Uliana Semenova: why the tallest basketball player in the USSR never got married. Latvian basketball players came to the rescue of the Soviet champion Uliana Semenova USSR basketball player Uliana

In fact, this famous Latvian athlete is not Uliana at all, but Iuliyaka (as according to her passport). Semenova is a legend of Soviet sports, a woman in whose life there were not only fame and recognition, but also serious health problems.

Why is she famous

As Rossiyskaya Gazeta wrote in 2007, talking about a fundraising campaign for the treatment of 55-year-old Ulyana Semenova (she had problems with the hip joint; Semenova is a disabled group II), this Soviet basketball player, who played for the USSR national team for a long time, in In 2006, she was recognized as the best center player of the twentieth century. V. V. Putin (then Prime Minister Russian Federation) awarded Ulyana (Iulyaka) Semenov with the Order of Friendship.

Semenova in the 70s and 80s was a two-time Olympic champion, three-time world champion, ten-time European champion and fifteen-time champion of the Soviet Union. Her name is in the NBA and FIBA ​​Halls of Fame. Veteran of Soviet sports - holder of the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, Friendship of Peoples and Friendship. Her name is in the Guinness Book of Records.

What was her actual height?

Judging by the interviews given by the veteran of Soviet sports herself (Ulyana Larionovna had her 65th birthday last year), this question has long bothered her and constantly irritates her. In an interview with AiF, Semenova said that her height is 2 m 9 cm, and if you straighten up, then 2/10 (this data is in the archive of the Luzhniki sports complex and the Riga physical dispensary). Ulyana Larionovna believes that this indicator in women's basketball is by no means the main one, and even more so, it is not decisive: she considers cunning rather than athleticism to be the determining force of this sport.

Sport has replaced the family

Semenova says that she never had a shortage of admirers in her youth. But she honestly told in an interview with AiF that with such a busy schedule of sports performances, it was simply not enough time to think about arranging her personal life - Ulyana played in the USSR national team as player No. 1, and she occupied a similar status in her club. Plus, she had a complex about her status and height, believing that men could be seduced precisely by her merits, and not by her personality as such.

In an interview with Sovetsky Sport, Ulyana Semenova said that even a Colombian millionaire once courted her, 18 years old, giving fantastic bouquets of flowers, paying bills. But they had a 45-year age difference. The athlete eventually rejected his advances.

Ulyana Larionovna does not regret that she did not arrange her personal life - she does a lot of social work (for many years she has been the head of the Latvian Olympic Social Fund, she has many friends and acquaintances, her nephews often visit). The famous athlete is not forgotten. The exposition of the Riga Wax Museum has an image of this basketball player.

An outstanding athlete, whose height is 2 meters 10 centimeters, celebrated her 55th birthday

From the FACTS dossier

Uliana Semenova - two-time Olympic champion (1976 - Montreal, 1980 - Moscow). Three-time world champion (1971, 1975, 1983), 10-time European champion (1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985), 15-time champion of the USSR. Multiple winner of the European Cup (1968-1979, 1981-1983, 1987). She played for the teams "TTT" (Riga, USSR) - 1967-1987, "Tintoretto" (Spain) - 1987-1988.

Personal record for the number of points scored in one match - 54 (1975, against "Geas" (Italy) in the European Cup).

She was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, Friendship of Peoples and Friendship.

Member of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield (USA) and the Women's Hall of Fame (Tennessee, USA). Listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Recognized as the best Latvian basketball player of the 20th century.

Gennady PIOROR

"FACTS" (Riga-Kyiv)

Two-time Olympic champion, three-time world champion, 10-time European champion, center of the Soviet Union basketball team and captain of the legendary Riga TTT team Uliana Semenova needs no special introduction. Her name is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest (height - 2 meters 10 centimeters) female basketball player. Semyonova is remembered and loved by people of the middle and older generations in many countries of the world, including Ukraine. Recently, the most titled basketball player in the post-Soviet space celebrated her 55th birthday. With Swallow (as Ulyana was called in the USSR national team), the FACTS correspondent met in the office of the Latvian Olympic Social Fund, which is headed by an outstanding athlete.

“At 24 years old after the Olympics in Montreal, I thought: that’s it, I’ll leave the sport, I can’t take it anymore, I’m tired!”

I came to the meeting with Uliana Semyonova with a bouquet of bright yellow-orange tulips.

Thanks for the bouquet. Flowers are the best gift for me! - admitted Ulyana. - And you guessed the color: yellow is my favorite. When it's my birthday, flower sellers know they'll sell out all the yellow flowers. They bring a lot of them - the whole living room is lined with vases at home. In the morning, when I leave the bedroom, it seems to me that the sun is shining in the room, and I bathe in its rays.

Putting the flowers in a vase, Ulyana sat down at the table. They lay down on the table beautiful hands, however, somewhat different from ordinary women's brushes in their size. On long fingers three golden rings gleamed.

You have beautiful hands, - I could not resist.

Thank you, - the hostess of the office smiled embarrassedly. - But since childhood, these hands had to work hard, then all my life basketball knock. I come from a small Latvian village Medumi, from a family of Old Believers. Our parents had six of us: two daughters and four sons. Dad has been gone for a long time, mom died three years ago. Two siblings are no longer alive

Ulyana, did you stand out among your peers from childhood?

No, I was born normal: weight - 3.5 kilograms, height - 51 centimeters. But at school, by the age of 11, she stretched out, somewhere 1 meter 80 centimeters became. If I sat at a desk, and my classmates stood nearby, I was still a little taller. Everyone in our family was of average height, so when I began to grow rapidly, my father thought that it was caused by some kind of illness, and took me to Riga for an examination. The doctors reassured him: they say, such a healthy child still needs to be looked for.

