Olympic legends in the IvSU assembly hall

On September 7, 2020, in the assembly hall of the 1st building of IvSU, Olympic champions, members of the official delegation of the Russian Union of Athletes communicated with students enrolled in the educational program "Physical Culture".

Has it ever been in this hall that the holders of 7 Olympic medals (and other awards), of which 5 are gold, including two two-time Olympic champions, were together? It seemed that the great era of victorious Soviet sports, fanned with unfading glory, had descended into the hall.

 The "living legends" themselves – Tatiana Filippovna Sarycheva, two-time Olympic champion and world champion in volleyball; Nelly Vasilievna Feryabnikova, two-time Olympic champion and two-time world champion in basketball; Marina Vladimirovna Koshevaya, Olympic champion and world record holder in swimming, Anna Borisovna Aleshina, Olympic medalist in rowing, looked as if they were common people, willingly and with humor answered questions, told useful stories from their sports life ... However, the feeling of the uniqueness of the event did not leave those gathered in the hall. Is it really possible to “relax” when you hear firsthand how the famous victory over Japanese women, volleyball favorites of the Olympics-72 (the match lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes!) was achieved, and how the girls who did not immediately realize their achievment suddenly began to “rejoice loudly”? Then they went to cheer for basketball players - that was the very famous final, which we all know about from “Going Vertical”. Another legend, Marina Koshevaya, answering a student's question about the moment when “you want to give up everything,” with a smile replied that a month and a half before the Olympics “she gave up everything” and left – but the coach came and persuaded her to return. And she was the "third number" of the team and no one expected a victory from her, a 16-year-old schoolgirl! Of course, a sports miracle is 99% of hard training, but who said that miracles are accidental? Their regularity is sometimes beyond our comprehension, and we must always be ready for a sporting feat in order to feel the very “three seconds” that change your life and make a great many people around you happy ...

So the host of the meeting, Natalya Nikolaevna Boyarskaya, head of the All-Russian charitable program "Olympic Legends for Children and Youth of Russia", President of the Interregional Public Committee of Veterans "Heroes of the Fatherland", did not exaggerate, speaking about the uniqueness of the event. For 6 years now, about a hundred great champions have been traveling around the cities of Russia in order to breathe life into our sport again, to stir up officials, to light the children's eyes buried in their gadgets, to share sparks of inner illuminating flame with young athletes, future sports teachers and coaches. For 40 years, Soviet sports have collected the largest number of awards at the Olympics. Sometimes unconcealed bitterness sounded in Natalya Nikolaevna’s voice, because all of us - both those in power, sports federations, and simply contemporaries – do not always understand which heroes still live nearby and how their experience can help us change the world for the better.

Of course, the audience was not indifferent, and asked interesting questions (one of the most interesting questions was asked by the Acting Rector of IvSU A.A. Malygin – about the combination of "carrot and stick" methods in training athletes), and then the "Olympic legends" handed certificates to our "athletes", teachers and students, and took pictures with them.

Remember this moment, lucky ones! It is a unique moment in your life.