Irina Rodina. Last name is required. They say the truth that in Russia surnames were not given just like that. You clearly understand this when you meet Irina Rodina – smiling, blue-eyed,

Irina Rodina. Last name is required.

They say the truth that in Russia surnames were not given just like that. You clearly understand this when you get to know Irina Rodina – a smiling, blue-eyed, real Russian woman who managed to reach the highest heights in a non-female, according to some, wrestling. In terms of the number of medals won, she is practically unmatched in domestic sports. Just think: in Irina's collection there are twenty (.) medals from the national championship, twelve of them are gold, and eight more awards from European championships, a dozen from international tournaments. A successful athlete is now creating future victories, working with the Russian youth team.

We have known Ira for a long time. I saw her in different situations – both celebrating a long-awaited victory at the European Championships, and grieving a defeat at the World Championships, and watching the competitions of rivals from the stands (because her jaw was broken and doctors forbade fighting), and fussing at the stove at home, when suddenly guests descended, and, in the last two years, seconding judoka girls at the tatami or showing them the secrets of technique in the training room. She never looked disassembled. Even on vacation.

Of course, Irina, like all women, gets upset, offended and, sometimes, even cries. But he doesn't show it to anyone. Reliable, solid, a person with a powerful and seemingly inflexible inner core, self-confident, she inspires confidence in others. Therefore, it was not at all surprising that a few years ago, from Tula to Perm, parents sent her younger sister Natasha to live with young Ira, so that the 22-year-old Rodina became the “mother” of the 8-year-old “daughter”, and then, in 2006, , Perm came and 13-year-old brother Misha. Now they are already adults, but are still close to Ira.

Section selection

As a child, Rodina did a little of everything: basketball, volleyball, athletics – in school sections.

“Nobody made serious bets on me, because I have always been plump. But, despite the fact that I was a very dense child, many could envy my activity. Naturally, because of my weight, I was treated condescendingly in all sections. “Well, don’t kick me out.” I didn’t see any interest in myself as an athlete anywhere. Except maybe the shot-throwing coach who spotted me in the track and field team. But the first training in the arena did not impress me at all: a lot of people doing their own thing, a lot of fuss, and the heavy core did not inspire me at all. So the first core workout was the last.”

At the age of 13, and this was in 1987, Ira saw an advertisement for judo in the school next door, then it was so exotic.“And I, so all pampered, non -conflict, first thought: what a struggle?! After all, there is an aggression, but I don’t have it. ” But the friend persuaded. When I came home and announced to my parents that I would deal with a fight, I met a tough ban: “This is impossible! This is Nelzhenskoye! How terrible it is. – recalls Irina. – After several years of classes, I could firmly say that rhythmic gymnastics, which is considered the standard of femininity, is actually airy only in competitions, and the training process in it is almost more tough than in the struggle and it is very difficult to withstand. However, in any sport, you need to strain and step over yourself. ”

Irina tried and remained in the judo section. Less than a year later the results went. In the first serious competitions, she took third place. This was a stimulus for her.

“I think that I was very lucky with the coach, and I myself turned out to be very persistent. All the stars came together, the components formed: there was a desire, there was health, there was a mentor, and this was the result. ”

According to the Motherland itself, the soul boiled. And he “boils”, apparently, still. As an athlete, Irina left no chance to rivals, ending most of the fights on all kinds of tournaments ahead of schedule. The list of titles by the Motherland is still impressive.

“I just fell in love with the struggle once and for all and she never bored me. Each victory brought me additional self -confidence. Probably, this is like at the institute – I went through the topic, and if you passed the exam “excellent”, you feel better, nice. At first I was only judo. In Europe, I constantly fell into the winners, but I was disastrous “on the world”. It was not possible to show itself in any way. In 1997, I decided to try myself in sambo. She won the Russian championship and went to the World Cup in Yugoslavia, where she won gold. That title of world champion still “warms me”. And then there was a second “world”, the third, tenth. And the more I won, the more I wanted to fight and win. ”

A set of skill

– Each athlete has his own crown tricks. Did you most often win it with “crowns”?

