Personal life of Nikolai Valuev
This huge man, whose popularity is simply off the charts, is an exemplary family man. He has been happily married for over 20 years. Nikolai met his future wife in 1998, when he was already boxing at a professional level.
Nikolai Valuev's wife is Galina. Next to her husband, she looks like a real button, but has a steely character. Valuev liked the girl, as they say, at first sight, and he made every effort to attract her attention.
Soon after they met, Nikolai and Galina began to live together. The young people formalized their marriage shortly before the birth of their first child, son Gregory.
Outwardly formidable and even a little intimidating, Nikolai is very gentle among his loved ones. In interviews, he often says that the head of his family is his wife Galina. The woman truly has a steely character. She herself believes that if it weren’t for her persistence and “tips” to Nikolai, they would never have gotten married.
Now the couple already has three children. The couple often attend public events, happily pose in front of photographers' cameras, and share the secrets of their personal lives. There are quite a few secrets - the family is happy, the children delight with their achievements, the love between the spouses has not faded for many years.
Russian hero
The heavyweight boxer has a rather unusual physique. In his youth he did not pay attention to this. Having matured, Nikolai decided to follow his wife’s advice and find out what happened to his body.
He was very interested in how such a giant grew up from ordinary parents. It turned out that the tumor was to blame, which put too much pressure on the pituitary gland. The man underwent a number of operations and today believes that he did the right thing. After all, eight years ago, doctors told him that this kind of health problem could well lead to death.
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Children of Nikolai Valuev – photo
Nikolai and Galina Valuev have three children - sons Sergei and Grigory, daughter Irina. Nikolai notes that children are brought up in strictness, his high income is not a reason to pamper his offspring with expensive entertainment and unnecessary things.
The eldest of the Valuev children is Grigory. The boy was born in February 2002. Now Grisha Valuev is already quite an adult young man, he is actively involved in boxing, and dreams of repeating his father’s success, and maybe even increasing it. In addition, the young man already earns money himself, spends it not on entertainment, but gives it to the family “pot”.
At the beginning of March 2007, the Valuevs had a daughter, Irina. The girl also already has experience in serious work - she acted in films with her dad. And even though it was a small cameo role, Irina became passionate about acting, and after filming she began attending a theater studio.
Seryozha Valuev, the youngest son of the famous Russian boxer, was born at the end of July 2012. The boy, despite his young age, has already decided what he wants to do in life. His passion is football. In his free time, Serezha Valuev loves to ride a bicycle, and the whole family joins him with pleasure.
In the photo of Nikolai Valuev on Instagram, his children and wife are always nearby. This once again confirms that a successful man can be a loving father, a “henpecked man” in the best sense of the word.
Creativity in the life of Nikolai Valuev
Nikolai Sergeevich is a versatile person, and no matter what he undertakes, he succeeds. After finishing his sports career, he decided to try himself not only in politics, but in art.
Valuev’s creative treasury has no less achievements than in other areas of his activity. It has already included roles in 8 films, experience of filming in the program “Town,” work as a TV presenter in the program “Good Night, Kids,” reading the author’s text in the documentary “Break the Siege” and much more.
Nikolai Valuev is a radio presenter (broadcast on Radio Sport), was the initiator of the filming of a documentary film about his native Kuzbass, and he himself took an active part in it. As part of this project, he drove a huge BelAZ, searched for the Yeti together with a research group, and mastered the ski slopes in Mountain Shoria.
Nikolai Valuev: “We have a matriarchy in our family”
Fathers and Sons
A man who has repeatedly won in the ring - what does he teach his children?
Nikolai Sergeevich Valuev is a world-famous ex-world boxing champion of several sports schools, a successful showman and State Duma deputy. Born on August 21, 1973 in a family of factory workers. Graduated from the St. Petersburg University of Physical Culture named after P. F. Lesgaft. He started boxing in 1993. Valuev became not only the heaviest and tallest fighter in the history of boxing, but also the first Russian to win the title of world champion in super heavyweight among professionals according to the World Boxing Association (WBA). Nikolai Valuev officially announced his retirement from boxing in 2010. Now the ex-athlete is involved in politics and social activities.
— Nikolay, when you were just thinking about your fatherhood, was your father a standard for you? Or, on the contrary, have you had thoughts: “I will never be like my father”? Does the experience of the past generation help or cause protest?
