More expensive than medals: Irina Slutskaya saved her mother from death and was able to give birth, despite a serious illness
Irina Slutskaya
February 9, 41 marks the birthday of Irina Slutskaya, whom the whole world knows as the first singles figure skater in history to win the title of seven-time European champion.
After finishing her sports career, she tried herself as a TV presenter and actress, and became an ambassador for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and a deputy. From the outside it seemed that Slutskaya’s life was like a fairy tale.
An erroneous opinion was formed because the celebrity rarely spoke about the difficulties that accompanied her for many years.
In 2003, Irina almost lost her mother, and a few months later she learned about her own serious illness - vasculitis.
The disease affects the cardiovascular system, kidneys and lungs; with this diagnosis, you can put an end to physical activity, and it is extremely difficult to bear a child.
The doctors did not promise anything to the figure skater, but after a long course of treatment, Slutskaya returned to competition, won the World and European Championships and won bronze at the Olympics.
Medals and awards could not replace the athlete’s simple female happiness. She dreamed of a big family and, contrary to doctors' predictions, became the mother of three children. How did Irina Slutskaya manage to overcome so many challenges?
HARD WORK
At the age of four, Irina Slutskaya was sent to the figure skating section
Irina was born in Moscow into a family that had nothing to do with professional sports: her father worked as a teacher, and her mother was an engineer. The girl was often sick, so her parents decided to send her to the figure skating section for health purposes.
“I’ve been skating for as long as I can remember, namely, since I was four years old. That’s when my mother brought me to the ice for the first time. The choice of sport, in my case, was very simple: skates or skis,” the figure skater shared on the microblog. — The Lokomotiv ice was nearby. For a mother who works two jobs, this was a decisive factor.”
Irina Slutskaya spoke about grueling training and burning tears
Zhanna Gromova, who became her first coach, saw the potential in the young athlete. Slutskaya herself never considered herself talented. She had to work harder than others to succeed. Irina was not flexible enough, which is extremely important in ice dancing, but she spent hours rehearsing her movements and eventually surpassed her peers in technique.
“95 percent of sporting achievements are the hard work of figure skaters, their parents and coaches,” she emphasized.
The Russian Figure Skating Federation insisted on a second gold medal for Slutskaya
At the end of 1992, Irina made her debut at junior competitions in Seoul, and four years later she managed to become the first Russian athlete to be awarded the title of European champion in figure skating.
From that moment on, Slutskaya’s biography was rapidly replenished with new successes: bronze at the World Championships, fifth place at the Olympic Games in Nagano, second at the 1999 Winter Universiade. Despite her busy schedule, in 2000 Irina graduated from the Moscow State Academy of Physical Education.
At the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the figure skater took silver, which became the reason for a loud scandal: because of one judge's vote, the American Sarah Hughes received first place. Many experts believed that Irina also deserved the victory, but the committee refused to award her a second gold medal. But in 2002, the athlete joined the ranks of world champions.
FAMILY MISCELLANEOUS
Irina Slutskaya saved her mother, whose life was hanging by a thread
The triumph of the star was replaced by difficult trials. In February 2003, Irina was preparing for serious competitions. She lived with her mother in a hotel and at about three o'clock in the morning she heard a strange knock. “Mom was having convulsions and banging on the wall with her hand.
She was foaming at the mouth, she was almost unable to breathe, no one understood what happened. She was taken to a good clinic.
And then her kidneys failed: they shriveled to such an extent that they weren’t even found on an ultrasound,” Slutskaya shared in the “Secret to a Million” program on NTV.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=o51SePAYIcw
Irina discovered the mother in time, and the woman was saved, although her life hung in the balance. For six months, the figure skater’s mother was treated in a military hospital in St. Petersburg.
“There have already been three or four transplants, the kidneys do not take root and tend to die. She now has one kidney and takes pills by the handful.
It’s very scary, sometimes at night I stood at her door and listened to see if she was breathing,” the athlete confessed.
All in the same 2003, Slutskaya herself fell ill: it all started as a common cold, but it was impossible to bring down the temperature at 39. Irina was diagnosed with pericarditis - fluid had accumulated in the heart sac, but the story did not end there...
“I woke up in the morning and it was like I had a horn sticking out. Then it deflated after about 15 minutes, and a bruise appeared in its place. Two hours later there was a swelling on my arm and a bruise on my shin. “I was in a panic,” the figure skater said. “And then I realized that I couldn’t feel part of my leg at all.” I ran to Gorbachev’s personal doctor. He looked at me and said: “It looks like you have vasculitis.”
After a long break, Irina Slutskaya triumphantly returned to sports
Pathological inflammation of blood vessels must be treated, because the consequences of vasculitis include pulmonary hemorrhage and renal failure. The athlete disappeared from the radar for two years. “This vasculitis was sitting in me for a long time. Apparently, what happened six months earlier with my mother spurred the disease,” Irina suggested.
Mom's death and suspicion of cancer: a dark streak in the life of Tatyana Totmyanina
After enormous stress and a long break, the return to the ice turned out to be more than bright: in 2005, the figure skater won international competitions in Moscow, and a year later she became the European champion for the seventh time. After bronze in Turin in 2006, she ended her sports career on her own initiative. Competitions disappeared from Slutskaya’s life, unlike the illness.
“It's incurable. Vasculitis is in remission, asthma periodically torments me, once a year I get tested to monitor the disease. I've been taking hormones for life. I live thanks to the fact that I accept them,” the athlete admitted.
NEW LIFE
After leaving figure skating, Irina Slutskaya became a TV presenter and actress
After leaving the profession, Slutskaya discovered television: she hosted “Ice Age” and the show “Stars on Ice.” Then Irina made her film debut in an episode of the film “Three and a Snowflake” and starred in the TV series “Hot Ice”. The figure skater also became a sports news columnist on Channel One.
But, like any woman, the champion dreamed of a big and strong family. Since 1999, Irina was married to physical education teacher Sergei Mikheev and wanted to give her husband a child. When she learned about vasculitis, the first thing she asked the doctor was whether she could have children.
“He looked down and said that one of his patients had a baby. In essence, it was a sentence. Can you imagine the doctor’s surprise when I came to him and told him that I was pregnant! Then five doctors took care of my pregnancy, but, fortunately, everything worked out, and the baby was born healthy,” Slutskaya shared in the “Human Fate” program.
Irina Slutskaya was married to Sergei Mikheev for 17 years
Irina was incredibly happy when her first-born Artem was born. Three years later she gave birth to a daughter, Varvara. It was difficult to imagine a more harmonious family, but after 17 years Slutskaya decided to divorce Sergei.
Daughter of Irina Slutskaya: “Mom doesn’t have enough strength to train me”
“We really had a very sincere relationship, but apparently I have changed. I am very grateful to him, we have two wonderful children, but things got out of hand.
I wanted to move on, but he somehow slowed down,” the sports star reasoned. — When everything was nearing its logical conclusion, everything was already annoying: the spoon was not there, everyday little things.
We divorced very calmly, didn’t share anything, he just left and left everything to me.”
Family happiness turned out to be more valuable to Irina Slutskaya than all world awards
Life does not end after a divorce, and Irina met a new love in the person of businessman Alexei Govyrin.
They got married in 2018, but for a whole year the two-time world champion did not show her husband to the public, wanting to keep personal things out of camera lenses. Like Slutskaya, Alexey has two children from his first marriage.
The guys immediately found a common language with Artem and Varya. And last December it turned out that the athlete became a mother for the third time, giving her husband a daughter, Kira.
Irina Slutskaya showed her new husband for the first time
“I was very afraid to give birth, that’s why I was silent. Three doctors managed the pregnancy. Everything went well, now the child is growing, his cheeks are full, so I can talk about it,” the star confessed.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZi3PAOnpIE
Now Slutskaya spends a lot of time with the baby and older children. Varvara followed in her mother’s footsteps and took up figure skating, while Artem preferred hockey. Following the successes of the heirs and enjoying family comfort with her loved one - simple female happiness turned out to be more valuable to Irina than all the world's awards.
Anatoly Lomokhov / Legion-Media, Jun Sato, JACQUES DEMARTHON/Getty Images, personal archive, press service, still from the show “Ice Age”
Alexandra Vlasova
Source: //www.starhit.ru/novosti/doroje-medaley-irina-slutskaya-spasla-mamu-ot-smerti-i-smogla-rodit-nesmotrya-na-tyajeluyu-bolezn-200997/
Ira jumped ;(
Irina Slutskaya was hospitalized in serious condition
The famous Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya has serious health problems. Back in the summer, she was diagnosed with bronchial asthma, her asthma was cured, but problems of a different order began.
In particular, as stated by the Russian national team doctor Viktor Anikanov, since September Slutskaya has changed one hospital after another - the Institute of Rheumatology, the Sklifosovsky Institute, the Central Clinical Hospital. Only at the Tareev Clinic of the First Moscow Medical Institute of Slutsk they were able to make an accurate diagnosis: vasculitis. This is one of the systemic rheumatic diseases.
Previously, doctors said that many of Irina’s problems were related to her heart, and the diagnosis was pericarditis. But this was not the main diagnosis, but only symptoms of the main, rheumatic disease. Treatment for the main diagnosis began only in late November - early December.
Until that moment, Slutskaya was experiencing extreme stress, her psychological state was depressing. First of all, because of the uncertainty about what she is sick with. When the doctors confidently said what was happening to her and began to treat her, the champion completely surrendered to the hands of the doctors and calmed down.
Slutskaya regularly took hormonal medications throughout December. In January, the dosage of medication began to be reduced. Now Irina lives in her Moscow apartment on Preobrazhenka and has already begun rehabilitation training on the ice of the Young Pioneers stadium with her coach Zhanna Gromova.
However, the team doctor Anikanov said that Slutskaya may be in remission, and this is due precisely to intensive sports activities. People who have not experienced during their lives the stresses that Irina had to endure have almost no such chances.
NatalkaPortalka
What year's news? Vasculitis was discovered in Slutskaya a very long time ago.
There is no ice there anymore. It's been a year since then.
But for some reason everyone associates this with sports, and the cause of Elena Vodorezova’s illness is not at all in sports.
In general, athletes are in the public eye, which is why everyone is so horrified about the harm of sports. But if you calculate the percentage of patients among non-athletes, it is unlikely to be lower. Moreover, what is a disaster for an athlete hardly interferes in everyday life. For example, my uncle lived his entire life with a torn cruciate ligament in his knee. My friend had the same injury (it even happened that he and I had surgery almost simultaneously in the same hospital: he had a torn cruciate ligament, I only had a meniscus; but if I recovered almost completely after the operation and He participated in competitions for another 5 years, but the operation did not help him at all). Now several athletes have such an injury (Akinfeev, Morozov, formerly Titov, Pavel Bure, etc.) and, it seems, they have learned how to completely cure them (they cut out a flap from their own tissue and implant it in place of the torn ligament) - but in my time they implanted Mylar insert, and this operation did not help anyone I knew. And not only ordinary people - for example, the most talented high jumper in history (and the last world record holder to jump jump) Vladimir Yashchenko was never able to return to the sport.
Read also: Who treats vasculitis
Of course, you won’t be able to high jump with a torn cruciate ligament - but in ordinary life you are unlikely to even notice that a person has such an injury. In the same way, many people suffer from rheumatism, but as soon as it is discovered in an athlete, everyone immediately begins to talk about the dangers of sports. But I, for example, can just as easily talk about the dangers of not playing sports.
Irina Slutskaya
Irina Eduardovna Slutskaya is a famous Russian figure skater, TV presenter and actress. She achieved extraordinary results in her sports career.
Slutskaya twice rose to first place on the podium at the World Championships, for the first time in the history of figure skating she won the European Championships seven times and won silver and bronze at two Olympics.
Among her achievements, one can also highlight a cascade of three jumps (triple Salchow - triple loop).
Irina Slutskaya
The athlete’s fate included not only amazing victories, but also disappointing defeats. Irina Slutskaya demonstrated that she is capable of taking a punch perfectly and courageously dealing with troubles. This can be judged by the fact that the famous athlete managed not to get lost after leaving the sport.
Childhood and youth
Irina Slutskaya is a native Muscovite. She was born in February 1979 in a family where her parents had nothing to do with sports: her father worked as a teacher at a college, and her mother worked as an engineer at an automobile plant until retirement.
Irina Slutskaya with her parents
When my mother took little Ira to the sports section of the Moskvich club, she did not pursue the goal of making her a famous figure skater. Ira was a sickly child, and her mother decided to improve her daughter’s health by involving her in sports.
