Natalia Sergeevna Ishchenko (synchronized swimming): biography, sports career

In many sports, traditionally considered Russian, domestic athletes lost competition to rivals from China and the United States. Gymnastics, swimming, diving - here Russians suffer insulting defeats from those who used to study with them. Only in synchronized swimming, new young girls immediately come to replace one champion generation.

This next link in this continuous chain of victories was this girl from Kaliningrad. For many years the world synchronized swimming has not been known to other champions. Duet Ishchenko - Romashina more than one Olympic cycle pleases its fans with fantastic performances.

Childhood: a difficult choice

In 1986, the future legend of world sports - Natalia Ischenko - was born in Smolensk. The girl's family soon moves closer to the sea - to Kaliningrad. There, Natalia makes her first steps in sports. The girl's mother seriously took up the physical development of her daughter.

Bringing her hand to a five-year-old crumb in the city sports complex "Youth", she gives Natasha immediately to artistic gymnastics and synchronized swimming.

And so was torn between the related, but still different kinds of sports, little Natalia Ishchenko. Synchronized swimming eventually won.

From Kaliningrad to Moscow

After some time the athlete is transferred to a special sports school. For almost ten years her second family is the team of coaches - Mizin, Ustyugova and Stepanovich. Natalia then gratefully recalled the mentors who taught her the basics of her favorite business. Mizina and Stepanovich honed the technical skills of the girl, Ustyugova set her unique, her only one choreography.

For the future development of the future champion, a new impulse was required. Kaliningrad basins became petty Natasha, and at fourteen she moved to Moscow. The Olympic Center for Water Sports becomes her home.

Great sport: on the way to the first Olympics

Having set out on a free voyage, Natalia immediately shows who is worthy to become the main mermaid of world sports for the next decade. The first big tournament for her is the open Championship of Russia. Having won a gold medal in the group, she distinguished herself in an arbitrary program, also taking the main award.

In 2006 Natalia Ishchenko celebrated her full age. The synchronized swimming, which she showed along with her friends on the team, amazed both the fans and the judges. Literally for one day she becomes a three-time European champion.

Group program, combination and solo - three out of four possible gold was taken by a twenty-year-old athlete. At the World Cup in Yokohama, history repeats itself - again three golds in the same disciplines.

Due to the huge number of awards, the biography of an athlete becomes a simple listing of all major tournaments taking place in the years between the Olympics. At all large competitions Ishchenko Natalia Sergeyevna collects one gold after another. At the World Championships in Melbourne, she becomes a four-time world champion. To diversify its collection of medals, to four gold awards, she adds one silver.

From Beijing 2008 to London 2012. Duet of Romashin - Ishchenko

The regulations of the Olympic tournament in synchronized swimming do not allow to declare from one country more than one duet. In addition, only two sets of awards are played here - in the group and in duets. At the time of the Beijing Olympics, the leading couple from Russia was the duet of Davydova and Ermakova. Natalia Ischenko there were performances in the group program. Of course, Russian women could not win anything other than gold. So, for the first time in life becomes Olympic champion Natalia Ishchenko.

Synchronized swimming soon undergoes a peaceful change in the ruling dynasty. They leave the big sport of Davydov and Ermakova. For the following years, the main pair of synchronized swimming becomes the duet Ishchenko and Romashina.

At the World Championships in Rome, already in the status of the main pair of the country, Ishchenko and Romashina take gold awards. In addition, Natalia takes the main awards in group and solo performances.

How many years Natalia Ishchenko was the leader in the world synchronized swimming, it is impossible to predict at that time. Until the next Olympics in London, together with her friends, she collects medals in all competitions.

At the 2010 European Championships, she sets a new achievement, becoming the first ever absolute champion of the continent.

A difficult victory in London. Break for privacy and return to Rio

At the Olympic Games in 2012 Ishchenko Natalia Sergeevna went multiple world champion. No one doubted that both sets of awards in synchronized swimming will be taken by Russian mermaids. However, everything was easy and beautiful only on TV screens.

The advantage over the rivals was great, but Natalia performed with a high temperature. Almost without losing consciousness, she ended her speech. She was already returning to Moscow with serious complications. This is how Natalia Ischenko treats her work.

Synchronized swimming can not replace a young girl's relationship, family. After the Olympics, Natalia takes a time-out for her personal life. All medals, titles, awards go to the background when in 2013 Ishchenko gives birth to a son.

Having clearly described the time of her maternity leave between the two Olympiads, Natalia begins to restore her form and is preparing to return to the big sport for the sake of performing in Rio.

A big role in the return of Natalia was played by her coach Tatyana Danchenko. No one can stand eight hours of training in the pool without a human relationship from the mentor.

According to the girls, Danchenko became their second mother.

In Rio Ishchenko and Romashina went to set a record achievement for synchronized swimming - to become five-time Olympic champions, which they did. Their performances fans and specialists compared with the theater, with ballet in the water.

Natalia Ishchenko. A family

Not all athletes manage to find a balance between personal life and competition. Natalia Ishchenko did not have to make a difficult choice between work and family - everything in her life schedule was clearly laid out on the shelves.

She married an athlete, prize-winner of the Olympic Games Sergey Anikin. In 2013 they had a son.

After leaving the big sport, he started his own business. Together with his wife, they are owners of the school for future champions - "START!". According to Natalia, the family not only does not interfere with its sporting success, but, on the contrary, gives an incentive for maximum result.

Natalia Ishchenko is only thirty years old, but behind her shoulders five gold Olympic awards and one and a half dozen titles of the world champion. However, the fans watch her performances not only for the sake of sporting interest, but also to get aesthetic pleasure from the bright images she creates.