Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya is one of the most artistic, graceful athletes in the world and just a beautiful woman. Her skill and achievements delight many fans of this sport around the world. And what is the famous Belarusian gymnast doing today?
Svetlana Boginskaya: biography
Born in Minsk on 02/09/1973. From childhood, Svetlana grew up a harmful, reserved and persistent child. Constant complaints about the girl in the kindergarten prompted her mother, Anna Danilovna, to direct the child’s energy in the right direction, and at 4 she took her to gymnastics. The girl was not taken because of age. Then there was figure skating, they accepted Sveta, but she did not work out for long.
Once, going into the gym of a local school, the girl saw the bars. The child’s heart sank, and she told her mother that she wanted to become a gymnast. Mom did her best to arrange the Light in the sports section. The girl began to change before her eyes. From the age of 6 she was engaged in gymnastics professionally. In those years, a new star lit up in the sports horizon - Svetlana Boginskaya. The gymnast will prove to the whole world more than once that she came to this sport seriously and for a long time.
First achievements
Her first coach was Love Savina. Daily classes, junior competitions and the first medals won began. At the age of 14, for conscientious work and success, Svetlana Boginskaya was included in the national team of the USSR. In 1987 in Rotterdam, she received her first adult medal - it was bronze in beam exercises.
At age 15, she first participated in the Olympics in Seoul. These competitions brought 4 medals to her piggy bank: 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze. Her achievements at this Olympics were not appreciated by the country, and Boginskaya's trainer, Lyubov Maksimovna Miromanova, committed suicide because of such an injustice to the athlete.
Olympic awards
The achievements of the great athlete did not end there, she stubbornly walked forward. In 1989, the first places were taken at the World Championships in Stuttgart and three times at the European Championship. In Athens, in all disciplines, Boginskaya Svetlana took all the first places. In 1992, she conquered the Olympics in Barcelona, took gold in command.
After the Barcelona Olympics, Svetlana took a break in her career and resumed it only in 1995 as part of the Belarus national team. Preparations for the European Championship began, and Boginskaya received a well-deserved second place for her work.
In Boginskaya’s life, there was the third Olympics in Atlanta, at which she received only 5 prize places and 6 in the team competition of the Belarus national team.
Japanese groom
When the gymnast was only 18 years old, she was looked after by a Japanese from the kind of founders of Suzuki Motor Corporation. Arriving in Minsk, he presented Svetlana with an expensive piece of jewelry worth 4 thousand dollars, indicating to her this amount on a piece of paper.
The second time he came with a proposal to choose a car, and a year later - with a wedding ring and a marriage contract. They spoke different languages, he was not at all her type, so further relations did not work out. Svetlana Boginskaya is a gymnast, for whom sport was in first place at that time.
Life in America
After the Olympics in Barcelona, the heroine of our article left her homeland and left for permanent residence in Houston, USA. In America, Boginskaya Svetlana met her future husband, William. Three months after meeting, William made the girl a beautiful marriage proposal in Paris, on the Eiffel Tower. Svetlana accepted the ring, but refused to marry. They still live in a civil marriage!
A few years later, the athlete gave birth to her firstborn - daughter Anna. After 5 years, Boginskaya gave her husband Brandon's son. The children of the spouses did not go in for sports and only occasionally, but they enjoy playing golf on weekends.
In America, you can’t help but work, so Boginskaya Svetlana and her husband went into business. I must say, they do it. The family lives comfortably and at a good level by American standards. Svetlana has her own gymnastics store, but this does not prevent her from working with children. She is the organizer of training camps for young gymnasts. From May to September, she travels around several states to work with children. Each city rents a comfortable room and invites well-deserved trainers. A weekly training of one young gymnast brings up to $ 1000 to the family budget. It is worth noting that about 100 people participate in one camp.
William worked at a recruitment agency for a long time. He helped oil companies find the right candidates. His income was unstable, and everything depended on the number of people arranged. Therefore, he decided to quit and go into the restaurant business. Why restaurant? The proposal came from a close friend of William, who had good experience in profile, but did not have initial capital. They opened a chain of gourmet pizzerias. Svetlana loves helping her husband in a pizzeria. If one of the employees is sick, then she goes out and happily works at the cash register or the waiter.
Minsk holidays
In 2013, for the first time in 15 years, Boginskaya flew to her homeland in Minsk. Her mother lives here, her brother Igor and her nephews. Every day she walked through her native streets, recalled her childhood.
Now Boginskaya is an American restrained business woman and a legendary athlete, who in 2005 was included in the International gymnastics Hall of Fame!