At the age of 4, the future Olympic champion in single women's figure skating began training.
Irina Slutskaya on ice
Then the potential of the capable girl was noted by Zhanna Fedorovna Gromova, who became Slutskaya’s first coach. Regular training, the athlete’s perseverance and the experience of the coach led Irina Slutskaya to her first serious victories.
Figure skating
Her tough character and discipline allowed the girl to take prizes, starting with junior international competitions. At the age of 17, Irina Slutskaya was able to become the first Russian athlete to achieve the title of European champion in figure skating.
Irina Slutskaya
This significant event took place at the World Championships in Sofia in 1996. At the same time, the athlete won bronze at the World Championships. From that moment on, a bright streak began in the sports biography of Irina Slutskaya: the figure skater began her ascent to Olympic victories.
In 1998, Irina Slutskaya took part in the Olympic Games in Nagano, where she won 5th place. But the next year was not so successful in her sports career, since the figure skater was not included in the Russian team, and she had to miss several championships. But then the bitterness of professional defeats was compensated by personal happiness.
Irina Slutskaya in her youth
In 2000, the athlete gradually began to regain her laurels as a winner of the highest world competitions. Irina Slutskaya not only paid attention to training, but also graduated from the Academy of Physical Culture in 2000. Already in 2002, the Olympics in Salt Lake City allowed Irina to bring silver to Russia; she was only one point short of getting ahead of Sarah Hughes.
In the life of the popular figure skater, success alternated with failure. The athlete’s mother became seriously ill, and she herself was forbidden to play sports due to problems with blood vessels: Slutskaya was diagnosed with vasculitis. But no misfortunes affected Irina’s desire to win. She overcame the illness and returned to the ice.
Irina Slutskaya on the podium
In 2005, the native walls of Moscow helped Irina Slutskaya again win gold at the World Championships. The 2006 European Championships brought success to the figure skater: she won a record seventh gold.
In the same year, the Olympic Games were held in Turin, where Slutskaya found herself on the third step of the honorary prize podium.
Irina Slutskaya at the Olympics in Turin
By November 2006, the world-famous Russian figure skater decided to leave professional sports and find herself in another activity. The result of her sports career was 40 gold, 21 silver and 18 bronze medals.
Television and social activities
The end of her sports career did not become a starting point for Irina Slutskaya into oblivion: she found herself on television - as a participant in ice projects, presenter of sports reviews, theater and film actress.
Irina Slutskaya became a TV presenter
For the first time, TV viewers saw Irina in an unusual capacity - in the role of co-host of Marat Basharov - in “Ice Age”.
Later, the former figure skater, together with Evgeni Plushenko, hosted the “Stars on Ice” show.
And in the 2nd season of the program, miniature Irina Slutskaya (with a height of 160 cm, her weight did not exceed 49 kg) appeared on the ice as a participant, taking Gedeminas Taranda as her partner.
In 2009, together with Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, the ex-athlete hosted the show “Ice Age - 3”.
Irina Slutskaya and Anastasia Zavorotnyuk in the show “Ice Age – 3”
In 2007, Irina Slutskaya made her film debut: she starred in a cameo role in the film “Three and a Snowflake.” Russians were also able to appreciate Slutskaya’s acting work in the TV series “Hot Ice,” where she appeared as coach Anastasia Ivanova, and in the comedy musical “A Good Deal.”
In 2011, Slutskaya received the status of ambassador of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi 2014. In the same year, Channel One acquired a commentator on its staff: Irina Slutskaya leads sports news as a columnist.
Irina Slutskaya on Channel One
Irina Eduardovna never forgets about sports, leads an active lifestyle and worries about young Russian talents.
In August 2020, the Irina Slutskaya Figure Skating School was opened in Lytkarino. In the educational institution, pupils study in three programs - primary, recreational and sports.
The celebrity sees the goal of creating the school as promoting the traditions of the Russian school of figure skating.
In 2020, a new project by Irina Slutskaya was launched - “Scandinavian Walking School” - for people suffering from diabetes. During the year, 10 institutions opened in the Moscow region. The figure skater herself has long been a fan of this sport, which has virtually no contraindications and allows you to develop up to 90% of all muscles.
Irina Slutskaya founded the “School of Nordic Walking”
Every year the athlete organizes a summer figure skating camp, to which both children and adults are invited. Classes are conducted according to several programs - for beginners and advanced students.
The name of Irina Slutskaya is often placed next to the name of the famous football coach Leonid Slutsky. But there are no family ties between them.
Irina Slutskaya – deputy from the United Russia party
In the fall of 2020, at the age of 37, Irina Slutskaya was elected to the regional Duma from the United Russia party. She managed to demonstrate another facet of her personality - as a politician and a caring person with an active social position.
At the beginning of 2020, Irina Eduardovna took the initiative to create a physical therapy department in one of the clinics in Yakutia. Her proposal was discussed and supported. Irina covers her social and political activities on her personal Instagram account. The athlete’s official page contains posts dedicated to work and family.
Personal life
The athlete’s personal life was happy. Irina Slutskaya is married to former boxer Sergei Mikheev. He saw his future wife on the TV screen and fell in love.
Irina Slutskaya with her husband
They met in a holiday home near Moscow, where Irina came with a friend for a couple of days. At that time, the athlete was still a young girl and was in no hurry to respond to the young man’s advances, but he won the figure skater’s heart with his persistence and patience. In August 1999, they formalized their relationship.
The couple became parents of two children. Son Artem was born a year after the end of his professional sports career, and daughter Varvara was born in 2010. Now the young man is playing hockey, and the girl has become a successor to the work of her talented mother, although Irina initially saw Varya in rhythmic gymnastics.
Irina Slutskaya with her daughter
The marriage of Irina Slutskaya and Sergei Mikheev, 8 years older, was considered by many to be exemplary. But there were rumors that the former figure skater, and now a deputy, had long separated from her husband: they do not appear together anywhere. But next to Irina Slutskaya, her assistant and general director of the Voluntary Physical Education Union, Alexei Tikhomirov, is often seen. They are credited with a romantic relationship.
Neither Irina Slutskaya nor Alexey Tikhomirov confirm or deny the alleged romance between them.
Irina Slutskaya and Alexey Tikhomirov
Attentive subscribers to Slutskaya and Tikhomirov’s social network pages say that there are many common photos on their pages. At the same time, Irina’s photographs of her husband cannot be found. Meticulous journalists also noticed that the woman’s ring finger was missing a wedding ring.
At the Muz-TV awards, Irina Slutskaya was again accompanied not by her husband, but by assistant Alexei Tikhomirov. And although the couple tried to keep their distance, they left the event together, which did not escape the attentive eyes of visitors.
Irina Slutskaya with family
Irina’s acquaintances told reporters that it was Tikhomirov who was engaged in PR for Slutskaya on the eve of the primaries in the Moscow region. When asked why her husband Sergei Mikheev is not seen next to Irina at social events, the woman replies that Sergei hates being in public.
Irina Slutskaya now
In 2020, Irina Slutskaya launched the ice show “Fixies on Ice. The Big Game”, in which the main characters were the characters from the beloved animated series.
Simka, Nolik, Fire, Igrek, Shpula and Verta have to fight robots in a hockey match.
During the performance, the fairy-tale men not only demonstrate the art of wielding a stick and puck, but also demonstrate a cascade of complex elements.
Irina Slutskaya launched the ice show “Fixies on Ice. Big game"
The goal of the project, as conceived by Slutskaya, is to introduce children and parents to team sports to attract young spectators to the ice. The show premiered in St. Petersburg, after which the creative team went on tour throughout Europe.
At the beginning of 2020, at the Dobrograd resort, not far from Vladimir, Slutskaya presented a new program “Endless Story”, the participants of which were Tatyana Navka, Alexey Yagudin and students of figure skating schools in the Vladimir region.
Irina Slutskaya in 2020
A special feature of the production was the use of ice from a natural lake as a stage area. The creators of the performance supplemented the solo and group numbers with a light show. This is not the first performance of figure skaters on Vladimir soil; Evgeni Plushenko and Adelina Sotnikova have already visited here at the beginning of 2020.
Awards and achievements
- 2003 – Knight of the Order of Friendship
- 2007 – Knight of the Order of Honor
- Two-time world champion
- Seven-time European champion
- Honored Master of Sports of Russia
