Tatyana Pokrovskaya synchronized swimming tragedy in the family. The coach of the team of Russian synchronized swimmers Tatyana Pokrovskaya talks about the secrets of victories

Tatyana Pokrovskaya, the mentor of our team, is in itself a gift of fate for the national synchronized swimming, for which she makes her wards endure and endures a lot herself, even today's swim in Rio.

I can't stand swimming in the pool. Tatyana Pokrovskaya repeats this every time when they ask why she, the head coach of the synchronized swimming team, will never be found in the water except after the victory of the pupils.

“Well, if I swim badly. Here to enter this hateful water ... You can say that I don’t like the pool, ”says the coach.

So 19 years on the command bridge by the pool. All the gold of the Russian synchronized swimmers is hers, and all the tears are hers too.

"Were there difficult moments? There were. Many," says Tatyana Pokrovskaya.

Her coaching style is, without a doubt, totalitarianism. Either you do as Pokrovskaya wants, or out of the pool.

“When you hate a coach, they say, a lot can be done with hate, maybe even more than with love,” the head coach notes.

“To condemn Tatyana Nikolaevna because she is too tough - there is still no point in this, because the main thing is gold,” says Alla Shishkina, a two-time Olympic champion.

As a child, Tatyana Pokrovskaya was going to become a ballerina, only in Magnitogorsk she had nowhere to go except for rhythmic gymnastics.

“The character was the most repulsive. I loved being in charge of the coach,” recalls Tatyana Pokrovskaya.

In the nineties, she ended up in synchronized swimming by accident, in the position of a choreographer.

“After rhythmic gymnastics, it was somehow funny for me to watch - why are they on the water, something is incomprehensible,” the coach continues.

That's where it started from then on. Rivalries with Russian synchronized swimmers today are frankly afraid. Even when the performance in Athens failed twice - the speakers fell silent - in the ringing silence the girls took first place.

They don't need music. All performances are divided into scores. On grueling ten-hour runs, the program is imprinted into the brain along with this sound like a metronome.

“This knock is being developed, you know, as a conditioned reflex, they are already hitting and an automatic synchronism is being developed,” explains Tatiana Pokrovskaya.

After each gold of the synchronized swimmers, the stands applaud the coach. Tatyana Pokrovskaya is not ignored by the first persons.

“Here are the Spanish women, it’s really so great, they do everything cool, then - oh, ours come out, and immediately - a class, a different level. It turned out that it could be even better,” Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with synchronized swimmers in 2012.

It seems that in her whole life she only gave up slack once: she burst into tears when she found out that all the ordeals of her pupils were over, that the team would nevertheless fly to Brazil.

“These days I felt what strong girls we have in the team. I will even cry now, because as recently as today they made such runs of the composition, as if they were performing at competitions, that is, without knowing yet, they went through these runs with some kind of a little bit of anger, with excitement they went through these runs, and I realized that there is a team,” says Tatyana Pokrovskaya.

I didn't make a mistake. All gold in synchronized swimming belongs to the Russians. The first medal went to the duet Romashina-Ishchenko. Their coach Tatyana Danchenko will never admit that the performances of her rivals are not even close to the show of the Russians.

“You can’t relax in any case, that’s why we have been in first place for so many years, because we don’t relax, we are constantly moving forward,” says Tatyana Danchenko, head coach of the Russian national synchronized swimming team.

And no matter how hard you try, none of her titled pupils will reveal the secrets of the mentor.

“Each duet requires its own approach, its own zest, and she finds this approach, and each time it is the golden key that opens the golden pages already in individual events,” says three-time Olympic champion in synchronized swimming Maria Kiseleva.

Three-time Olympic champion Maria Kiseleva before the start live broadcast from Rio, without any superstition, could answer the question of who would take the gold! They've been invincible since 2000. Olympic Games ah - Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, and now for the fifth time they are on top of the podium in Rio.

And when foreigners or journalists who are desperate to get gold on the sidelines today ask the coaches of the Russians, confess, well, how do you manage to do it, it’s already clear what they will hear in response:

"Secret? Don't know. I don't know the secret. I just work honestly, that's all."

Olympiad on the First day and night: 9 Olympic channels online.

About what this “gold” is really worth, their head coach Tatyana Pokrovskaya tells:

Success only comes when people really work hard. It is clear that any medal won is a combination of factors, but the fundamental one is your work. And I must say that all of us - athletes, coaches in the national team and in the field, doctors, etc. - are selfless hard workers who are able not only to complete the task, but also to approach it creatively.

You want to ask me: what, in other countries, they do not work enough? Of course they work. Therefore, you can not relax even for a minute. As long as we are the strongest. God willing, it will continue to do so. Dossier Tatiana Pokrovskaya. Born in Arkhangelsk in 1950. Head coach the Russian team in synchronized swimming since 1998. Under the leadership of Pokrovskaya, the team has won all the gold medals at the Olympic Games since 2000.

Dmitry Grantsev, "AiF": It is known that the Chinese and Japanese, who are now breathing down the back of our team's head, filmed your training sessions on cameras at one time.

Tatyana Pokrovskaya: This is a common sports espionage - a technology that has always been and will be. We are not very interested in who borrowed what from us. As practice shows, no copy can compare with the original.

Do you think the attack of the World anti-doping agency on Russian sport gradually fade away? After all, there is almost no news about test tubes and disqualifications this summer.