How did you get into basketball?

Since childhood, I have been a very athletic girl: I ran skiing, went in for athletics, played volleyball and even pushed the shot. Enter the Riga Nursery sports school I was persuaded by the physical education teacher. I persuaded for a long time When I was escorted to Riga, there were barrels of tears, probably! Everyone was crying, including me. Didn't want to leave home.

Did you have any problems getting into the sports school?

What do you! They took it with arms and legs, because I had the physical data for this. It remained only to learn the throws and tactics of the game. It was very difficult for me to be separated from my relatives: I lived in a sports boarding school, everyone left for the weekend, and I was left alone. Several times I even tried to escape, once the coach had to literally take me off the train. Then he began to take me to his place for the weekend, so as not to get bored.

At the age of 14, I was taken to the Latvian school team, and at 15, I already played in the youth basketball team of the Soviet Union at the European Championship in Italy. We then won the gold. By the way, I am the only three-time European champion among juniors in the former Soviet Union. She won this title for the first time at the age of 15, then at 17 and the last time at 19.

You completed your sports career twice Olympic champion?

The first time I received the Olympic "gold" after the victory of the USSR national team in 1976 in Montreal (by the way, for the first time in the history of the Olympics, women entered the basketball court), the second - in 1980 in Moscow. There was another opportunity to win the Olympic title in 1984 in Los Angeles. But after the Americans boycotted the Moscow Olympics, the socialist countries decided not to participate in the Los Angeles one.

To be honest, after the Olympics in Montreal (I was 24 then), I thought: that's it, I'll leave the sport, I can't take it anymore, I'm tired! I even skipped training for a couple of weeks. I had the Institute behind me physical education. I decided that I would go to work either as a physical education teacher or as a coach. But they told me: “Are you out of your mind? Come on, get ready for the Moscow Olympics.” On reflection, I decided that I would try. So she made it to almost 24 years. active life In sports.

“A week before the World Cup, they told me: “Ulya, the team no longer needs you”

Is it true that in 1986, when you were preparing for the World Cup, you were treated, to put it mildly, ugly, not taking to the games?

Unfortunately it is so. Wonderful Main coach, with whom we worked for 18 years in the USSR national team, Lidia Vladimirovna Alekseeva, left. Or rather, it was removed. She was replaced by Leonid Yachmenev, Dynamo Novosibirsk coach. He was very angry with me: in allied competitions, our "TTT" constantly won against his team. I was later told that when Yachmenev was appointed, he said: “Either I am the coach of the national team, or Semenova is in the team. Choose!” They chose him. I had a ticket in my hands to fly to Belarus for the last training camp before the World Cup, when our doctor called. Not the coach, not representatives of the sports committee, but it was she who told me the unpleasant news. "How?! I worked more than all the training camps, and only a week remained before the competition. This is my last championship and I want to play it!” I screamed into the phone. “Ulya, the team no longer needs you,” she heard in response.

For three months I was in shock. And not only me. In the Latvian sports committee, where I came to hand over tickets, they could not understand anything either. But I continued to play for my team, in the championships of the Union I was the best center And suddenly - a phone call. They say: "Ulyana, come to the training camp, you will prepare for the Olympic Games in Seoul (1988 - Auth.), We need you." But even then I firmly answered: “No!”

If I'm not mistaken, sports officials have treated you unworthily more than once.

The second time it happened at the end of my sports career, in 1987. I never thought about money, it's not the main thing in life. Speaking for the USSR national team, she received 300 rubles a month. If we won the world and European championships, won prizes at the Olympics, we were given prizes. For example, for the first place at the Olympics - 4 thousand rubles. At the time, that was a lot of money. But when the time came to leave the sport, I realized that I had nothing but an apartment in Riga.

Officials from Moscow offered me a contract, according to which I had to play for the Spanish team Tintoretto for six months. Under this contract, I was promised to pay 45 thousand dollars. But all the money went to Moscow. Every month I went to the Soviet embassy in Spain and received 400 dollars there. Even the embassy employees wondered how they could live on these pennies. Although I lived in a luxurious two-story mansion with three baths, I didn’t have enough money for food: by Spanish standards, I lived from hand to mouth. It’s good that I took canned food, sausage with me from home But when the supplies ran out, it became very difficult. If it wasn't for the president of the club, Antonio, who started giving me $500 a month out of his own money, it would have been really bad.

How did the Spaniards treat you?

Without me, Tintoretto was losing, but with my arrival, the team began to win. Every time I came to a training session or a game, the fans were waiting for me. As soon as I opened the car door, they literally pulled me out of the passenger compartment, picked me up and carried my 130 kilograms to the locker room. I asked Antonio not to allow this before the start of training or matches - I was afraid that they would drop me and I would get injured. “But after the match, let them carry it!” - I told him. Almost every Spanish newspaper wrote about me every day. Journalists kept asking the president of the club how much I was eating. "Just as much as I do," replied Antonio. In fact, I eat very little.

By the way, according to the results of a survey conducted at that time, the Spaniards named the singer Sabrina and the basketball player Semyonova the most popular people in the country.

However, in Spain, a disaster happened to me: I broke my heel bone. But despite this, she continued to play. Before the matches, they put a bandage on my leg, I took painkillers and went to the site. When my contract ended, all the athletes, coaches, doctors of the Spanish team knelt down in front of me. I burst into tears at this expression of gratitude.

In Spain, I met our outstanding goalkeeper Lev Yashin, who was supposed to receive some kind of award in Madrid. He arrived even though he was already very ill. The Spaniards entrusted me to present this award to Lev Yashin. Seeing me, he asked: “Oh, Ulechka, is that you?” - and hugged him tightly.

“When I was returning from abroad to Riga, the path from the plane ladder to the airport building was covered with flowers”

Are you having trouble finding clothes?

