One of the most talented athletes who was brought up by the gymnastics school of the Soviet Union was Elena Mukhina. She became famous thanks to her unique performance and rejection, as well as her tragic fate. After an unsuccessful fatal injury, the gymnast was forever bedridden. Unable to move, she nevertheless lived to be 46 years old.
Elena Mukhina: biography, childhood
Elena was born in Moscow in 1960 on June 1. Since her mother died early and her father left the girl, her grandmother was fully engaged in raising the child. A girl from childhood, unlike her peers, who dreamed of figure skating, dreamed of a gymnast career. Her joy knew no bounds when once the master of sports Antonina Pavlovna Olezhko came to the class and offered to engage in a sports gymnastic circle. The girl has always been very hardworking and incredibly able-bodied. Thanks to these qualities and natural grace, very soon eminent trainers noticed her.
The beginning of a professional sports career
Thanks to unceasing work and talent, the girl did not stay long in the sports section of Olezhko. Soon Elena Mukhina got to the titled coach Alexander Eglit, who worked at that time in the Dynamo club. A little later, Eglit moved to the club CSKA and took his students with him, not wanting to leave them. Thus, at the age of 14, being already a candidate for master of sports, Elena Mukhina began to train at CSKA.
Trainer Mikhail Klimenko
After moving to another sports club, the gymnast’s trainer suggested working with her co-worker Mikhail Klimenko. Previously, he trained only the male composition, however, looking at the Mukhina technique, he agreed to take it to his group. The coach’s attitude to his ward was always too tough and demanding. He never allowed the girl to relax, demanded that she give her full back, fulfillment of elements almost on the verge of human capabilities. Thanks to this attitude, for 2 years Klimenko turned his pupil into a high-class gymnast. We must pay tribute to the athlete - she always implicitly obeyed. Klimenko was the last to train Mukhina.
1975 year. First injuries
In 1975, Mukhina Elena Vyacheslavovna received the first serious injury when she trained during the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. Performing a jump in a foam pit, she unsuccessfully landed on her head. X-ray showed a rupture of the spinous processes of the cervical vertebrae. With such an injury, the girl needed a long rehabilitation in an orthopedic collar. The coach, however, did not give her time to relax and daily, straight from the hospital, drove the student to training, where she removed the collar, which did not allow her to turn her head, and worked out the program. It is amazing that under such a regime, she was still able to recover and continue the competition. Nevertheless, the trauma of Elena Mukhina constantly made itself felt by a feeling of weakness and numbness of the lower extremities.
1976 year. Unfulfilled hopes
In 1976, for a gymnast who barely managed to recover from an injury, Mikhail Klimenko posed the most complicated program, probably the most difficult one possible at that time. Then Elena Mukhina was a candidate for the Olympic team for the Games in Canada. However, the sports leaders considered that the athlete was not able to perform stably, and did not take her to the competition. However, she continued to work hard.
1977 year. Rapid take-off
In 1977, Elena became the second in the classification of the all-around championship of the USSR, which gives her the right to compete in the adult European Championship in Prague. How was Elena Mukhina so different? “Loop Mukhina” is a famous element, which the gymnast first demonstrates in the program on uneven bars. Elena performed it with such ease that it seemed to the audience that she was fluttering over the shell. This transformed element was redesigned from the Korbut Loop by her coach Mikhail Klimenko. At the competitions in Prague, Elena Mukhina won gold medals in three different apparatuses and only slightly did not reach the Romanian gymnast Nadi Comaneci in the individual points standings.
1978 year. The triumph of Elena Mukhina
The most outstanding and fruitful career of gymnast Elena Mukhina was 1978. First, she won the title of the best gymnast of the USSR, and a little later, at the World Championships in France, she became the absolute world champion. Then she won the team event, became a finalist in competitions in three of the four types of shells, in each of which she won medals. This year, the Soviet gymnast overtook her rival Nadia Komanechi. In Moscow, the champion was greeted with great joy and enthusiasm.
Hard work for victory
All sports achievements were given to Elena Mukhina not only with hard work and amazing talent. Sports are permanent injuries. And Mukhina was no exception. After the first serious injury to the cervical vertebrae, there were others. Elena Mukhina is a gymnast who needs to be given credit. She completely surrendered to work, despite her numerous injuries.
In 1977, when the athlete was preparing for the World Cup, she fell and hit so hard sideways on the bottom beam of the shell that it broke. Elena felt that she had broken ribs. However, she continued training anyway, practicing elements on other shells. When the pain became unbearable, the athlete complained to the coach. However, he did not take her complaints seriously. Since before that he had always worked only with men, he considered that the girl was just acting up.
