed the program to the maximum, winning gold in group and duet competitions. Natalya Ishchenko became five-time champion OI.

Personal life

The year 2010 in the life of Natalya Ishchenko became significant not only because she set a record in Budapest, winning everything that was possible. At the same time, she changed her marital status, getting married in mid-December. The chosen one of the synchronized swimmer was Sergei Anikin. He is also an athlete, silver medalist at the European diving championship. After finishing his career, he started entrepreneurship.

Together with his wife, Sergei opened a school for training future champions “START!”

The future spouses met in the 10th grade at school. Over time, the couple's relationship moved to a new level and eventually grew into a family.

And three years after the wedding, Natalya and Sergei became parents: a son was born, who was named Semyon. Surprisingly, Ishchenko, right up to last months pregnancy did not interrupt training in the pool. Perhaps this helped the young mother quickly regain strength and return to big sport. According to the synchronized swimmer, the girl and her husband plan to send their child to a sport, but let Semyon choose which one.

After the birth of her son, Natasha won another Olympic medal. The girl’s husband did not go to the competition: the man traditionally watched the broadcast on TV.

The life and career of a synchronized swimmer is watched by thousands of subscribers on the social network “ Instagram" The girl regularly shares personal and work photos with her followers.

In their free time, the family likes to travel or spend time with friends outside the city. Natalya is also a good cook. The girl herself prepares casseroles, pancakes, and yoghurts. The synchronized swimmer tries to eat properly, which she also teaches her beloved son to do.

Natalia Ishchenko in training days could only be seen in tracksuits. But later the champion admitted that she looks different on the weekend: the girl loves dresses and heels.

Natalya Ishchenko now

In 2017, the athlete’s career took a new turn. In April, the girl was appointed to the post of acting deputy chairman of the government of the Kaliningrad region. Natalya began to supervise agencies for sports and youth affairs. Since combining such a position and synchronized swimming is problematic, Ishchenko decided to end her sports career.

Already in October of the same year, the governor of the Kaliningrad region signed a decree appointing Natalya Ishchenko to the post of deputy chairman of the government of the Kaliningrad region.

In April 2018, a total dictation took place. In Kaliningrad, the athlete tried herself as a dictator.

From June 2 to 4, Kaliningrad became one of the venues for an event called “Media Expedition”. The goal of this international company is to unite young leaders involved in television, photo and radio journalism. The participants were 10 bloggers from different countries. Young people created a media guide for foreign fans.

On June 3, Natalya Ishchenko met with the project participants and shared in an interview that she was glad to be an ambassador of the World Cup and part of this important event for the country.

Awards

2004 – European Championships in Madrid, silver
2005 – World Championships in Montreal, gold
2006 - European Championships in Budapest, gold
2007 – World Championships in Melbourne, gold
2008 – European Championships in Eindhoven, silver
2008 – Olympic Games in Beijing, gold
2009 – World Championships in Rome, gold
2010 – European Championships in Budapest, gold
2011 – World Championships in Shanghai, gold
2012 - European Championships in Eindhoven, gold
2012 – Olympic Games in London, gold
2015 – World Championships in Kazan, gold
2016 – European Championships in London, gold
2016 - Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, gold