I do not think that Russia was left alone. The pressure on our sport will continue until the international political environment changes. Although, of course, I want it all to end. So that clean athletes - the same "guilty" Paralympic athletes - could return to the work of their lives.

Athletes of the Russian team in synchronized swimming at the XVII World Championships in water sports sports in Budapest. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Wilf

"Who did you come to?"

Tatyana Nikolaevna, only you and Irina Viner have the Hero of Labor of Russia award. What about our male coaches? Are there any of them worthy of this title?

So the men don't deserve it yet. So they need to work a little more. In general, it seems to me that women will be more responsible than men in many matters. (Laughs.) But seriously, this is not a question for me, I don’t give out medals. My opinion: we have male coaches who deserve the highest awards.

Irina Viner likes to say to her gymnasts: “You descended from the golden pedestal - you are nobody and there is no way to call.” Do you agree with her?

Stop! Who did you come to? To Viner-Usmanova or to Pokrovskaya? I would never say that to athletes.

Why do synchronized swimmers put clothespins on their noses?

At the same time, I remember how you once scolded one of the girls: “I would not trust you to wash the floors in my kitchen.” Isn't it harsh?

Yes, I am a tough coach. Do you think the great Anatoly Tarasov stroked his guys on the head? When it comes to serious work, it is not always possible to select expressions. But we, as a family, do not pay attention to such trifles. All the girls in the team are smart, they understand perfectly well that everything is done for the sake of common success.

I watched one of the training sessions before this championship. You said "terrible" seven times and "great" three times. Is it really possible to satisfy Pokrovskaya at all?

I shake everything out of the athletes that is possible and that is impossible, because it always seems to me: everything was successful before, but now it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work. (Laughs.) Synchronized swimmers coach Tatyana Pokrovskaya: I don’t get into the personal life of athletes Read more

"Work Saved Me"

They wrote that a few years ago you wanted to leave the post of head coach.

Where did you read this? It wasn't even close. If there is strength, why not work? Especially since synchronized swimming- this is my life. And my job saved me. Only she can truly heal.

This is probably about the Prayer program, with which the team performed at the last Olympics and which is connected with the tragedy of your family ...

It's hard for me to talk about it. (Tatyana Nikolaevna’s husband and 15-year-old granddaughter died in the same year. “When this happened, I thought that it was all over. I thought that I would never create anything again. But then this prayer came to my mind, this “ Prayer," she said in Rio. - Ed.) This is an incredibly technically complex, but, most importantly, emotionally complex program. To perform, it must be felt.

How do synchronized swimmers hear music underwater?

What do you think, if your athlete is in love, is it for the benefit of the results or to the detriment?

You know I'm too busy to be interested personal life athletes, find out who has what kind of romance. Yes, and then I am by nature incurious. Of course, when girls invite me to their weddings, I am glad that everything worked out for them. But still, the main thing for me is that they and their families are healthy. When one of my athletes had a seriously ill mother, it was terrible. How we all worried about her!

Your girls throw you into the water when they celebrate victories. At the same time, you yourself admitted that you feel uncomfortable in the pool. So, maybe forbid them to do this to you?

Of course, I don't really like it. Then you get out of the pool and walk like a wet chicken. But since there is such a tradition, then it is necessary to observe it.

Coaches of the Russian national synchronized swimming team Tatyana Pokrovskaya (left) and Tatyana Danchenko in the pool after the victory of the Russians in the free program of the synchronized swimming group competition at the XXXI Summer Olympics. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexey Kudenko

According to the site

Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation, head coach of the Russian national team in synchronized swimming, service worker physical education RF, Honored Coach of Russia, holder of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree, Vice-President of the Federation of Synchronized Swimming of Russia, Master of Sports in rhythmic gymnastics

Synchronized swimming is the only one of the water sports that has all the advantages of an artistic one - colorful performances, organic movements performed, a combination of strength and grace.

In 1997, the Russian team for the first time climbed the first step of the world synchronized swimming podium and has not left it to this day. During this time, more than one generation of athletes has changed in the team. The head coach of the team, the incomparable Tatyana Pokrovskaya, led them all to incredible heights of sportsmanship. Under the leadership of Pokrovskaya, Russian synchronized swimmers won all the gold medals at five Olympics in a row (!). And it is unlikely that in the history of world sports there will be at least one more coach who brought up 27 Olympic champions!

Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya was born on June 5, 1950 in the village of Solombala, Solombala District, Arkhangelsk Region. Father - Ivanov Nikolai Ivanovich (1914–1964). Mother - Ivanova (Demina) Vera Antonovna (1914–1988). Spouse - Pokrovsky Alexander Alexandrovich (d. 2013). Daughter - Ekaterina (born in 1972), lives in Brazil, works in the representative office of Gazprom. Grandchildren: Elizabeth (d. 2014), Ivan (born in 2015) and Anna (born in 2016).

Tatyana Pokrovskaya's father was born in Chelyabinsk, her mother was born in the village of Sukhtili, Chelyabinsk Region. They met and got married on the construction of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works - the famous "Magnitogorsk". Before the war, they had two children. In 1941, Nikolai Ivanovich went to the front, went through the entire war, was wounded several times, and met victory in Germany. Awarded with the Order of Glory. After the war, Nikolai Ivanovich graduated military academy named after M.V. Frunze, and the family lived for some time at a military unit in the Arkhangelsk region on the island of Solombala, where Tatyana was born. The youngest daughter, her father's favorite, she inherited his character - resolute, fighting, and nature endowed her with rare artistry.