None. I used to knit and sew my own clothes. When I began to travel abroad, I bought fabrics there, and a dressmaker sewed for me. I also bought ready-made things abroad - it's not a problem there. Every day, leaving the house, I try to dress in a new way, so as not to repeat myself. I have several closets full of clothes. My shoes are all low. When I see women in high heels, I only think about how their legs are injured.

In general, because of my height, I was worried only in my youth. For a long time she walked stooping, pulling her neck into her shoulders to appear lower. Once the coach of the national team said: “What are you doing with yourself, stupid? Who are you ashamed of? You are the queen of basketball! So wear the crown like a king!” Now there are inconveniences only with the front doors: in my apartment there are standard doorways, and to enter, I have to bend down.

Do you feel the love and respect of your compatriots?

I felt it only abroad and in my native Riga: when I returned here, the path from the plane ladder to the airport building was covered with flowers and a brass band played. Until recently, there was a wax museum in Riga, where my copy stood. In Moscow, after the victories, I was met very discreetly, at best they gave me one flower.

My name was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993 in the US city of Springfield. As a memento of this event, I have a magnificent gold ring with a diamond engraved with my name. True, the ring turned out to be too small, and when I arrived in Riga, I gave it to a jewelry factory to have it made to size. Then they told me that the craftsmen ran to look at him and admired: “We don’t make such people!” And in 1999, my name was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame in the US state of Tennessee.

Knowing about your achievements, people abroad probably thought that you were a rich person.

I never denied it. Moreover, before each trip abroad, I was summoned to the Central Committee of the Party and instructed what to say in an interview with foreign correspondents. So I lied that I didn’t have a hut on a farm, but a chic house, not a cart, but a snow-white Chevrolet.

Were you not invited to play in foreign clubs at the beginning of your career?

Of course, they were invited, but in those days it was impossible to even think about it. I was first invited to France when I was 20 years old, but that invitation was not even shown to me. The French offered me university education, a lot of money. Later, when I was at competitions in France and they approached me with similar proposals, I refused. Although I like France, I would love to live in this country, learn its language.

Do you live alone?

Life so happened that after the death of my mother, the person closest to me, I was left alone. I still can't come to terms with this loss.

Haven't met your man yet?

Alas. Although I have always enjoyed the attention of the opposite sex, I have been made proposals more than once. There were also quite wealthy foreigners among the suitors. When I was 18, a 63-year-old millionaire from Colombia fell in love with me. He looked after me beautifully, sent flowers to hotels, paid for me in stores, beauty salons. But then I thought: “Why do I need such an old one?” Compatriots also declared their love, but I always thought that because of my sports career, it would not be easy for my husband. After all, I was at home only a couple of months a year. In addition, looking at our girls, I noticed that they are not very happy in family life. And she herself was afraid of becoming unhappy in marriage. Sometimes I was scared off by interest in me as a famous person, and no more. And the height of the men who wooed me did not matter to me.

Now I am not alone: ​​I have many friends, acquaintances, relatives. So I'm almost never alone. It often happens that I come home only to spend the night. I am constantly in business - from morning to evening, only my health began to fail. At one time in training and during competitions, I fell. Can you imagine with my height? But she always knew how to group, and the fall seemed painless. And only now they are making themselves felt. I have a big problem with my left hip joint - I can hardly walk. Abroad, they make a special prosthesis for me, and then I have to have an expensive operation. Our doctors decide what to do. Maybe soon I will come for a consultation at the Kiev Institute of Orthopedics. They say you have very good doctors.

You are the head of the Latvian Olympic Social Fund, which provides assistance to former athletes. Can you help yourself?

In 1991, when I had already retired, I was invited by the President of the Latvian Olympic Committee and offered to organize a social fund. She refused for a long time, even hid when they came from the committee. In the end, I was nevertheless persuaded, and now I am glad that I can help those who once brought glory to Latvia in the world sports arenas. Olympic champions, Olympic medalists, winners of European and world championships, we pay extra from 200 to 400 dollars per month. We help other sports veterans with medicines, medical services, and food. I myself receive a pension as a disabled person of the second group. This is 90 lats - about 180 dollars. In addition, I get paid a premium for sports achivments and salary as the head of the fund. There are a thousand dollars in total. Of these, 325 dollars I pay for my three-room 100-meter apartment.

Do you have free time and how do you spend it?

In winter, there is practically no such time. In the summer I try to escape to the dacha or sit somewhere in the park. I love the forest very much. When I go on business past the forest, I always ask my driver to stop in order to breathe in the forest air for at least a few minutes. Sometimes I’ll go up to a tree, hug it and think: “How good you are!” It gives me energy, nourishes me. And most of all I like to collect mushrooms. And I salt them according to my mother's recipe. True, my mother had wooden barrels for this, and I use clay pots.

Do you feel like a happy person?

Yes, I am very happy. I have a business that brings me joy, good friends. Although I live in a small country, I love it very much. And our love is mutual.

Because of her, the Latvian national basketball team undressed, and Sergey IVANOV (when he was the first vice-premier of the Russian Federation) awarded the Order of Friendship

Today, the legendary center team of the USSR, two-time Olympic and three-time world champion, ten-time European champion, captain of the unique Riga TTT team, which won the European Champions Cup 23 times (!) Ulyana Larionovna SEMYONOVA - 60 YEARS OLD! CONGRATULATIONS!

But she no longer wants to pick up the ball, play for veteran teams. She has already played enough, she says, and past injuries do not allow. And she does not favor herself on the site in newsreel footage - she has seen enough video replays during the analysis of mistakes in the old days. But he does not miss the broadcasts of the current basketball competitions, tracking matches among both women and men. After all, basketball, without false pathos, is her whole life. No remainder...

The name Uli, as her friends affectionately call her, appears in two American basketball halls of fame - in Springfield (she was the first European basketball player, in 1993) and Knoxville (1999). Springfield even has an imprint of her sneakers on the Walk of Stars of Basketball. And on September 12, 2007, Ulyana was included in the FIBA ​​(International Basketball Federation) Hall of Fame in Madrid. But she could not go to the ceremony herself. The famous athlete underwent in June of the same year the most difficult operation to replace hip joint. And in the winter of 2008 - two more serious operations on the leg. But with the cheerful charming Ulyana, who has been heading the Latvian Olympic Social Fund for Assistance to Sports Veterans for 21 years, the concept of “group 2 disabled person” does not fit in any way. Only the heavy cane behind the chair in her office reminds Ole of how difficult it is to move around.

(Ulyana Semenova in her office)

ATHLETES LIKE MODELS

For the first time in history, the Latvian women's basketball team undressed for the shooting of the 2008 calendar in order to transfer the proceeds to you for recovery after a complex operation. How do you yourself feel about the fact that now not only models and actresses, but also athletes have begun to be naked in front of the cameras?

Only a certain percentage went for my rehabilitation, most of it went to my social fund, because it has basketball players, including those from TTT, who also need treatment and help. Of course, I am very grateful to our girls from the national team for their desire to help veteran basketball players. And why shouldn't they have been photographed naked (at the request of Ulyana, her assistant brings a calendar - Auth.)? Look how pretty girls are - both faces and figures. And not an ounce of vulgarity (indeed, the athletes in the black-and-white calendar “a la Pirelli” look amazing! - Auth.). And most importantly, they play well. Here is the biggest gift!

You have undergone complex operations. It's all consequences sports injuries. Don't you regret that you weren't careful on the court?

When I was running, there was no such thought. I never felt sorry for myself, I wanted to show everything that I can, to achieve results. I was glad when I succeeded... But on the other hand, the traumatology hospital is full of people of normal height and normal weight who have never been involved in sports, but have the same problems as me. It is not known if I did not go in for sports, maybe my health would be even worse. So we didn’t think about injuries then, but about how to win: both in the USSR national team and in our club team - “TTT”. After all, victories gave a chance to go abroad, go to the European Cup, see new country what everyone dreamed of. Now go, I don't want to.

Your club "TTT" did not complain about the lack of trips abroad...

Yes, it is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Still - 23 times to win the FIBA ​​Cup. Such a team, I think, will no longer exist.

(Ulyana Semenova as part of her native club)

ONE VICTORY NEEDED!

What was the main thing for the USSR women's basketball team? What did the coaches inspire you, what did you say to yourself before the game?

The words were the same: win! We went to defend our titles. And it is always harder than conquering. I, going out to the site, said to myself: “Well, with God!” I had a double responsibility, which the coaches reminded me of: “Ulya, how you play, the girls will play the same way ...” Although I was not a captain, the girls looked up to me. And they also came to me with their problems, and, of course, not because I was the Komsomol organizer of the national team.

Perhaps you were asked to join the party?

Begged. Still, I was the champion of Europe, the world and the Olympic Games. I was also reminded of my orders - Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor and Friendship of Peoples. But then, when I went to Spain to play, I put my membership card on the table along with the application. And since then, I have not joined any of the parties ...

Have you ever taken any medications or doping to support your strength?

Absolutely not. The only thing I took was medication for knee pain, which still haunts me. As she got injured in the early 70s, so it went. She played with her and suffered. Then the liquid collected from a crack in the meniscus. Now, of course, there is no liquid at all - bone rubs against bone: that's where the iron was inserted for me.

And there was no question of doping. Our coach Lidia Alekseeva was very strict. When we got to the Olympics in Montreal, in 1976, she told us: “If I see that someone is drinking Coca-Cola, I won’t let him out on the site, even if he is a strong player ...” She explained that in Coca-Cola , which in those years was perceived by us as a magical drink, also contains caffeine and the like. And if, he says, the anti-doping commission wants to find fault, then they will be able to seize on this occasion.

And we were leaders in those years, and no one knew how to lead us astray. Yes, Coca-Cola! The coach forbade even taking headache pills without her knowledge. The doctor and the girls should have consulted her first. Yes, and why did we need doping, we were already head and shoulders above everyone else (this was true in the literal sense of the word: there are no basketball players in the world higher than Uli, which is also evidenced in the Guinness Book of Records - Auth.). Therefore, even at the training camp, scarce and expensive pills like mildranate, restoring cardiovascular activity, which were laid out next to our dinner plates, we took out and secretly buried ...

(With the girls at the Olympics)

(1980. The USSR national basketball team is the champion of the Olympic Games in Moscow.)

WINE AND BATH

And how did you relax with the girls at the training camp? Really, in the same Gumista, the former Olympic center near Sukhumi, didn’t they run to the locals for homemade wine?

They ran. But very rarely. Our training cycle was like this: we work for three days, we rest for one. Therefore, on the weekends, I and several girls, who were also lovers of the bath, went to the eucalyptus grove up the Gumista River, picked brooms there, and then steamed in the bath. But when husbands came from Moscow to the girls, then wine appeared. We sat down somewhere on a bench under magnolias with a three-liter jar of young wine and secretly passed a maximum glass from the coach. No one, as they say, abused. Then it would be hard on our own in training.

Yes, I had to watch how they drove you in the morning, forcing you to run hundred meters at speed. I remember that in the summer of 1979 the coach of our Leningrad University boxing team switched the morning workouts from Olympic Stadium to the beach. So that we, therefore, do not complex at the sight of tall athletes. When you walked from the beach in swimsuits, men with reverence made way for you. Are you worried about your height yourself?