-For the rest of my life, I remember one case regarding the crown and non-coronary tricks. That year, I, the USSR champion among girls, moved from the youth team to adult, and the coach set me to fight at the CIS Championship in judo. Was 1992. I am 18, rivals for 25-27 years old. In heavy weight, I only reached the fifth place. Not satisfied with the result, I appeared in the Absolute. Everything turned out successfully, and I reached the finals. A meeting with the Belarusian athlete Tarasova was coming. She moved very quickly and worked well. Her crown is a cut. I was terribly afraid of these cuts, with horror imagined how, not having time to react, I would bark from her movement on the whole back.

The judge says – “Hadime”, and we start. I'm waiting for a cut.At some point, she turns sideways to me, and I, unexpectedly for myself, for the first and only time in my career, do the back trip. Purely. Beautiful. On ippon. Classic technique. And I am the champion of the CIS. I'm only 18 years old! How it happened, I don't know. Then I tried many times to repeat the throw, even just to work out in training. It doesn't work, that's all. It just doesn't work. Either my hands are not there, then my legs, then I fall down myself. Even in working out more NEVER happened! And then it fired. And you say – crowns! Standing on a pedestal, I felt complete and boundless happiness. That all your efforts, the efforts of your friction, all the hours of sparring training, a worthy reward has come.

– If you turn back time, would you choose sports again?

– To be honest, I don't know what brings girls into martial arts today. In my time, wrestling was only allowed, and many teenagers went to sections, driven by an interest in the recently forbidden fruit. I saw girls much larger than me, who walked with their heads held high, not in the least embarrassed by their fullness and not experiencing any problems with low self-esteem. And I wanted to understand what gives them self-confidence, and I wanted to become the same and walk the same way as they do.

I don't think wrestling is a purely male sport. Maybe in freestyle or classical wrestling, to a greater extent, everything is decided by strength endurance. And in judo, the game is rather not about strength, but about feeling: we must feel each other, predict how the opponent will behave. The most beautiful throws are obtained just when you feel the situation and work depending on the behavior of your partner. I can firmly state that judo is not a power sport, but an intellectual one.

If a person is not smart and quick-witted, then most likely he will not succeed in sports. Because here you need to think, you need to work on yourself, you need to know psychology – to understand yourself and assess the situation. You need to know biomechanics in order not to stupidly invest force, but to see what happens if you apply such a technique now. Of course, in the training process you have to gain strength, swing, run, but the competitions themselves are just an example of the prevalence of reason over strength in the struggle.

– What is more important to be able to defend or attack more?

– In a fight, you can work in defense or in attack. But in any case, with a lack of self-confidence, the result of the fight is easy to predict. Even if you are clearly losing, you must fight to the end, and even if you clearly outnumber your opponent, you have no right to lose your vigilance. I always fought, thinking that the result would not be final until the end of the fight. No matter how strong you are, you cannot be sure that you will win anyway. But under no circumstances should you give up!

Probably, it is thanks to the sport, where I have achieved results, that I know that nothing is given just like that in life.It is necessary to strive for something and work hard, and only then there will be a result. Aspiration, perseverance, efficiency – I think these are the qualities that sports instilled in me.

– You tried yourself in judo and sambo. What about other martial arts?

– Once I was offered to take part in mixed martial arts competitions. When I asked what it was, they told me that it was just a wrestling, where techniques from different types of wrestling were allowed. I thought: I know the rules of judo, sambo, Greco-Roman wrestling, so why not try? We went to Japan, where we were warmly welcomed. That women's championship was held only for the second time. We were offered to watch a video from the first such tournament. They turn on the disk, and there … One athlete lies on the carpet, the second one sits on it and kicks from above. The first at some point throws off the opponent and frames of “drooling, snot, blood, broken face…” fly by on the screen in slow motion. I understood everything for myself. I got up and said: That's it, I've seen enough, let's go home. The coach coaxed me all night. Persuaded. I entered the field and won. This experience has lasted me a lifetime! I won all by submission, but before that I was beaten so much that when I returned home, my mother simply did not recognize me, and then she sobbed. At that moment, I realized that I didn’t like fighting at all!