In 1959 the family moved to Magnitogorsk. There, a second-grader Tanya, who dreamed of becoming a ballerina, enrolled in the rhythmic gymnastics section on her own, and a year later found a ballet studio. After some time, on the urgent advice of the teacher of the ballet studio, the parents sent their daughter to the Perm Ballet School, but it turned out to be too hard to live and study away from her home, and six months later she returned home.

In rhythmic gymnastics, Tanya Ivanova made progress. In the 7th grade, she became a candidate for master of sports, played for the team of the Chelyabinsk region. The ballet, as before, remained at the amateur level, and in the end, Tanya decided to devote her energies completely to rhythmic gymnastics. After graduating from school, she entered the State Central Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Culture (GTSOLIFK).

Student years are a happy time. Tatyana studied "excellently". The gymnastics coach immediately selected her for the group. In addition to compulsory classes and training, there were also ballroom dancing and our own dance ensemble! In her 3rd year, Tatyana met her future husband. Alexander Pokrovsky is also a student of the GTSOLIFK, he studied a year older than her. A stormy romance began between the young people. A year later, Alexander graduated from the institute and went to serve in the army, and a year later they got married.

Tatyana has already played for the Moscow national team and had excellent prospects. In 1971, after graduating from the institute with a “red” diploma, she could remain at the institute as a rhythmic gymnastics coach, but she chose to leave for Moldova, where her husband was transferred to serve, and began working as a physical education teacher at a boarding school. In this provincial school, sports were given Special attention, and the children had good results in athletics. Tatyana Pokrovskaya, held athletics at the institute it was very superficial, I had to show ingenuity so as not to drop my authority in the very first classes. T.N. Pokrovskaya recalls: “At the lesson, I showed the children such a start that they almost stood in my splits. When they ran, I didn’t understand why my children were poking their noses into the path. Turned out I'm the distance between starting blocks confused. And they didn't even show it. We thought: maybe a person from Moscow knows more? Well, my husband explained to me what's what. And the next day, as if nothing had happened, I say: yesterday we learned the training start, and now we will learn sports.

She was very fond of at school - young, cheerful! But it didn't take long to work here. In 1972, a daughter, Ekaterina, was born, and Tatiana moved to her mother in the Urals, and soon got a job with her husband in a new place - in the city of Elektrostal, Moscow Region, where Alexander got a job. The apartment was given immediately. In the barracks of the dormitory of the metallurgical plant there was one kitchen for the entire floor, one shower for the entire dormitory. But the difficulties of Pokrovskaya did not frighten. From her neighbors in the hostel, she learned all the tricks of life.

Tatyana led a children's group in rhythmic gymnastics, which at first worked on self-sufficiency and did not have sports hall. When the group began to make progress, Tatyana Pokrovskaya received a position as a rhythmic gymnastics coach at the Metallurg stadium, and after a while she took the children to regional competitions, where she surprised everyone with the unexpectedly high level of training of her pupils, who could well have already been candidates for master of sports , but so far have not even performed anywhere.

Why did Pokrovskaya say goodbye to rhythmic gymnastics? In 1981, two talented gymnasts from her group, who already had the title of master of sports, without agreeing their decision with her, went to train with N.V. Shibaeva (Honored Trainer of the USSR) to her school in the city of Zhukovsky. This offended Tatyana Nikolaevna so much that she transferred all her athletes to another coach, and she herself accepted the offer to try her hand as a choreographer in synchronized swimming.

By the beginning of the 1980s, Moscow was the center for the development and popularization of synchronized swimming in the USSR, where a powerful coaching school developed in creative search and competition. Future honored coaches of Russia worked here: Z.A. Barbier (pool "Moscow"), M.N. Maksimov (Department of Swimming State Center for Physical and Physical Education). It was Maria Nikolaevna Maksimova, who, having noticed Pokrovskaya in her work with gymnasts, invited her to her school of synchronized swimming "Petrel". Tatyana Nikolaevna went headlong into the development of a new profession, with her inherent energy and dedication. With enthusiasm, she led training in the gym, and sometimes, when Maksimova was busy at the institute, she worked with the team on the water. Synchronized swimming, which seemed to her in general a little like a sport, gradually became closer and more understandable. She learned to see the work of the hands of athletes under water, she realized how much depends on this work. It turned out that the task of a choreographer in synchronized swimming is akin to the work of an architect or engineer erecting complex structures on an invisible foundation.

Tatyana Pokrovskaya brought with her to the profession the ability to compose precisely artistic compositions, examining the artistic component through the prism of gymnastics and ballet school - stretched legs, grace, beauty of lines.

At M.N. Maksimova Tatyana Pokrovskaya learned a lot. She participated in the production of a composition for the duet Maximova (Irina Potemkina, Tatyana Khaitser) - the strongest then in the USSR. When working with her own duet, she was not afraid to experiment and, without knowing it, she anticipated the global trend in the development of synchronized swimming technique, trying to get athletes to perform choreography with both hands, although it was believed that one hand of a synchronized swimmer should be a support one.

In 1982, T.N. Pokrovskaya ended up in the Trud team, where Z.A. worked as a coach. Barbier. A wonderful young coaching team has gathered here. Junior team coach - Elena Gryzunova willingly advised Tatyana Pokrovskaya, taught the technique of synchronized swimming. The duet, which Pokrovskaya trained on her own, achieved significant success by entering the USSR national team.