- Neither one nor the other. My father taught me a lot by his example. If in my time there were as many distractions as there are today's children, maybe I would not pay attention to how my dad acted in different situations. But at that time there were only three programs on TV. No computers, gadgets - only books. Dad read a lot, and I followed him. My father and I also built a dacha, the plot for which was given to my mother from the factory...
In this communication I received a start in life. Now everything is different. I can't say it's definitely worse. It's just that our children's generation is different. It is much more difficult to influence them. But there is no escape from this. You need to keep up with the times, interest people by your example, and not grumble, as was good in past times.
- So you are raising your children differently from the way your parents raised you?
— At least, I strive to pay more attention to them. I try to patiently explain when they don’t understand something. You need to spend more time not only in joint activities, but also in simple conversation. Children really need conversations.
And what’s also interesting is that today’s children often do not want to participate in common family affairs. And I believe that this is necessary for the formation of responsibility. We almost force them to participate in family discussions of some issues.
Nikolai Valuev with his son and daughter
- Do you think you are a strict father? Do you forbid your children a lot?
“I’m ready to make concessions if I understand: now the child will make a mistake, and over time we will analyze his action, and he will draw his own conclusions.” You need to insist on your own in cases where the child’s actions can cause real harm to him. Democracy in education is not always useful. If I see that the consequences of a mistake will be too serious, I am adamant.
- Will you use force?
— There are different strengths. You cannot physically influence a child when he is far from you, at school, for example. Therefore, it is wiser to go through compromises. Grisha is a teenager, he can be quick-tempered and illegible in his words. If I answer him in the same spirit - be rude, insist on my own - it will be both a mistake and a weakness on my part, because I am smarter and more experienced than him. Therefore, you must be able to remain silent and even give back. But don't lose face.
— What does the phrase “parents must be respected” mean to you?
- First of all, for me this means that you need to listen to your parents to the end, without interrupting. Just listen first. Do you think it's easy? This is quite a lot of psychological stress for a child. If a child learns to listen to his parents, even if he disagrees, then he will probably be able to respect other people's points of view. And this is perhaps one of the most important aspects of communication. Nobody likes to deal with people who don't listen to others.
Nikolai Valuev with his son and daughter. Photo: “7 days”
- How to distinguish veneration from submission?
- It's easy. When a child obeys, out of fear he agrees with any of your opinions, even if you are absolutely wrong. For the sake of experiment, you can say some complete nonsense. If the child agrees with this, it means that your relationship is not developing in the best way, because it is built on fear and suppression.
In our family, children boldly express their opinions. They are not always able to do this politely; they often interrupt and raise their voices. But it’s better than keeping everything to yourself and silently being offended.
— How are household responsibilities distributed in your family?
— The burden of household chores lies on the shoulders of the wife. Fortunately, we have a wonderful nanny. We couldn't have done it at all without her. Our children are of different ages, there is a five-year difference between them, so in their activities they do not overlap with each other in any way. Everyone has their own mugs. They are taken away and brought in by their wife and nanny.
We have matriarchy in our family simply because there are more women than men: wife Galya, daughter Ira, my mother, nanny... I come home late. I turned into a “Sunday dad.” But during school holidays I still try to spend more time with the children.
Nikolai Valuev with his daughter Ira
— Do you look at children as your own extension? Or do you understand that each of them has their own path in life?
“I see in them a continuation of our family, but everyone has their own path.” The main thing is not to look down on them. We need to treat children as full-fledged citizens, albeit small, but with their own opinions and their own unique path in life. Sometimes it is worth descending from your adult heights to the level of a child in order to see: he has his own world, this world is very rich and not always understandable to adults. We were also in his place, we just forgot about it. And this is our main mistake...
Interviewed by Elena Verbenina.
This interview is part of the project “Being a Father!” , implemented by the online magazine “Batya”, the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the publishing house “Nikea”. You can read the full version of the interview in the book published in 2017.
Social and political activities of Nikolai Valuev
According to Valuev himself, he entered politics at the request of the residents of his native Kemerovo region. He began his activities by helping to “raise” the interest of young people in sports and physical education in his region.
Nikolai did not limit himself only to sports in his social and political activities. He is actively involved in the ecology and protection of natural resources of the Russian Federation, problems of disabled people, veterans and combatants, and the poor.
The main direction of Valuev’s activity as a deputy is the popularization of a healthy lifestyle. He has already done a lot in this direction, and even more events are only in the plans. But Nikolai is confident that he will realize all his plans, of course, not without the help and support of his voters.