No, it wasn't before. We wound our circles on exercises, and then went to the beach. By the way, local men started talking to us and tried to court us. But don't think there was nothing wrong with that. Everything was solid. Moreover, everyone knew that we were from the USSR national team, we had a regime, and all sorts of trips to restaurants were excluded.

In one of the interviews, you told how a foreign millionaire wooed you...

There were many things. You know how tall girls are valued abroad, but here - from the USSR, “russia”.

(Early 70s. With Raimonds Pauls after a concert in Riga.)

AND THE ORDER OF SCARLET ON THE BREAST…

Could you ever imagine, while training on the banks of the Gumista, that this river would become an arena for battles between Georgians and Abkhazians, and the USSR would cease to exist? Not sorry?

There is no political system that was. But the people who are divided along ethnic lines, it's a pity. Of course, there is nostalgia for that time, for youth, for girls, for our friendship. We are on Olympic Games were one family. They went and cheered for their own. And there was not even a thought: this one is from Latvia, and this one is from Georgia or Ukraine. I remember how in Montreal, in 1976, they were happy for the cyclists, when our athletes won the first gold medals in the road race. We kissed our champions, looked at these medals like jewels. Then we swore that the blood from the nose, but we will win the same ones. And they won! For the first time in history, because before women's basketball was not included in Olympic sports sports.

How do you feel about the Soviet orders of that time?

All of them are hard-earned. By the way, I am the only athlete in Latvia who has been awarded the Order of Lenin. And the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in wartime was equated with combat. So I'm proud of my awards. Among them is the Order of the Three Stars - the highest award in Latvia, received in 1995.

(It was almost impossible to take the ball away from our center. 1983. The final match with the Americans in the championship in
Brazil, which was won by the USSR team.)

And in December 2006, at the celebration of the centenary of Russian basketball in St. Petersburg, you also received the Russian Order of Friendship...

Yes, with an award book signed by Putin.

(Sergey Ivanov - from bottom to top ... Left in the background - Valentina Matvienko.)

In St. Petersburg, in addition to the Order of Friendship, did you receive a prize as the best Russian basketball center of the 20th century?

Yes. I was persuaded to go to St. Petersburg, including in Olympic Committee Latvia. I was given a more spacious minibus than I have in the fund. And my driver and director of the archive of the entire Olympic Committee went with me. With such a retinue, I went. Moreover, all of us were placed without words at the expense of the host. I was so glad that I went - I saw all my girls, whom I had not seen for 20 years after playing in the national team ...

At competitions and training camps, we often shared a room with Tanya Ovechkina, whose son is now a famous hockey player. Tanya's maiden name was Kabaeva, and we called her Keba. She really enjoyed putting on my slippers and bathrobe in the morning. I wake up - there is no bathrobe and no flip flops, yeah, so Kaba went to the toilet. We were very friendly with her. She was a talented basketball player.

"I'M GLAD THAT PEOPLE NEED" ...

From sports issues, we gradually moved to politics and more important and eternal topics, to what worries people the most - health, family. Moreover, my 8-year-old son was moving toys nearby at the table, while he did not fully understand the value of the postcard presented to him by Ulyana, on which she willingly signed ...

(Ulyana Semenova with my eldest son)

I am very worried about what is happening in Latvia now, - Ulyana says with visible regret. But I don't want to get involved in these squabbles. As soon as a new party is formed, everyone pulls me into it. For many years I was considered one of our oldest parties. The former prime minister even offered to fill out a questionnaire. But I refused, saying that I played honestly in sports and did not want to participate in intrigues. Although I do not condemn those athletes who became deputies ...

I'm glad that I have a job that people need. I am loved and respected.

My mother was a believer. I am from a family of Old Believers, from Pabergi farm, in the Medum parish of Latvia. I have an icon at home. I took the second icon to my brother in the village. I remember how Easter and other church holidays were always celebrated. There were six of us in the family - four brothers and two sisters. Why I grew up like this, I can't explain. The parents were of average height. Therefore, when in the fifth grade I grew to meter eighty, my dad even took me to the hospital for an examination. But the doctors said that such a healthy child still needs to be looked for ...

(Ulya with her brother Semyon...)

(With friends - for mushrooms ...)

Have you always had problems with the selection of clothes?

As for clothes, I have absolutely no problems. Own dressmaker, who sews beautifully. But there is a small problem with shoes, and that's because I need orthopedic shoes. But since 1987, since I got an ankle injury in Spain, I have my own shoemaker. Then, after the operation, I needed special shoes, and Gunnar helped. So I can't complain.

FROM THE DOSSIER:
Uliana SEMENOVA was born on March 9, 1952. Honored Master of Sports. Height - 210 cm. Two-time Olympic champion (1976, 1980). Three times world champion (1971, 1975, 1983). 10-time European champion, 15-time USSR champion. Multiple winner of the European Champions Cup in the Riga club "TTT".
She began her basketball career in 1965 at the age of 13. From 1968 to 1986 - member of the USSR national team.

She also played for Tintoretto (Spain, 1987/88) and Orchi (France, 1989). During her sports career, she played more than 5 thousand games, gaining 15 thousand points. Personal record for the number of points scored in one match - 54 (1975, against Geas (Italy) in the European Cup).

(In attack, the legend of Soviet basketball - Ulya Semenova)

Karen MARKARYAN. (Photo courtesy of the Latvian Olympic Committee and the author)

Semenova Uliana Larionovna

(born in 1952)

Soviet basketball player Olympic champion (1976, 1980), world (1971, 1975) and European (1968-1981).

Having a player like Ulyana Semenova in the team, it was possible to strive for the highest goals in any tournament. For many years she was the leader of the Soviet basketball team and was distinguished not only by her incredible growth, but also by the level of her game. In addition, Ulyana was a truly simple and modest person, thanks to which her teammates loved her.

Ulyana Semenova was born on March 9, 1952 in Latvia, in the village of Medumi, remote from large cities, devoid of any benefits of civilization. Her parents were Russian Old Believers, accustomed to constant work, and their children - and there were five of them in the family - were brought up in the same vein. Ulyana's parents had no education, the head of the family graduated from only four classes of school. Therefore, they sought to give their children what they themselves were deprived of in childhood. Ulyana, along with her brothers and sisters, walked 5 kilometers daily to the neighboring village where the school was located. Mother was often ill, lay in hospitals for a long time, and Ulyana, being the eldest of the sisters, did housework.

In the first grades of the school, Ulyana was not tall. But by the age of eleven she had already grown under a meter and eighty and continued to grow. At school, she was actively involved in sports and, thanks to her natural gifts, won competitions in all sports: basketball, handball, athletics, skiing. But then the girl did not even think about a sports career, her main concerns were studying and helping her parents. Everything changed when Ulyana's school teacher entered the Institute of Physical Education in Riga. At that time, a competition was announced in the capital for the highest resident of the republic. Having learned about him, the teacher persuaded Ulyana to go to Riga and take part in the competition. There she was noticed by the coaches of the children's sports school, who were just conducting a new recruitment. It cost them a lot of work to persuade Ulyana and her parents to move the girl to Riga, to a sports boarding school. She missed home very much and even tried to run away from the boarding school several times. Later, Ulyana recalled how the coaches caught her at the station when she got on the train. And again persuasion, for some time her mother even lived in Riga so that her daughter would not miss so much.

Naturally, high growth brought considerable inconvenience to Ulyana herself. It was almost impossible to buy clothes, you had to sew to order or make your own outfits. According to the recollections of her teammates, Ulyana Semenova spent all her free time with knitting needles in her hands. She constantly knitted sweaters, hats, scarves, vests. In addition, fans in many cities of the country tried in every possible way to insult the athlete, to piss her off, mocking her gigantic growth. It was not easy not to respond to ridicule.

Several shelves in Ulyana's apartment are lined with awards and prizes she has won. As part of the USSR national team, she twice became the Olympic champion, three times the world champion, and won the European Championship eight times! In 1993, she became the first woman to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, USA.

Ulyana especially remembered her first victory at the World Championships. Then, according to her recollections, they were very unlucky with the judges, who over and over again did not record the deliberate fouls of their rivals on Semenova and out of the blue came up with violations by Soviet basketball players. However, three seconds before the end of the final match, the decisive goal was thrown. Ulyana's first desire after the final siren was to burst into tears, which she did in front of the astonished journalists and spectators. These were tears of happiness and at the same time longing for the family left at home.

Having become a world-class star, Uliana Semenova aroused constant interest among Western correspondents. She was constantly instructed, explaining what can and cannot be said about her life in the Soviet Union, about her family. Sometimes Ulyana, along with the others Soviet athletes I was forced to invent fables on the go, talking about my comfortable existence. So, in her stories, the old house of her parents in a distant Latvian village turned into a beautiful country house on the seashore, and rather modest cash prizes received for victories turned into millions of dollars in income.

Ulyana's unusually tall stature was a mystery to herself as well. After all, the parents of the athlete were people of average height: the father was 176 cm, and the mother was even lower. True, Ulyana's cousin was a fairly tall man, his height reached two meters. However, Ulyana far surpassed him. In official reference books published in the Soviet Union, Ulyana Semenova's height is listed as 2 meters 10 centimeters. But in fact, this number was an underestimate. Reporters from many countries dreamed of photographing together a pair of Soviet basketball giants: Vladimir Tkachenko, whose height exceeded 220 centimeters, and Ulyana Semenova. They were invariably refused, referring to the unwillingness of athletes to once again exaggerate the topic of their growth in the press. But once, at one of the training camps, Soviet journalists nevertheless ambushed Tkachenko and Semyonova, who were standing not far from each other, and managed to take a picture. He never got into the newspapers, but the information that the “gullivers” were almost the same height spread throughout the country.

However, Uliana Semenova was an excellent basketball player not only because of her high growth, which gave her an advantage over her rivals. According to the Soviet coach Yevgeny Gomelsky, Semenova was a real fighter who appeared on the court at the most intense moment of the match. She knew how to instill confidence in the team, charge it to fight. Of course, it was of great benefit accurate throws, because few of the rivals could prevent her from sending the ball into the basket when she had already received the ball. Nevertheless, for success, it was also necessary to have a clear interaction of the entire team, which used Semenova's trump cards, helped her free herself from guardianship and gave an accurate pass in a timely manner. The passes of the opponents under the shield, defended by Semenova, were actually doomed to failure: she could easily “cover” the player with the ball or force him to leave the danger zone under her ring. The basketball player herself rarely scored less than 20 points per game, and this despite the fact that most of her career passed before the introduction of the three-point shooting zone.

Riga club of the tram and trolleybus trust "TTT", in which long years Semenova performed, was invariably among the contenders for victory in the union championship and received awards of the highest standard nine times. The Riga sportswomen won also in the Cup of the European champions. Ulyana was repeatedly offered to move to other Soviet clubs, which were considered more prestigious. The Leningrad Spartak was especially zealous in poaching Swallows, as Ulyana was then called. She was offered an apartment, which she didn’t have then, and even tried to “marry” her fiancé from Leningrad. But Semenova did not dare to part with her native Riga.