In 1984, the state coach of the RSFSR, Valentina Sergeevna Nemogaeva, offered Pokrovskaya to train the team of the School Olympic reserve in the city of Elektrostal. Pokrovskaya got down to business with enthusiasm, went her own way in work, invented strokes herself, came up with links between elements. Almost all of her athletes were included in the RSFSR team, and Irina Zhukova was included in the USSR team.

Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya belongs to the generation of coaches who came to synchronized swimming in the first half of the 1980s, who were united by the desire to learn and achieve high results. The Soviet coaching school developed rapidly, and Western coaches were happy to pass on their experience to Soviet synchronized swimming, which even then did not represent competition. Seminars were organized to exchange experience with foreign specialists. The championships of the USSR were held, gathering many teams and full stands Olympic pool in Moscow.

In 1985, the USSR national team for the first time went to the European Aquatics Championship in Sofia. The group, which included the pupil of Pokrovskaya Irina Zhukova, was prepared for the championship by Z.A. Barbier, duet - N.A. Mendygaliev. The head coach of the USSR national team was M.N. Maksimov. Tatyana Pokrovskaya went with the team as a second coach. Debutants achieved high results at the European Championship: in group exercises became fifth, in solo and duet entered the top ten. First win on European level came to the Soviet synchronized swimmers in 1986 - at the European Cup in Holland, where Tatyana Pokrovskaya went with the team already as a head coach, she was preparing a group. The team included her wards - Vera Artyomova and Olga Belaya, as well as Irina Zhukova. Tatyana Nikolaevna was so worried that during the group competition she left the podium and walked around the pool. She did not immediately believe when, after a free program, she saw her athletes running towards her with joyful cries of “We are the first!”. It was a real rejoicing!

At the 5th World Championship in 1986 in Madrid (Spain), Pokrovskaya also worked with the group. Her compositions were already more complex and mature, but the Soviet synchronized swimmers were still far from the level of favorites - the USA, Canada, Japan. The team finished in fifth place - second among European teams after France. In 1987, at the European Championships in Strasbourg (France), the USSR team for the first time won "silver" in the group and "bronze" in duets, two years later - at the European Championships in Bonn (Germany) - the debut victory came: Christina Falassinidi excelled in solo , silver medals were won by the Soviet group and duo.

In 1991, Tatyana Pokrovskaya became the head coach of the USSR national synchronized swimming team. This year turned out to be triumphant for the Soviet synchronized swimmers: at the European Championships in Athens (Greece), they won all three types of programs. Olga Sedakova became the absolute champion of Europe. In 1992, the Pokrovskaya team (now called the CIS team) seriously declared itself at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain), finishing fourth in solo and duet after the USA, Canada and Japan (competitions in the group then were not held at the Olympic Games). In the same year, at the World Cup in synchronized swimming, the team in the group climbed to the third step of the podium.

Meanwhile, the time for the development of sports in the country was not the best. Leading athletes began to leave to work in various shows abroad. In 1993, Tatyana Pokrovskaya decides to leave for Spain - to coach the team of the Balearic Islands club. Soon, her daughter Ekaterina, who graduated from the institute, also moves in with her, and free of charge, without a contract, helps her in her work as a choreographer and swimming coach. The working conditions in the Spanish club were excellent, but a year later Pokrovskaya did not renew the contract. Neither the management nor the club's athletes had a goal of achieving great sports results, and it was not in the style of Tatyana Pokrovskaya. In the summer of 1995, without even seeing her husband, who remained in Russia, Tatyana Nikolaevna and her daughter were already flying to Rio de Janeiro to take the post of head coach of the Brazilian national team.

After the comfort and peace of the Balearic Islands, Tatyana Nikolaevna and her daughter were very shocked by the noisy, hectic life of the Brazilian capital. Pokrovskaya immediately threw herself into work, her daughter was actively learning Portuguese and soon found work in the tourism business. Soon, the backbone of girls formed in the Pokrovskaya team, ready to go even to Russia for their favorite coach. The President of the Synchronized Swimming Federation of Brazil provided full support. However, normal conditions for training were never provided. The national team didn't even have its own swimming pool. Despite this, Pokrovskaya was able to adequately prepare the team for the Pan American Games, where the Brazilian team took fourth place after the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Having settled on this worthy result, in October 1995 Tatyana Nikolaevna returned to Russia, to Moscow. The city has changed beyond recognition. First impression: a semi-dark hall of Sheremetyevo Airport, similar to a train station, with people sleeping on benches. The dull October weather, after the colorful landscapes of Rio, also did not add optimism. Motherland met Pokrovskaya not affectionately - more than six months without work. Finally, colleagues and friends (Polyanskaya and Nemogaeva) sounded the alarm. Tatyana Nikolaevna began working at the Trud school, where Valentina Alekseevna Teplyakova was the director, and her daughter Tatyana Danchenko was the head coach.

After XXVI Olympic games in Atlanta (USA), in which the Russian team took fourth place, the Russian Synchronized Swimming Federation held the election of the head coach of the team. Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya was elected to this post by a majority of votes. The first thing she did in her new post was to invite Olga Sedakova, a pupil of E.N. Polyanskaya, who was working in Switzerland at that time, to return to the team. The prima of the Russian team, which did not know defeat at several European Championships in a row, returned. At this time, a painful generational change began in America, Canada and Japan, and Russia had a great chance to become a world leader. The very first tournament of Tatyana Pokrovskaya as the head coach of the national team - the World Cup in China in 1997, brought the team "gold". M.N. worked with groups in the team. Maksimova and O.I. Vasilchenko, with duets - E.N. Polyanskaya.

