1981
MOSCOW NEWS PRIZE
FAREWELL
A LOVE STORY
(the article published in Ukrainian 'Sportyvna Hazeta' on December 12, 1981)
OLYMPIQUE ICE DANCING CHAMPIONS NATALIA LYNICHUK AND GENNADIY KARPONOSOV WILL GIVE A FAREWELL BALL TOMORROW IN LUZHNIKI
LAST winter was dramatic for them. They managed to show the new program in its entirety only once. Then came an injury to their male partner, a break in training, and a failure at the European Championships. There were only a few weeks left before they left for the World Championships. Their place in the national team was booked, but Natalia and Gennadіy were worried about something else. In Hartford, USA, they had to perform as brilliantly as they had done in Lake Placid the year before, or... not perform at all. The last home check behind closed doors, the last control skate, and the trendsetters in the 1977-1980 Olympic cycle cover their skates...
To appreciate the courage of this act, let's remember how long and winding their own path to Olympus was. Let's remember on: the day of farewell to them.
GENNADIY
IN CHILDHOOD the boy was registered with a rheumatologist. The mother was advised: let the child walk outside more often. But why hang around without doing anything? Erna Naumovna found out that the Young Pioneers stadium was recruiting for the figure skating section and took her six-year-old son there. The competition was held for about a hundred kids. And only a dozen were accepted - ten girls and two boys, among whom was Gena.
A quarter of a century ago, figure skaters trained in the open air. So the beginner combined business with pleasure: he mastered the ABCs of skating and breathed fresh air without hesitation. The rheumatologist, who at first was not enthusiastic about the treatment method chosen by the Karponosovs, was surprised to notice the gradual changes in the teenager's health. And he also played the piano. Valentina Nikolaevna Solovyova gave lessons. She gave no worse than her husband Vyacheslav Dmitrievich, a famous football coach, did it on the green field of the stadium ...
And yet the piano had to be closed. This happened when the guy discovered figure skating dancing and became fascinated by it without a trace. However, music always remained by his side, like a friend who would not fake ...
NATALIA
GENNADIY was already a famous figure skater, danced with Elena Zharkova, became the champion of the 1972 World Winter University Games with her in the city that would still appear on his way - Lake Placid, when mother Evgenia Ivanovna brought her 15-year-old Natalia Linichuk to coach Elena Tchaikovskaya. The girl had been hopelessly floundering in the sections for a long time. Tchaikovskaya became her thirteenth coach. Elena Anatolyevna says:
- I can almost see it now: the Crystal skating rink, the sound is wandering and getting confused in the corrugated ceiling, the light around is blue and cold. The girl with a high forehead, unsmiling and all tense - she was about to cry... and she did. However, not confused, not pitifully, but persistently, even defiantly. Without hesitation, she went out onto the ice rink and began to show that she could compete with top-class masters. She was weak, but determined. She repeated the elements of my other students as best she could, and she herself resembled a reed in the wind: trembling, bending, but not breaking. And then Karponosov noticed her. He drove up to the side, smiled: "Well, how daring, girl!"
Trained without a coach. Skated on the ice trail of older friends. Was not embarrassed or ashamed. Worked non-stop. Enviable endurance, ability to fight for herself!
That's why, when Zharkova decided to leave the ice, the coach tried Linichuk in her place.
GENNADIY AND NATALIA
REMEMBERS Elena TCHAIKOVSKAYA:
There were a lot of questions in those days. Of course, Natalia was impressed by the fact that she would dance with such an experienced and strong master that the national team's elite would light up before her. Gena liked Natalia's softness, femininity. The sixteen-year-old girl already had those features that soon made her a universal favorite.
Karponosov has a wonderful ability to concentrate to overcome the most difficult obstacles. And what can Linichuk do to make the palette of the pair bloom? Over time, I understood: her charm is in the integrity of character, the sharpness of feelings. Each defeat, victory was analyzed, meticulously studied by both. Natalia looked for mistakes only in herself and always made accurate conclusions.The more emotional Karponosov, with his unwavering belief that work would someday bear good fruit, eventually agreed with his young girlfriend.
We recognized the "school" as the platform for success. Compulsory dances not only polish the skaters' technique. Their flawless execution is the shortest path to the judges' hearts. Perfect skating skills allow you to create complete artistic images in a free program, while maintaining the sporting nature of the dance.
But when we (I think) were ahead of our competitors in all components, the judges by inertia put others ahead. And so in Ottawa I resorted to a psychological attack. I forced Linichuk and Karponosov to perform at full strength at all training sessions, and not in fragments, but in whole programs. The skaters knew that the judges were watching each session and were extremely mobilized. The judges studied their every step, every connection so much that they involuntarily compared our dances with those of their rivals more accurately. The comparison was in favor of Gena and Natalia. We practically won the world championship in training.
KARPONOSOVS' MARRIED COUPLE
In the spring, Natalia and Gennady got married. In the summer and autumn, they traveled half the world with concerts. They returned from Arkhangelsk only a week before the farewell ball, and now they are answering questions based on letters from readers of "Sportyvna Hazeta".
- WHY DO YOU LOVE FIGURE SKATING?
- It's not only beauty, the embodiment of the spiritual impulses of each of us, but also a peak that you conquer every day. There are moments when difficulties seem insurmountable, but you still have to work, you can't do without it. And then you wonder: how could you still tremble, doubt your success?
Figure skating opened up music, ballet, and painting to us in their entirety. It taught us to value friendship and time. Finally, it connected our paths.
- FIVE WORDS ABOUT THE COACH.
GENNADIY: - I'll limit myself to two - ice and fire.
NATALIA: - Elena Anatoliyevna is caring in a motherly way off the ice and extremely demanding in class. But she is not a dictator, she gives free rein to our imagination. Maybe that's why she has so many students who are not similar to each other.
HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO COVER SKATES?
GENNADIY: - You touched on one of the most painful issues. For an athlete who has known victories, this is a problem of problems. Before each season you weigh everything: your well-being, and the ability to "live" at the highest level until the next Olympics, and the willingness to withstand psychological stress, numerous moves, and combine performances and training ... For a more accurate assessment, it is not a sin to consult with the coach and loved ones. After all, this is a very responsible decision. It radically changes the rhythm, the meaning of life, dear to you with its triumphs, working days, and even defeats. After Lake Placid, we were going to say goodbye, but the coach asked us to wait a bit so that the young couples in our group could get fit...
You know, when you have been skating for 25 years, separation is a real torment. And the hardest thing is to survive, obviously, on the 13th of December on the ice…
- PLEASE, DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
GENNADIY: - The immediate goal is to defend my dissertation. My topic: "Economic Problems of the International Sports Movement". Natalia is writing a paper on pedagogy.
- WHAT DO YOUR READERS SURELY DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU?
NATALIA: - Probably, the fact that Gena was the first in figure skating to suggest embroidering skaters' costumes.
GENNADIY: - And I'll reveal another secret: my wife really likes the uniform of a senior lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ...style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"
MOST MEMORABLE DANCE?
NATALIA: - Of course, to the music from the movie "Love Story".
- WISHES FOR NEWCOMERS?
GENNADIY: - Don't hang your nose. Only a few become champions. Tens of thousands discover the magical world of music and dance.
***
FOR the farewell ball they prepared a special number "Gypsy" and new costumes. And then they thought and decided to do without a premiere and appear before the audience as we are used to seeing them and have loved them forever.
G. KUZMIN
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