The successes of Soviet basketball players at that time were commonplace. Sometimes the newspaper Sovetsky Sport devoted only a small note, without photographs, with dry technical data of fights, to winning gold medals at the Olympics or winning the World Championship. It seemed that no one doubted the victory of the Soviet team and the superiority over rivals was obvious. But everything was not so, and the judges on international tournaments often subjected the Soviet team to merciless obstruction. Once it even got to the point that during the final match of the World Cup in 1983, held in Brazilian Sao Paulo, the spectators in the stands (and there was no talk of Soviet fans in those years) began to resent the actions of the referees, who literally “buried” Soviet team. Soviet sports fans learned practically nothing about that match, but meanwhile the Soviet team then won and won the championship title.

In fact, in those years, Ulyana Semenova was the locomotive that promoted the Soviet basketball team to numerous victories. And in 1986, when the athlete was 34 years old, they decided to part with her, and in a rather rude way. On the eve of the next gathering of the Soviet team before the World Cup, Ulyana got a phone call and was told that she had been expelled from the team. Moreover, it was not even the coach or the head of the federation who called, as decency required, the team doctor called. Ulyana was shocked by this news, it took her several months to recover. Indeed, in fact, Semenova devoted her entire life to sports. As a thank you, she was allowed to sign a contract with one of the Spanish clubs, but this did not bring much material benefit. In those years, the press of the sports committee was still great, and Soviet sports officials took almost the entire salary of athletes performing abroad. Then it was considered normal and was considered as compensation for the costs of training an athlete. Semyonova received only four hundred dollars a month - meager money for living in Europe, not to mention the fact that one of the strongest basketball players in the world received them. When the president of the club, for which Semenova spoke, found out about the true state of affairs, he began to pay Ulyana another $ 500 a month from personal funds, as he bowed to the great athlete. In addition, thanks to her, the club rose in the championship of Spain from twelfth place to second.

Soon Semenova was forced to end her sports career. Having been injured in Spain, Ulyana decided to be treated in her homeland, in Riga. An operation was required, after which she spent six months in a cast. It seems that the leg has healed, and Ulyana began to train again. She even signed a new contract and was going to continue performing in France. But the complication that arose forced her to refuse the contract and end her career. She said later that she risked losing her leg altogether if she tried to re-enter the basketball court.

In recent years, Ulyana Semenova has been working at the Latvian Olympic Committee, where she heads the department for work with sports veterans. She, like no one else, knows the problems of these people, because Ulyana herself is a disabled person of the second group "thanks" to numerous injuries received over the years of her sports career. Semenova collects information about former athletes, helps them get funds for treatment, organizes meetings of idols of past years with fans. Personal life Ulyana did not work out, and the point here, as she believes, is not at all in gigantic growth. She was called to marry, and more than once. But each time, something prevented Ulyana from giving a positive answer. She seemed to have more a strong character than a possible husband, and this, according to Semenova, is best avoided. Sometimes it seemed to Ulyana that she was interested in the groom only as a famous or even unique person, a celebrity. Foreigners also wooed her, but Ulyana did not want to leave her native country, because she has to take care of her mother, with whom she no longer wants to part. But the height of a man, according to Semenova, does not matter, because in love this is not the main thing.

Ulyana is quite satisfied with her current life. She spends a lot of time with her family. Most of all, she does not like talking about being born and becoming a basketball star too early. Allusions to the fees of modern basketball stars seem completely inappropriate to Ulyana. After all, she achieved a lot in her time and her team rejoiced at her victories no less than professional basketball players rejoice now.

Uliana Semenova is the tallest woman ever to compete in the Olympics. And having won Olympic gold twice, she became the tallest person living on the planet who received two Olympic gold medals.

This text is an introductory piece.

Victoria Khesina, AiF: Ulyana Larionovna, why did the best center of the 20th century become not a coach, but an administrator after her career ended?

Ulyana Semyonova: I am very tired after 25 years in sports, when the national team, the club are on your shoulders all the time. There are no forces left. I simply could not become a coach, waste my nerves on someone. And now I have a job that I enjoy. I have been heading the Latvian Olympic Social Fund for 25 years. I take care of former athletes, coaches - almost 200 people who need help. The state allocates money, I am looking for sponsors. We try to do something for everyone – some medicines, some surgery. Most of them are lonely, sitting at home all year round I come up with activities, put them together. In general, every day there is work, there is something to think about. And thank God it is. Because otherwise, everything. When I broke my leg and was on sick leave for 2 months, I thought I would go crazy because I couldn’t do anything. My friends told me so: “Ulya, you are still ahead of the crutch.”

- Was it such that the Latvian women's basketball team undressed for filming in the calendar so that the proceeds could be transferred to you for recovery after surgery?

- Not certainly in that way. The funds went to basketball players who played in the Riga TTT (the most titled club in the USSR and Europe, - Ed.), But still, since 58, many generations have passed through the team. And it was necessary to help - someone with an endoprosthesis, someone with teeth, someone with optics. Some amount went to me, but I could not spend too much on myself. After all, next to those with whom on the site was hand in hand. Am I going to take everything for myself, and nothing to them?!

- You played in Spain, in France. Was it possible to stay abroad?

- I was offered. But no. In Europe, I would be alone. I wouldn't be able to do that. Why live where there is no one to talk to? And here I am respected and loved. So many girls with whom we played together on the playground. To one - in a bathhouse, to the other - for a birthday. They come to me, they invite me to their place: “Ulya, come on, to us, to Moscow.” This is the kind of thing that only happens in team sports. I came with TTT to Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, and local girls unscrewed the backs of the bed in the hotel on arrival so that we could stretch our legs - the beds were short. They called me Lasta all the time. And we are so great together. Now, of course, it has become more and more difficult, visas are needed ... But we are still like one family. And I am very worried now for Russia, for what they arranged around this doping. I can imagine how painful it is when medals are taken away, suspended, boycotted. Why are politics mixed with sport again?! Enough of politics in 84, when we did not get to the Olympics in Los Angeles, but Golden medal slipped past the nose.