In 1998, the Russians won the World Aquatics Championship in Perth (Australia), the Goodwill Games and the European Cup in synchronized swimming. In 1999, they again won the World Cup and the European Championship in all three types of the program. Olga Sedakova ended her sports career as the absolute world champion. The first soloist of the team was Olga Brusnikina. In the duet, her only partner was Maria Kiseleva.

For the XXVII Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia), Tatyana Pokrovskaya herself trained the group, and the talented Elena Polyanskaya continued to work with the star duet of Kiselev - Brusnikina. Friendship, mutual support and complete unanimity reigned between the two coaches. Already accustomed to the highest marks, Tatyana Pokrovskaya and her athletes went to the Olympics only for the "gold" and got it - both in group competitions and in the duet competition.

After the Olympics, I had to recruit new team. Having achieved the highest sports title of Olympic champions, many still young athletes left the sport, Maria Kiseleva also ended her sports career. Olga Brusnikina agreed to stay to train solo. In the duet, under the guidance of Tatiana Danchenko, young athletes, world champions among juniors Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova were preparing. It seemed that the rivals would finally be able to catch the Russian team at the change of championship generations. While preparing for the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka (Japan), Pokrovskaya more than once had to hear skepticism: ““ At least you will get to the final!” But she only wanted more. The result of the championship for the Russian team was the first place in the group and in solo. Olga Brusnikina defeated Frenchwoman Virginie Didier. A brilliant composition with the image of Scheherazade to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov became the final one in her sports career. In the duet competition, the rising "stars" Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova lost the "gold" to the Japanese athletes.

The following year, 2002, the already strengthened team of Tatiana Pokrovskaya won the gold medals of the World Cup in Zurich (Switzerland) in the group and duet (A. Ermakova-A. Davydova) and silver in solo (A. Ermakova). Russian synchronized swimmers showed the same results in 2003 at the World Championships in Barcelona (Spain).

By the XXVIII Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens (Greece), the Russian team in synchronized swimming came up to the rank of unconditional leaders. Tatyana Pokrovskaya, a maximalist coach, constantly demanded iron discipline and complete dedication from her athletes. Training lasted 10 hours a day, and the girls were ready for any difficulties. Therefore, when the music was turned off twice during the competitions in the group exercises of the Russians, this did not prevent them from finishing the performance brilliantly. In Athens, the wards of Tatyana Pokrovskaya won the "gold" in the group and in the duet. In the decisive free program, performed to the music of Minkus from the ballet "Don Quixote", Davydova and Ermakova again confirmed their superiority over their rivals.

In 2005, for a great contribution to the development of physical culture and sports, high sports achivments at the Games XXVIII Olympiad 2004 in Athens T.N. Pokrovskaya was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree.

The Russian team in synchronized swimming held the next Olympic cycle, collecting all the gold medals at all European and world championships. The only exceptions were silver medals in solo by Natalia Ishchenko at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne (Australia) and the 2008 European Championships in Eindhoven (Netherlands).

In preparation for the Olympics, Pokrovskaya considered all eight teams that she had to compete with worthy competitors, not discounting anyone, and for safety net, she indicated one “gold” and one “silver” in the medal plan. But reinsured in vain!

At the XXIX Olympic Games in Beijing (China), the athletes of Tatyana Pokrovskaya once again confirmed the affectionate nickname "goldfish" given to them by their fans, winning competitions in groups and duets. A. Ermakova and A. Davydova became the first four-time Olympic champions in the history of this sport.

However, Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya did not have to rest on her laurels. There was a change of generations in the team. From the "golden" team of Beijing, except for Davydova and Ermakova, only Natalya Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina continued to perform. The ill-wishers kept repeating: “Let Pokrovskaya not take the team to the European Cup, otherwise she will be disgraced and they won’t give any place at the World Championships ...” But the Russians went and won. The duet of S. Romashina and N. Ishchenko knew no equal, a group of young athletes also did not yield to anyone.

At the World Championships in Rome (Italy) in 2009, the updated team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya won the technical and free programs. In combination, the coach decided not to field the team. A year later, the justification of the decision was confirmed: at the 2010 European Championship in Budapest (Hungary), there were no equals to the Russians in the combination.

The 2011 FINA World Championships were held in China. But neither the native walls, nor the new - closed - refereeing system, helped the main rivals of the Russians to win. All the "gold" of the world - seven out of seven medals of the highest standard - was won by the national team of Russia! Natalia Ishchenko won six (!) gold medals and became the most titled world champion.

The fight against the Chinese women, who "breathed in the back" of Tatyana Pokrovskaya at the World Championships, continued in 2012 at the XXX Olympic Games in London (Great Britain). And here all the gold medals were again rightfully awarded to her wards: Natalya Ishchenko, Svetlana Romashina, Anastasia Davydova, Maria Gromova, Elvira Khasyanova, Alexandra Patskevich, Daria Korobova, Anzhelika Timanina, Alla Shishkina. According to the sum of the technical and free programs, the group scored 197.030 points.

The second and third places were taken by Chinese and Spanish synchronized swimmers. Anastasia Davydova became the first and only five-time Olympic champion in the world, and the Russian team celebrated its fourth Olympic victory in a row!

April 20, 2014 by Decree of the President Russian Federation Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation. She became the first among the workers in the field of physical culture and sports, who was awarded a badge of special distinction - Golden medal Hero of Labor.