I was often asked what I still love more: judo or sambo? I always answer this question in the same way. I don't care what the fight is called. I love to fight, I love to train. It is now that the rules in judo have changed, and before these two types were almost identical. Therefore, it was not a problem for me to rebuild.

– It's nice to win everywhere.

– Yes, and I am glad that for many years I brought medals to my native city, my country. The opportunity to see the world, meet different people is also a huge gift of fate given by sports. Therefore, as long as I had the strength and desire, I remained in the team – sport extended my life, gave me energy. Of course, I was visited by the thought of leaving the fight, but I'm not the kind of person who easily gives up everything and starts a different life. And what other life can we talk about when my whole life has been spent in sports? Once, due to injuries, I had a long recovery break, and I was able to think everything over. What did you come to? To start exercising again. Then age began to make itself felt, and many of the loads that a young body could withstand were no longer within my power. But, apparently, I trained well in my youth, and the baggage that I received gave me the opportunity to perform in a more gentle mode and show results for a few more years.

– But one day I still had to leave the big sport.

– Yes, the day came when I decided to hang a kimono and a sambovka on a nail. Everything in this life comes to an end, and for sports I have become “old”. Even sat out, probably.The body told me: Decide what you want, but I can no longer. The wires were held in St. Petersburg, at the 2013 World Championships in sambo. They were solemn and touching at the same time. Emotions overwhelmed. It was hard to realize that your sports career ended and you would never go to the carpet again as an athlete …

– But she came out as a coach.

– In fact, my first coaching experience happened back in 2005. I began to train with any Bruletova. At first she helped her, replaced her in her absence. I looked, studied. I myself had extensive experience as an athlete, worked under the guidance of many coaches, because it was with what to compare and impress to increase coaching skills.

When I was offered to work with the youth team of girls in the judo federation of Russia, I, honestly, was morally not ready for this. And at the first moment I felt some confusion. It seems that I have already encountered both coaching activities and raising children, but I realized that in the first place it was a great responsibility. After thinking about everything, I decided to accept the proposal. After the first gathering with the team, many of my fears were dispelled. We have very good, warm relations in our team. I am very glad that the second coach was appointed Flora Mkhitaryan – she has experience as an athlete, and passed long -term training in Japan.

I don’t know how girls are in the team, but I really like this work. I didn’t even expect how much! At first I was very worried, the age is so difficult, 16-18 years old … But I probably got good girls for good luck-obedient, susceptible that they absorb all the knowledge like sponges. It is especially pleased if they do exactly what I managed to give them during the struggle.

– Which role is more interesting – sports or coaching?

– Fighting yourself and training is different things. One thing – when you go out confident in your abilities and you know what to do and another when you say, you say, you say, and the person goes on the tatami and turns off … You try to reach him, but he does not hear you. A lot of emotions are spent. It’s good when victory is in the end. And if not? I got used to let everything in myself. You are very worried, but at the same time you have to find strength and emotions to support the athlete at this moment. We do everything together to achieve the highest result, and we believe that we will have it. After all, now I understand that the victories of the wards are sweeter than its own, more pleasant.

– Are you holding a distance with the wards?

– Perhaps I am a strict coach. I know what a professional attitude to business is. Yes, somewhere during rest, walks, flights I can joke, chat on abstract topics. But professionally, as a coach I am strict. I think that if you are in the team, you are a professional. Let it be young, but this is your job. And she must be taken seriously and with love.

They always told me that I have a very patriotic surname.I tried to match her. Always fought for medals for Russia. Now, under my command, girls are training in the national team of our country. I want to make sure that they perceive the sport the way I do, and see that wrestling is wonderful, that judo can and should be loved and lived by it. Yes, you need to accept the fact that you will have to limit yourself in some way, but this limitation is only for the good. My task is for the young judokas from my team to remain in the sport for many years and be healthy.

Dossier
Rodina Irina Viktorovna was born in Tula on July 23, 1973. Honored Master of Sports in judo and sambo. Winner and multiple medalist of the European Championships, twelve-time champion of Russia, winner of the highest results in sambo. For outstanding achievements in sports, she was awarded the Order of Friendship and the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree.