Sovetsky Sport. November 17, 1992. The queen of gymnastics. That's how they began to call the all-around world and European champion Elena Shushunova when she became the all-around Olympic champion four years ago. A few months after her triumph in Seoul, she left the USSR team. It was as if she had disappeared, dissolved into the whirlpool of life. Where is she now?
I called Elena to make arragements for a meeting.
"Come. I'm always at home."
This is understandable: on December 23 last year, she and her husband Yuri Mikhailov had an addition to their family. They named their son Misha.
I enter an apartment building not far from the 'Moscow' railway station. In the hallway, diapers are drying on two lines. There are clearly too many for one little boy. Lena's younger sister, 19-year-old Tanya, a candidate for Master of Sports in acrobatics, explained with a smile: "Mikhail Yurevich has a cousin named Ilya Dmitrievich, a month younger than him, but more assertive. As soon as he wakes up, he immediately starts playing with toys."
"In general, life is fun," Elena Shushunova says. "I call our apartment a 'family communal apartment.' In each room there is a family: Tanya with Dima and Olyusha, me with Yura and Misha, and my mom and dad. Mom still works as a milliner. And dad left for America."
He's a driver, isn't he?
Yes, so he went there to earn money. If something doesn't work out, he'll come back. Otherwise, he'll stay there longer. But we're not complaining. Tanya and I have hard-working husbands, and my sister and I are on maternity leave for now.
Lena, let's go back four years. You shone at the Seoul Olympics, where you were one of the most notable figures. How did the golden city, where you were born and raised, thank you for the Olympics? You lived in a communal apartment next to the Kuznetsky Market. Then your parents got this three-room apartment. But after Seoul, the city authorities promised you an apartment personally. What happened?
Yes, they promised. I don't know which one: a one-room or a two-room. But they didn't do anything. They did give me the opportnity to buy a car, though. With my own money, of course.
Our Olympians, apparently, feel somewhat offended...
The champions of Seoul from the former USSR simply found themselves in a time of anarchy. I think they were all unlucky. One government left, another came, and no one wanted to take on anything. Our results were admired, but almost nothing was done to improve the living conditions of the 'Olympic heroes.' Even for those who mined pure gold. We don't have many of them in St. Petersburg, especially in recent years. Today, there are only skier Lyubov Egorova, and figure skaters Natalia Mishyutenok and Artur Dmitriev. True, now athletes have the opportunity to earn money, but a few years ago there was no such opportnity. They didn't give it to us.
You left the national team in the spring of 1989 but continued to train. When I asked about your plans after graduating, I remember you said: "Maybe I'll hold off on answering for now!" After all, you tried your best in professional sports, in a sports show.
Yes, I tried to do something under the guidance of Igor Bich and Olympic figure skating champion Oleg Vasiliev. Contests, exhibition performances. It turned out well, but we parted ways.
And then there was no time for that: marriage, expecting a child?
No, last year I competed in professional competitions.
Let's look into the future. Do you see your son as a gymnast?
God forbid gymnastics or any other 'big sport'! Why would you knowingly destroy a child's health? High-performance sports aren't healthy. That's been known for a long time. Physical education is good, sports are also good, but only for health. I'm not against physical education and sports, for God's sake.
And of course, you will try to use the knowledge you gained at the Institute in your family?
Naturally, Misha will need to do something. He can't just hang around on the street. If it works out, great. If not, I won't force him. Violence never leads to anything good.
They say that Elena Shushunova has a strong character. Such people can endure all sorts of adversity more easily.
I've had more than enough of them in my 23 years. Childbirth, for example. The doctors even forgot about the child; they were saving lives... Actually, don't be surprised - I'm not a leader but rather a follower. I am a good 'doer.' And I have no inclination for business. Today, those who know how to earn money live well, but in no case should people obsess over work.
By the way, how is Viktor Gavrichenkov, a coach of the St. Petersburg SKA, doing? He led you to victories at the world and European championships, and at the 1988 Olympics.
Viktor Nikolaevich went to work in England for six months, and when he returned there was no place for him here: there were staff reductions. Gavrichenkov has been out of work since spring. Now he's getting ready to hit the road again. Of course, if he really wanted to, he would find a job at home. But people are tired of working 'for free,' giving up all their strength. They are paid poorly, especially in the army. They 'cut' everything so much that the Armed Forces Championship, which took place in St. Petersburg, was simply disgusting to watch, with no team event, and all the gymnasts competed only in individual events.
Gavrichenkov once mentioned that Shushunova did not enter, but ran, into the training hall. The very first time you entered the SKA gym, you were seven years old, and your first coach was Galina Rubtsova. How did her fate turn out?
Galina Mikhailovna is retired and works with children in a kindergarten. She is tired of the stress of being a coach. She lives, enjoys life, and does what she loves.
Although you told me on the phone that your younger sister could probably tell me better about current women's gymnatsics than you, but still... Here are the results of the individual competition at the Barcelona Olympics. Tatiana Gutsu from Odessa is the all-around champion, followed by American Shannon Miller, Romanians Lavinia Milosovici and Cristina Bontas. Sveta Boginskaya was only fifth. After the Olympics in Seoul, you warned that the foreign gymnasts were not asleep.
Given the current situation in sports, I think our gymnasts will have a hard time at the Atlanta Olympics. Especially since the CIS team will be split up into independent republics. It's difficult to predict anything. It's really difficult for me to speak professionally on this topic. Now I'm in the role of a spectator, but I feel it will be very, very difficult.
Our women's coach Alexander Alexandrov noted last year that in the three years since Seoul the team has almost completely changed its composition three times.
It's unlikely that this can be considered the merit of the national team coaches. Rather the opposite. You need to be able to maintain the composition. Meanwhile, they squeeze everything out of the athletes for a year or two and want them to work for ten years. Is it possible? And they they don't even want people to compete for ten years. If they wanted, they wouldn't squeeze all the juice out of them.
Do you keep in touch with your teammates?
If we take Oksana Omelyanchik, for example, she is now in the 'near abroad,' and recently we used to live in the same country. It's hard to communicate now. And there is no time: almost everyone has things to do, everyone has problems. Sometimes we write letters.
What worries you the most?
Nothing is bothering me me. I go shopping, the prices there are astounding. But it's not just me. There is something to eat, and that's good. I care about the children being healthy. Politics doesn't interest me. It's useless to be interested in politics. Because politics should be handled by politicians. We are in such a situation today that the best people are leaving. But the funniest thing is that it is not the best who leave first, but the worst. And then the smart heads, the bright minds, the golden hands follow them. And they would be so useful to Russia.
...Ilya is sleeping, and his cousin is taking his first steps in the kitchen.
Mishka, Mishka, where is your smile?
Holding on to a stool with his little hands, the Olympic champion's son smiled broadly, showing all eight of his snow-white teeth. Mikhail Yuryevichmade it clear that everything would be fine in this life.
G. POPOV