In 2013, the XV World Championships in Barcelona (Spain) were held under the new rules for synchronized swimmers. Each element in technical program was now evaluated separately, for which a third judging panel was formed. But for the team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya, this did not become an obstacle on the way to the podium. After all, there is no one more technical than Russians in world synchronized swimming! Again they won in all types of the program. Three-time Olympic champion Svetlana Romashina won gold for the team in solo. The duet Svetlana Romashina - Svetlana Kolesnichenko was recognized as the strongest in the world.

The next World Championship was held in 2015 in Kazan. On the eve of the home championship in May 2015 in the Netherlands, Tatyana Pokrovskaya's team competed at the European Cup, limiting themselves to only Olympic sports programs (group and duet), and won tickets to the Olympic Rio de Janeiro.

After a break related to the birth of a child, Natalya Ishchenko returned to the team and again stood in a duet with Svetlana Romashina. In Kazan, they became world champions. Svetlana Romashina eclipsed everyone in solo with new program"Gorgeous".

Gold medals - so expected, but no less valuable - were won by the group. The second place behind the team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya was taken by the Chinese synchronized swimmers, the third - by the Japanese team.

The home world championship in Kazan is the 16th in the history of sports, and for Tatyana Nikolaevna Pokrovskaya - the ninth "golden" in a row - went down in the history of synchronized swimming as revolutionary due to the fact that it was here that for the first time the competitions were officially held in a new type of program - mixed - duet. The decision to include mixed duets in the competition program at the World Championships was made in the fall of 2014 at the congress of the International Swimming Federation. The athletes barely had six months to prepare. Russian specialists this news was greeted with skepticism, and the main skeptic, by her own admission, was precisely Tatyana Nikolaevna.

But they decided to take the risk anyway. Alexander Maltsev was the only (!) synchronized male who was training at that time at the Institute of Physical Education. “It’s good that at least we have it. It’s good that he has a sufficient level of training, ”Pokrovskaya said then. The coach of the mixed duet, Gana Maksimova, was more optimistic about the abilities of the athletes, but she was in no hurry to assess the prospects for a new sport.

A partner for Alexander Maltsev was selected in the national team. Darina Valitova has been playing for the national team for a year, becoming the European champion in the group. Tatyana Pokrovskaya did not really want to “give her away”, but in order to technically improve the duet, such a partner was needed.

The success of the Russian mixed duet at the World Championships in Kazan was another confirmation of the highest professionalism and experience Russian coaches. Darina Valitova and Alexander Maltsev won the free program and lost to American synchronized swimmers Bill May and Christina Lam-Underwood in the technical.

At the next European Championship in 2016 in London (Great Britain), the team of Tatyana Pokrovskaya again showed herself brilliantly. In all types of the program, except for the free group, in which they did not participate, the Russians won "gold". This time the Russian mixed duet in the renewed line-up (Alexander Maltsev and Mihaela Kalancha) was unconditionally leading both in the technical and in the free program, ahead of the closest rivals - Italians Giorgio Minisini and Mariangela Perrupato - by three points. At this European championship, the wards of Tatiana Pokrovskaya brought the Russian team eight out of ten gold medals, which allowed Russian athletes become third in the overall team standings.

Before the start of the XXX Summer Olympic Games - July 24, 2016 - the IOC Executive Committee decided not to remove the entire Russian team from the Olympics, leaving the final decision on admission to the Olympic Games to international sports federations. The team of Russian synchronized swimmers was admitted to the Olympics in Brazil in full force.

Tatyana Pokrovskaya, in her own words, was very worried about the members of the team, for whom it was the first Olympic cycle. “It was hard for me to imagine,” she said in an interview with the R-Sport portal, “that suddenly Natalya Ishchenko and other more experienced girls would have white metal among the“ gold ”. Her anxiety was caused by no means by the level of training of young athletes, but by the general situation around Russia's participation in the Olympic Games, which could affect the decision of the judges. But the authority of Russian synchronized swimming is so great that in Rio there were no provocations against the team of Tatiana Pokrovskaya.

The composition of the team has not changed compared to the last European Championship. Svetlana Romashina and Natalya Ishchenko have been added to the group. These are the strongest this moment synchronized swimmers of the world won "gold" in the duet and then in the group, becoming five-time Olympic champions.

Tatyana Pokrovskaya and her team in Rio de Janeiro won the fifth Olympics in a row. Their main competitors, as in 2012 in London, were the Chinese team. High level athletes from Ukraine and Japan showed in the technical program. On the second day of the group competition, the Russians were the first of the contenders for medals. Their composition called "Prayer" was a combination of phenomenal complexity and beauty that did not leave indifferent either the audience or the judges. The fact that they made a confident step towards the Olympic "gold" could be judged immediately after their performance by the reaction of Tatyana Pokrovskaya, who, standing at the side in her "happy" pink blouse, applauded the wards. When the score became known - 99.113 points, any fight for gold medals could be considered over. The second place was taken by the Chinese sportswomen, the “bronze” in a serious struggle with the Ukrainian synchronized swimmers was won by the Japanese team.

After the Olympics, Tatyana Pokrovskaya agreed to continue working with the national team until the XXXII Olympic Games, which will be held in Tokyo (Japan) in 2020.

Tatyana Nikolaevna is not one of those coaches who are always confident in themselves and insist that their students are the best. She constantly says: “We are the weakest!” And this is one of the secrets of her success. “Sport is a struggle, it is always surprises. We have to work - more than others. Look ahead - further than others. Cooking new things before others,” she says.