In 1978, at a training session on the eve of the USSR youth games, Mukhina injured a thumb on her arm, which completely popped out of the joint. Corrected herself, gritting her teeth and not telling anyone. Later, due to the washed floor, performing an element without marking, she did not calculate the take-off run before the jump and fell, hitting her head.
There were dislocated ankles and concussions. But no injuries allowed to get concessions. So, sniffing ammonia to dull the pain, Mukhina trained to wear. By 1979, she was so tired that she was depressed, often cried. However, she continued to work out the most complicated program.
Last warning
After the triumph at the World Cup, the main goal of Elena Mukhina and her coach was to get into the Olympic team at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. But all their expectations did not materialize. At demonstrations in the fall of 1979 in England, Mukhina broke her leg. After 1.5 months with gypsum, it turned out that the bones had diverged, and the fracture was connected and gypsum again. This was a kind of last warning to the athlete that the body's possibilities are not unlimited. She even wanted to leave professional sports. However, the coach persuaded her to stay. Moreover, he did not give Mukhina a day of rest, forcing him to train on equipment with a sore leg. She had to skip off only one leg.
Fatal trauma of Elena Mukhina
Since the famous gymnast was not in the best athletic form and had not fully recovered after a leg fracture, she was conditionally included in the Olympic team. Mikhail Klimenko, however, was absolutely sure that his ward could and should participate in competitions. The last training camp before the Olympics took place in Minsk. The training was very stressful. The accumulated fatigue made itself felt. Mukhina worked hard on the program, but not everything worked out, because of which the coach only lost his temper even more.
Literally on the eve of the opening of the Games, Klimenko left his ward under the supervision of choreographers to travel to Moscow and defend her right to participate in competitions. However, in training, Elena Mukhina disobeyed the coach and decided to try to execute the new element herself, without insurance. It was a fatal mistake. Performing the most difficult element in the program of floor exercises - a one and a half revolution somersault with rotation of 540 degrees and landing in somersault - the athlete did not twist it and fell on her neck. Witnesses later said that this happened because the gymnast was not able to push off with a bad foot enough.
Healing and life after the fall
Perhaps the athlete could be returned to a full life if the operation was done on time. Unfortunately, then there was no qualified surgeon nearby, and the operation could only be done upon arrival in Moscow, on the third day. Precious time was lost, the brain suffered too serious injuries, the mobility of the limbs never returned.
In subsequent years, Elena Mukhina was repeatedly subjected to operations. However, the body weakened more and more, it became harder and harder to get out of anesthesia. At one point, the former athlete decided that she would have enough hospital wards and was discharged home.
In 1985, on the advice of acquaintances, Mukhina tried to be treated using the Dikul technique. But the body could no longer withstand enormous loads, and Elena's kidneys failed.
Then this strong woman decided that if it is impossible to change the situation, you need to change your attitude towards her. She began to study at home a little, to perform elementary exercises. And thanks to hard work, she was able to somehow hold a spoon, sit in an armchair and write a little bit. At the same time, she graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physical Education, studied with teachers and took exams at home.
When in 1983, the President of the International Olympic Committee, Antonio Samaranch, awarded the Olympic Order to Elena Mukhina, she was not too happy about him. Possessing a strong character, the former athlete did not like to be spared, and did not welcome journalistic curiosity.
Interests
Being almost completely bedridden, Elena Mukhina, however, did not cease to be interested in the country's sports life. On radio and television - the only means of communication with the outside world - she watched all the competitions, discussed and commented on them in conversations with her few close associates. She was also interested in space, believed that life on other planets exists. In the last years of his life, Mukhina converted to Orthodoxy, became a believer and God-fearing person.
Recent years and the death of Elena Mukhina
In 2005, Elena lost her beloved grandmother, who by that time already suffered from senility and needed constant care. A year later, the school of gymnastics in Russia lost its outstanding gymnast, graceful and soft, but so unhappy ... The cause of the death of Elena Mukhina is a long-standing injury and deterioration of the body with subsequent treatment. For 26 years spent bedridden, almost all organs became sick in her. In recent years, she was courted by Mukhina by her close friend Elena Gurova, in whose arms she died in 2006.
Elena Mukhina is a gymnast who has forever remained in sports history. Who knows what this girl could have achieved if fate had decreed a little differently. But, unfortunately, you can’t argue here ...