Osipova Irina Viktorovna, Russian basketball player: biography, personal life, sporting achievements

Female basketball in Russia today is experiencing certain difficulties. The national team could not be selected for the Olympics in Rio, does not shine in other competitions. There is a heavy process of changing generations. However, even today, one of the strongest basketball players of the 2000s, Irina Osipova, plays for the national team, whose biography will be told below. This athlete perfectly remembers the victory of the glorious team of zero years. She is the record holder in the number of victories in the Euroleague, multiple prize-winner of the world championships, olympiads, and also the champion of Europe.

The daughter of the center

A Russian basketball player was born in Moscow in 1981 in a sports family. Mom played as a center in the factory command "Hammer and Sickle." Dad also was engaged in basketball. Irina Osipova, whose height is 196 cm today, went to her parents' physical data and was simply obliged to become a basketball player. However, the girl was looking for her vocation for a long time, doing different kinds of sports. For a while she even went skiing, but my mother could persuade her daughter to follow in her footsteps.

Irina's first mentor was A.K. Orekhov. Osipova seriously fell in love with basketball. Immediately after training, she ran home to quickly change clothes and make it to the next game of CSKA. The heroes of childhood were the legendary basketball players of the 1990s - Michael Jordan and Arvydas Sabonis.

Carier start

The first professional team of Irina Osipova was the Moscow "Gloria", in which she came in 1997 and spent there for five seasons. The coach of the girl was during this period M. Dukhovny. The athlete with excellent physical data, which could play both in the position of the center, and as a heavy striker, did not go unnoticed. It begins to attract to the games for youth and youth national teams. In 1997 she, along with her teammates, became the European champion among girls under the age of 16.

Already in 2000 Irina with her confident game deserved the right to play for the main national team of the country. To really prove herself, she could at the World Championships, held in China in 2002. By that time, the basketball player had already moved to the Moscow "Dynamo", but at the club she did not get enough practice, mostly spending time on the bench. But Osipova Irina was able to take advantage of her chance and, leaving the bench in the world championship, became one of the opening events of the tournament. To the final match against the American women, she was already one of the key players of the team and earned the title of vice-champion of the world.

Ekaterinburg period

Many talented players often have disagreements with the coach of the team. So it happened with Irina Osipova. She could not find a common language with the mentor "Dynamo" T. Ovechkina and in 2002 moved to Yekaterinburg UGMK. The Ural club in those years was one of the strongest in Europe, in the composition there were girls from the women's NBA. Osipova Irina Victorovna won the right to play in conditions of severe competition. Despite the high growth, she was very elegant and light, with good coordination and could play both center and attacker.

2003 was very successful in Irina's career. Together with UMMC, she becomes the champion of Russia, playing for the national team, winning the gold of the continental championship. Especially spectacular was the final match of the European Championship. Osipova became the most productive in this game, earning 16 points, and for a couple of dozen seconds before the siren threw in the ring the decisive ball. Playing for UMMC, the athlete is the first, but not the last time in her life to win and draw the women's Euroleague.

In 2004, it was not without Irina Osipova and at the Olympics in Athens. The main favorites, as well as in all tournaments, were the Americans, with whom Russians were to meet in the semifinals. The girls lost four points to formidable rivals, and in the match for third place confidently defeated the Brazilian national team. So the girl collected all the important awards both in the club and in the national team.

Golden years of women's Russian basketball and Irina Osipova

After leaving UMMC, in 2004, the basketball player wandered for a while to different clubs. For two seasons she replaced VBM-SGAU, the Israeli "Elitsur", having won the Israeli championship. In 2005, she seriously and permanently came to the Moscow Region team "Sparta & K". This club has become a serious project. In the composition played many strong American basketball players, coached by the famous Slovak Natalia Heykova. For seven seasons, held in the team, Osipova Irina won many titles, including four times the Euroleague.

At its second World Cup, the basketball player played in 2006. As well as two years earlier at the Olympics, in the semifinals the Russians had to play against the US team. After two consecutive defeats in major tournaments, the girls tried their best and defeated the principle rivals in the courage who looked unbeatable. However, this match took all the forces from the Russians, and in the finals they lost in all respects to the Australian team. Again Osipova Irina leaves the world championship with a silver medal. A year later, the athlete for the second time in her life together with the team wins at the European Championships. Like men, the girls defeated the Spanish team in the final. In the same year, Irina, playing for the club "Sparta & K", wins the Euroleague.

Short overseas period

The NBA is the strongest club tournament of the planet for both men and women. Playing in North America, Osipova Irina dreamed from childhood. In 2006, she was invited to the Detroit Shock. However, at this time, the athlete has not yet fully recovered her form after leaving the decree, in addition, her thoughts were more occupied by her little daughter. Therefore, she could not fully play for the new club and in the same year returned to her homeland. The most offensive, after just a couple of weeks, the Detroit club won the women's NBA, and Irina Osipova missed the opportunity to collect absolutely every possible award in the world basketball.

The Olympic cycle 2008-2012

The Beijing Olympics became the second for the basketball player. Like four years ago, the Russian team lost in the semi-finals to the favorites and played in the match for third place. The opponents went to the team of China. The hostesses of the tournament were much inferior in the class to taller and masterful Russian women, but their native stands constantly drove them forward. Only with great difficulty was able to win in that game and take the bronze. Playing for "Sparta", Irina Osipova continues to collect victories in the Euroleague. From 2008 to 2011, the Moscow Region team won three times in the main tournament of the continent.

Preparation for the 2010 World Cup was one of the most scandalous for women's basketball. A few days before the start of the tournament, the head coach refused the team, and the convulsive rearrangements of the composition affected the game. Already at the quarterfinal stage Irina Osipova and her partner left the competition, losing to the Belarusian team. Rehabilitated a year later, when again managed to win the European Championships.

Not without adventure and at the 2012 Olympics. Because of the injury, the main center team dropped out - Maria Stepanova. The role of the leader had to take on the experienced Irina Osipova. She did everything she could, and the national team reached the semi-final of the competition for the third time in a row. However, in the match for third place the girls lost to the Australians.

In the "Dynamo" (Kursk) through Istanbul

After the London games, Osipova decided to change the situation and moved to play for the team of the University of Istanbul. The new team only entered the strongest division of the Turkish championship, and the girl decided not to exhaust the nervous system in the fight for high titles yet. A short period of time she spent in the Slovak club, which went to the Euroleague and asked for help from the multiple winner of this tournament.

But Irina soon began to experience difficulties with crossing the border and decided to return home to finish her career at home. In 2014, she accepts an offer from the ambitious club "Dynamo" (Kursk), which at this time began to fight for high places. For this team, she played until 2016, until she went on to the decree, simultaneously becoming the captain of the team and winning the Cup of Russia.

Personal life

There is not in the world basketball more serious and focused on a favorite business athlete than Irina Osipova. Basketball, husband, family - these are her main values. Irina's first wife was Vitaly's sommelier. However, they parted, and in 2007 the sportswoman got married a second time. The chosen girl is Ruslan Musundo Kentombo. Such an exotic combination of name and surname is explained by the fact that the groom's dad had African roots, and his mother was a purebred Russian woman.

Now the sportswoman brings up daughter Alena, who is simply obliged to replace her mother on her many years of duty as a member of the Russian national team.