T.N. Pokrovskaya - Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation, Honored Coach of Russia, Master of Sports in rhythmic gymnastics. Laureate of the sports award "Glory" in the nomination " Best Coach» (2005). Vice-President of the Federation of Synchronized Swimming of Russia.

Raised 27 Olympic champions. Prepared masters of sports international class: silver medalist of the European Championship in synchronized swimming (duet, group) I. Zhukov; silver medalist of the European Championship (group) O. Belaya; silver medalist of the world championship (duet) Yu. Beloglazov; European champion (group) V. Artemova.

Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation, cavalier of the orders "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree, Alexander Nevsky, Friendship, Honor.

Tatyana Pokrovskaya has a Yorkshire Terrier named Daniel. He is present at all trainings. The team calls him an anti-stress and a brand of the Russian national synchronized swimming team.

Pokrovskaya Tatyana Nikolaevna - head coach of the sports team of the Russian Federation in synchronized swimming of the federal state budget institution"Center sports training national teams of Russia”, the city of Moscow.

She was born on June 5, 1950 in Arkhangelsk. Russian. She was engaged in rhythmic gymnastics, became a master of sports. In 1971 she graduated from the State Central Institute of Physical Culture Order of Lenin (now the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism) in Moscow. From 1971-1981 she worked as a rhythmic gymnastics coach.

In 1981, she switched to coaching in the USSR national team in synchronized swimming. In 1991–1992, he was the state coach of the USSR and Russia combined teams in synchronized swimming. In 1992, the synchronized swimming team under her leadership took part in the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain). From 1992-1996 she worked as a synchronized swimming coach in Spain and Brazil.

In 1996 she returned to coaching in Russia. Since 1998, he has been the head coach of the Russian national synchronized swimming team. Under her leadership, the team achieved outstanding sports results and won all top titles in this sport.

Over the years, the team has won all the gold medals (duo, group) at five Summer Olympic Games: in Sydney (2000, Australia), Athens (2004, Greece), Beijing (2008, China), London (2012, Great Britain) and Rio de Janeiro (2016, Brazil); gold and silver medals (solo, duet, group, combi) at the world championships (1998, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) and Europe (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016), as well as at the World Cup and other competitions.

Her pupils are distinguished not only by brilliant technique, but also, which is very important, by the will to win. Among her students: five-time Olympic champions A.S. Davydova, N.S. Ishchenko, S.A. Romashina, four-time Olympic champion A.N. Ermakova, three-time Olympic champions O.A. Gromov, M.A. Kiseleva, E.R. Khasyanova.

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2014 for special labor services to the state and people Pokrovskaya Tatyana Nikolaevna was awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation with the award of a special distinction - the gold medal "Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation".

Vice-President of the Federation of Synchronized Swimming of Russia.

Lives and works in Moscow.

Honored Coach of the RSFSR. She was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th class (November 4, 2005), Alexander Nevsky (April 12, 2013), Honor (April 19, 2001), Friendship (January 15, 2010), medals, Honorary Diploma of the President of the Russian Federation (January 23. 2014).

Laureate of the National Sports Award "Glory" in the nomination "Best Coach" (2004).

Today, the first set of awards in synchronized swimming will be played at the World Aquatics Championships, which is taking place in Montreal. The main contender for the "gold" in the combined program, of course, is Russian team. We expect our synchronized swimmers to win in other disciplines - team competitions, solo and duet. And how else, if they have long been the best in the world. Shortly before the start, "NI" talked with the long-term mentor of the Russian national team Tatyana POKROVSKAYA, winner of the "Slava" sports award in the "Best Coach of 2004" nomination.

- Tatyana Nikolaevna, is it true that you were not going to connect your fate with synchronized swimming?

I can't stand swimming in the pool either. I do not like this water - I disdain. Back and forth, back and forth you dangle - it annoys me. I only swim in the sea. Or in the ocean. But the swimmer of me is very unimportant, to be honest. I don’t like my head in the water, I breathe incorrectly ... And I would not connect my life with synchronized swimming in any case. I still can’t understand how it is possible to hang upside down in the water, and even not see what your legs are doing.

Have you ever asked your girls about this?

- I asked ... They laugh and claim that they see their legs. I say: you don't know how the audience reacts. And they: well, we emerge ... You know, once I tried to hang upside down on the "Round Lake" upside down. The water in the pool was muddy, and I did not understand at all where the bottom was, and where the top was. She panicked like a caught fish. The girls caught me, and I still remember this horror: God, how scary! And they still manage to feel their movements with an accuracy of a degree: an angle of fifteen, an inclination of thirty ...

- You also have such a frightening term - to fall asleep under water. I was told that there were cases when, from a strong breath holding, athletes really fell asleep there ...

- When we were just looking for ourselves in synchronized swimming, there was such a fashion - to lengthen the ligaments. That is, most of the program to work under water. We all jumped then. The Russian school is generally different. Now synchronized swimming is being taken away for relief - they say, you can’t hold your breath for too long, but we still stand our ground. I remember when we started doing this, the Americans came up to us and said: let your children breathe, what will they just come up like fish, grab air and go under water again ... Yes, cases when athletes cannot swim out and they have to be caught , really exist. But in training, this rarely happens. Mostly in competitions, in the compulsory program. When the already difficult breathing fetters the excitement ... It is a very difficult sport. That's why I say: how do they endure all this? This is not clear to me. Unclear.

