Arkady Vyatchanin is now a former Russian swimmer playing for the Serbian national team. The athlete left his homeland after a series of scandals that have occurred in recent years.
Personal data
Arkady Vyatchanin was born on April 4, 1894 in one of the villages of the Komi Republic near Vorkuta.
He is a honored master of sports in swimming. Specializes in backstroke.
In 2015, he changed citizenship from Russian to Serbian. So, in 2016, the former Russian athlete Arkady Vyatchanin will represent at the Olympics in Rio Serbia.
Biography
Arkady was born and raised in a "goldfish aquarium", as his family is jokingly called. The Vyatchanins received such an interesting nickname for good reason: their father, Arkady Fedorovich, nine times became the champion of the RSFSR in swimming, his mother, Irina Germanovna, has the title of Honored Trainer of Russia. Irina Vyatchanina devoted all her life to swimming and preparing swimmers, Alla's sister is a former multiple champion of the country in swimming, and now she is a coach preparing a new shift for swimmers. And his first aunt, the younger sister of his father, Lyudmila Vyatchanina, who arrived in Vorkuta in 1983, became the first coach of Arkady.
Arkady Vyatchanin grew up in such a sports and swimming family. The swimmer from him turned out to be very good, surpassing all the expectations of his relatives.
Sports career
Since 1992, Arkady begins training with his father. And very soon, the guy begins to show hopeful results. In 1999, the whole family moved to Taganrog. The following year, 2000, Arkady Vyatchanin was invited to the national team.
In 2003, the athlete achieved his first major victories at the international level. The World Cup in Barcelona brings Arkady a silver medal in the combined relay, and then in the individual championship he became the second in the distance of 100 m on his back.
In 2004, at the world championship in Indianapolis, Arkady won the relay bronze (4x100 m on the back) and another bronze medal, swimming 200 m on the back. Unfortunately, at the Olympics in the same year, Arkady did not show impressive results, despite intensive training.
In 2005, in Montreal, at the World Championships, Vyatchanin won the silver relay. And at the European Championships he won silver medals, perfectly swimming 50 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters on his back.
In 2006, he collected two gold, swimming faster than the other 100 and 200 meters on his back at the championship in Budapest. Then the title of European champion passed to Arcadia (a new record was 1 min 55.44 s). At the same championship, a team of Russian swimmers together with Arkady won gold in the 4x100 m relay. At the European Championships in short water in Helsinki in the same 2006, he received two more gold, swimming the fastest of 100 and 200 meters on his back.
In 2007, the medal harvest was not so impressive: only the bronze of the World Cup in Melbourne. This year, his father and coach were disqualified for two years. In this regard, Arkady Vyatchanin changes his coach. Now, according to the methodology of his father, his mother works with him, Irina Vyatchanina. Under her leadership, the athlete is gaining the optimal shape and coming to the Olympics.
In 2008, at the European Championships in Holland, he became the third, having passed a distance of 100 m on his back, second at 200 m on his back and, together with the relay team, became the first.
And finally, in 2008, Arkady won Olympic medals - the dream of all athletes. Two Olympic bronzes of 100 and 200 meters became two pearls in the collection of medals.
In 2009, Vyatchin received the gold of the European Championship in Turkey.
Then in the athlete’s career there was a long break. Arkady at the end of 2009 underwent several eye operations.
Citizenship change
In April 2013, Arkady announced that he was completing his speech for the Russian national team and would play for Serbia.
This event was preceded by events, the main person involved in which was Arkady Vyatchanin. The conflict followed the conflict, and for several years now the smooth waters of the vicious circle of Russian swimmers are rippled. It all started after Arkady’s problems with his eyes. The problems of the promising athlete did not worry the leadership of the team. They said that his equipment had collapsed, and the athlete himself suffered from “star disease”. The athlete did not like this attitude, and he began to openly conflict with the leadership and show discontent with the orders established in the national team. The result of skirmishes was the expulsion from the national team in 2011.
Arkady left to train in the USA, which caused extreme discontent among the leaders of the Russian team, but, given the crucial role of Arkady in relay races, they still included the swimmer in the Olympic team. In 2012, nothing outstanding was shown to Arkady at the Olympics.
And after all the failures that befell Arkady then, he decides to change his sports citizenship. The goal was to get into the US team, but the duration of the procedure deprived him of a chance to get into a powerful American team. Continuing to dream about the Olympics, Arkady considered the option of performing under the flag of the IOC.
And at the end of 2015, the athlete received Serbian citizenship and said that he had already been selected for the national team of this country to participate in the Olympics.