On the podium are the team captains - winners and prize-winners of women's basketball competitions: Uliana Semenova (1st place) (center), Photo: RIA Novosti / Ulozevicius Audrius

- You were also invited into politics at one time, weren't you?

- Yes it was. But I looked at all this, listened and decided - not mine. Then I would have to, as I say, turn my fur coat on in a different way, to be hypocritical, to break myself. And I'm honest. And I am very glad that I had the sense not to poke my head into this matter.

- Have you ever regretted that all your life only sport, sport, sport?

- Of course, when I, a girl, was taken from the village to a sports school in Riga, I could not even think how it would turn out. Actually, in my childhood I wanted to become a doctor, I imagined how I would wear a white coat, help people. But that, you know, is an illusion. Sports are in my blood. And our medals, victories - how many people experience such emotions? I still live in sports. At work, at home. I turn on the TV, stretch my legs and watch all the competitions - figure skaters, biathletes. I'm really interested in all this, you know?

Uliana Semyonova, 1980 Photo: RIA Novosti / Ulozevicius Audrius

- What is your most memorable match?

- Probably the final of the World Cup-83 in Brazil. We played with the Americans - our eternal rivals. Even before the match, we sat in the hotel and thought: if we lose, it’s better not to return home - it will be such a shame. And, oh, what happened there! We constantly got fouls, which never happened. Only they led 8 points, the referee points at me and again a foul. Quiet horror. It was clear that they wanted to sue. Then in the break our Alekseev's coach told the Secretary General of the International Basketball Federation: "If we are judged like this, you will not be the Secretary General." We stop getting fouls, after all, her words had weight, she - best coach peace. But we still lose one point. There are a few seconds left until the end and then Lena Chausova, my golden paw, throws the ball. The Americans are shocked, they realized that we were taking away the gold medals. And we cry with happiness, because there was such an injustice, so they tried to cut us down, and we turned out to be a head taller.

- But how did the best center of the country end up without a national team?

- 30 years have already passed, and it's hard for me to talk about it. The stone remained in the soul. Before the World Cup (1986), the coach was changed in the national team. They found the reason and removed Lidia Alekseeva, put Yachmenev. I already had a ticket to fly to Minsk for a training camp. And the team doctor calls: "Ulyasha, you are not in the team." My heart sank. Like this? I am the best in the Union in terms of points, in the selection of balls. Well, they say, that's how the State Committee decided, new coach said: "With me, Semyonova will not be in the team." I went to the competition as a spectator. The Americans saw me on the podium: “What are you doing here?”. I say: "I was expelled." They could not believe it, they joked: “That's it! Without you, we will definitely become champions here.” And so it happened. I couldn't come to my senses for six months. It was so embarrassing. 18 years plowed for the national team, so many medals. No one even said thank you, but the doctor was instructed to inform me that the team did not need me. Later, they called from the State Committee for Sports, called: "Ulya, come to the team, prepare for the Olympics in Seoul." I answered: “No, sorry, I don’t want to come back to you.” That's all. I don't even want to remember.

- The moment of inclusion in basketball hall fame in the USA - is that what you want to remember? You became the first non-American basketball player to get there.

- I am in three Halls of Fame (laughs). In Europe, in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and in the very famous Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. For Americans, the one who is accepted there is a holy man. The American border guard, when he found out about the purpose of my visit to the United States, groaned and said: “Don’t show me your passport, I’ll let you in like that” (laughs). And to be honest, when I was just sent the documents for registration in the Hall, I simply did not understand what it was about. There are already medals from the World Championships, the Olympics, do I have any other honors?

And, I remember, they ask an American woman at the ceremony: “What prevented you from winning Olympic gold? And she points to me: “Here she is sitting, Semyonova.” And just between us, I was the smartest there. Gorgeous suit specially made. All the rest are kind of simple. It was embarrassing for me, really, I think, and you could not dress up (laughs).

- I read that you had a millionaire from Colombia as a fan.

- There were a lot of fans. From Spain, from Brazil. The Italians stood at the threshold of the hotels and waited for us to leave. We are the very beautiful team- USSR national team. Or C-C-C-P, as they called us. And the millionaire appeared when the World Cup was held in Colombia, he was over 60 years old. And he invited me to a beauty salon, and to an atelier to make dresses, and filled me with flowers. Once I played the game badly, so Lidia Alekseeva said: “That's it, Ulyasha, stop getting flowers. This has a bad effect on the results” (laughs).

"Why didn't you get married?"

“Well, what about when I’m at home only one day a year?” What kind of man would honestly wait for me and everything else? I saw it, how girls who were married suffered, called, cried. Yes, I didn’t even have time to seriously think about it - player No. 1 in the national team, in the club. And I've always had a little doubt about men. Here I am tall, it would be nice to be smaller. What if he even wants to be with me only for my merits, I will finish playing and leave me. But I don't regret that it is. I'm not alone. There are always people around - and nephews, and they already have children who call me grandmother. There is someone to live for.

- And yet, how tall are you? On Wikipedia, they write - 218 cm.

Let them write what they want. How much I ate from them - both from ours and from foreign journalists. You know, I'm very reluctant to give interviews now. Somehow people from one channel came and said: “We want to make a film about you, you are such a great person.” And for two days they filmed me - at home, at work, I showed them my medals. A movie comes out, and the meaning is this: people tall- they are cripples, unfortunate invalids who find it hard to live. Friends call: "Ulya, what did they do to you in this film, horror." How worried I was! Why me like this? I'm a living person!

And those who are chasing sensations can visit the archive in Luzhniki, where we were measured then. I have 2.09. 2.10 - if I straighten up.