- And this is the coach who won the Olympics twice ...

– Although I don’t understand the feelings of the girls, I see a lot from above. It would seem that the legs stick out above the water, and that's it. What else can be seen? Once I thought so too, but now you grasp everything at the same time: how they stroke, how they hold their breath, work with their hands. It seems that everything is the same - only the legs are above the water, but from their movement I can even determine from afar what mistakes they are making down there. It all comes with experience.

“I am a very impulsive coach. And my biofield is probably very strong. When I scream, the equipment sits next to me, so I really don’t need a microphone.

- Do you know that your girls are afraid of you?

- I know. Even those who are not yet in the national team, but on the way. They know that I have a very serious discipline. And the fact that they will have to work in a way that they have never worked before.

Are you a fanatic?

- Do you think that a coach should be born?

- Definitely.

- It is still not clear how you could not master your sport so thoroughly. Or do you care who to train?

- I came at a time when everyone, if desired, could become a coach in this sport. Synchronized swimming was then like a child. We all went by touch. And I had very good teachers - Marina Maksimova, Zoya Barbier. Synchronized swimming in Russia began with them. After rhythmic gymnastics, where I worked as a coach, it seemed to me that this was not a sport at all. The most interesting thing is that my husband convinced me to do it. He then worked in the Moscow sports committee and wanted his wife, fanatically devoted to rhythmic gymnastics, to be at home more often, to sit with the child. So I had nowhere to go.

- And the husband in the end miscalculated?

- And how! At one time (he was a military man), I went with him, as a Decembrist, to serve in the darkness. She worked as a physical education teacher in a public school. By the way, I have very good memories of that time. Although the school was provincial, very serious attention was paid to sports there. In athletics, the kids had very good results. Well, I showed such miracles - you can put on a comedy. I was a gymnast and track and field athletics at the Institute of Physical Education took place from time to time. If only to set off. Well, in the lesson, such a start showed them that they almost stood in a split, upside down. When they ran, I didn’t understand why my children were almost poking their noses into the path. It turned out that I mixed up the distance between the starting blocks. And they didn't even show it. We thought: maybe a person from Moscow knows more? Well, my husband explained to me what was happening. And the next day, as if nothing had happened, I say: yesterday we learned the training start, and now we will learn sports ... Who knows, maybe we would have stayed there, but I always wanted more. I already knew for sure that I would be a coach. And she was accustomed to work in such an exhausting mode from childhood.

- The head coach of our "artists" Irina Viner somehow noticed that they, in the same women's sport, have a boa constrictor on the left, and a cobra on the right. At any moment you can expect anything. Is it difficult for you in this sense?

- Not harder than in the men's team. Trust me, there are plenty of intrigues out there. When we had two duets (Anastasia Ermakova - Anastasia Davydova and Olga Brusnikina - Maria Kiseleva. - "NO") fought each other, everyone said: what a situation, how terrible! But there was nothing like that. Razors in shoes like in figure skating, heard, happens, nobody put. The atmosphere was, of course, a little nervous. But the coaches and girls behaved very worthy.

- So, having lost the selection, Brusnikina and Kiseleva went to complain to Fetisov?

You understand, they are offended. They returned to the sport for the sake of a duet, and suddenly the rivals, very young, cross the road. I, too, maybe at first believed more in Brusnikin and Kiselev, and it was a surprise to me that the young won. So everyone could do that, offended. But there were no provocations in the group. Masha and Olga - they are generally smart. We got through this difficult time. Yes, and Ermakova and Davydova were not so hairy. Both chuckles. And the fact that there was such competition only benefited everyone.

- What does this award "Glory" mean to you?

- The fact that they recognized the work of our entire coaching team in my person. It's good that our work is beginning to be valued no less than the work of athletes. Still, the work is going on equally. Let the athletes have a lot of physical wear, but the moral of the coaches is much more. Our work is terribly nerve-wracking. And thank God that they began to understand: a lot depends on the coach. Because no matter how talented you are, there is no coach - and there is nothing. And it happens the other way around. IN good hands and without talent you can become Olympic champion. I had one girl in the team - Vera Artemova, so when she came to us, she was diagnosed with scoliosis, turning into the fourth stage. And this is not an isolated case. And now there are children in the national team who have achieved everything only by perseverance and the work of coaches.

- Did you prepare for the World Championship with a calm heart, or is each such tournament for you like the first one?

- There are coaches who are always confident in themselves and say that their students are the strongest. And I always think that mine are the weakest. And it doesn't let you calm down. Even girls sometimes bring me up. Forever, they say, you, Tatyana Nikolaevna, exaggerate. But I am like a distorted mirror. You have to punch them in the nose. Right now, I answer them, at the European Cup, for example, we beat the Spaniards, but we have not yet seen the main rivals - the Japanese. In general, I remind them all the time: our rivals are growing. Let "on us", but grow. And everyone is working in earnest now. And Spain, with which we came into contact at the training camp and gave her all our secrets to the mountain. The Americans, who have now risen again after the recession, have also taken our course. The Japanese, who crawl everywhere and have simply amazing working conditions. In general, we need to build the sport of the future. Like in China. Because in the near future not only those who have brilliant coaching staff will win, but also those who work in good conditions. Here we are, as an elite team, all kinds of help and support from the outside sports organizations, of course, we do, but for now we just hope that someday we, two-time Olympic champions in the group and in the duet, will still have our own pool at home ...