Interview of the week.
Daria Dmitrieva is a gymnast, silver medalist at London 2012, she is 24 years old. In August 2015, after finishing her career, Dmitrieva married hockey player Alexander Radulov. Three months later their son Makar was born.
Last year, Dmitrieva and Radulov divorced. In an interview with Sports.ru, Daria talks about London silver, Viner and Usmanov, new life - and, of course, about Radulov.
Sport
– I was in second grade when coach Olga Buyanova came to our school. From this school she had Oksana Kostina, a seven-time world champion. Unfortunately, she died in a car accident. Many years later, Buyanova came to this school again. As a result, they recruited a group of one hundred people from different schools. A week later, Buyanova left two children. So I started doing gymnastics.
– Why did you decide to take this seriously?
– I started to have success, I started to get excited. You start communicating with other girls, you like everything, you get used to it. All children get used to each other, to training, medals, competitions, swimsuits. And when you take prizes, you can no longer imagine life without it.
– Did you have tough parents? In terms of sports.
- Certainly. I think this is normal. At some point you always get tired from emotional and physical stress. Sometimes you just wake up and think: “That’s it, I want to quit sports and never go to the gym again.” And at this moment it is important that parents, seeing the result, put pressure. Let it be in a rude form, but it is necessary to explain, to force. This is how fortitude and sportsmanship are trained.
– Remember the moment when your parents put pressure?
– The first time was when I was 14 years old, I was already the European champion. I arrived in Irkutsk and, probably, star fever began. I felt like I was spending too much time in the gym. I wanted one workout a day, not two or three. I didn’t understand why I should train so much if everything was going well anyway. I started waking up and saying: “I won’t go, I don’t want to.” Then my mother forced me, the coaches talked to me.
-Did you cry often?
- Almost every day. This is not a club for fun. The older you get, the greater the load. At some point, the emotional background also drops. Almost every day with tears and overcoming. Every day the coach explained to me why I was doing this, why I had to step on my own throat and move on.
– You grew up in Irkutsk – it was probably dark and dirty training halls?
- Certainly. We all trained under the same conditions. Maybe it is thanks to such conditions that children achieve success, because you come to other cities and countries and see how other children train, you want to be better. You understand: you will push yourself and will also train at the base in Novogorsk, where the carpets are better, the light is better. It’s even good when you rise from a low level to a high one.
– Are carpets and light really important?
– I think it’s like an iPhone and Nokia. Of course, it’s more comfortable and has more options with an iPhone than with a Nokia, which, roughly speaking, has no screen. So is the carpet. There is a carpet where you cannot twist and jump. But a professional carpet costs a lot of money, about a million, not every city can afford it.
– Are there many injuries in rhythmic gymnastics?
- Of course, our sport is dangerous. Even stretching is unusual for humans; we are going against our nature. We have all the elements due to flexibility and stretching. Every day we come, do the splits, bend our backs, to the point of impossibility, to the maximum. Almost all gymnasts have back problems and protrusion. There is some specific substance between the vertebrae. Due to the fact that we constantly bend, it wears off - protrusions begin, which develop into hernias. The same with the hip joint due to stretching and constant splits. Previously, gymnasts did all the elements on one leg, because of this, everyone’s backs went flying, everyone developed scoliosis on one side. And now in gymnastics they have done elements on the other leg.
Gymnastics is evolving all the time, there is no limit to the elements, the higher the legs, the better. Then the problems begin. But this is true in any sport – professional sport cripples.
– Do you have any untreated injuries?
– Only chronic ones. I constantly have back pain, I can’t sit in one position for a long time, my joints don’t allow me to. I need to tone my muscles every day, otherwise my joints will completely fly. It is necessary to have a corset of muscles that would support the spine.
– You talked about an injury when a piece of bone was torn from your joint along with a ligament. Because of her, you ended your career.
- It was a broken leg. It was after the Olympics, I had demonstration performances, in my opinion, in France. There was an unprofessional carpet for rhythmic gymnastics. The platform was for athletes, so during the jump I didn’t calculate the flight phase and landed with my foot right on the floor.
Biography Daria Radulova
Daria Radulova biography - briefly about the main thing:
- Born on June 22, 1993 in the city of Irkutsk.
- She began developing her career as a gymnast since childhood.
- Daria went to all kinds of competitions, won and lost, but never gave up and moved forward towards her goal!
- In 2009, she won 3 gold medals at the Russian Championship.
- In 2013, she received a silver medal at the London Olympics.
- At the end of 2013 she ended her sports career.
The biography of Daria Radulova is the story of a unique girl who achieved everything on her own, having worked hard at one time, she once again confirms the fact that nothing is impossible!
Olympics
– Is it true that the gymnasts of the Russian national team broke the scales after the Olympics?
– Thank God, I didn’t participate in this, it was mostly girls in a group. Before the Olympics I was strict with the weight, because there had to be discipline. This is correct, but we were kept within very strict limits. It was impossible to gain weight even by 100 grams. And when the Olympics ended, we realized that we no longer had to weigh ourselves ten times a day. I didn’t personally participate in this, but the girls, yes, broke the scales.
Posted by DARIA RADULOVA (@busia_22) Dec 2, 2020 at 10:37 PST
– Tell us about the gymnast’s diet.
– We have such training that we lost two kilograms in one training session.
- So you could eat anything?
- No, just vegetables, everything steamed, nothing fatty.
– Is it true that your mobile phones were taken away? For what?
– So that we don’t get distracted, so that we don’t read all sorts of nonsense, so that we get enough sleep, so that we don’t text. Irina Alexandrovna tried to achieve clear discipline. Like in the barracks - wake up, hang up. To have a clear goal towards which we were moving.
– Irina Viner is a tough person 24 hours a day or did she give concessions?
– She is a very competent trainer and psychologist. At the Olympics, I gained 200 grams two days before the competition. She cracked me. She literally beat me for gaining 200 grams. For us it was not that normal... But at least she always warns: if you break something, it will be a disaster.
It was a stick, but after the Olympics there was also a carrot. Everyone knows her husband, Alisher Usmanov. She gave us a gift - she sent us all to Sardinia. We flew on the best Boeings, with practically golden toilets, we went on yachts, she was on one, the girls and I were on another. She specifically did this to make us feel comfortable; before, with a coach, we sat in line, but now she is separate. They also gave us ten thousand dollars each, each of us bought everything we wanted.
– Who did you communicate with on that trip?
– With Irina Alexandrovna, with Alisher Usmanov. There was a day when he flew to us by helicopter. He spoke instructions and congratulated us personally.
– Can you remember what exactly he said?
– I can’t, this is classified information.
Mistress saved
It is worth noting that before meeting the gymnast, Radulov experienced a stormy romance with TV presenter Lera Kudryavtseva . The young blonde lady was then 40 years old - fourteen more than Alexander. Radulov was playing for Salavat Yulaev at that time, and Lera flew to him in Ufa at every opportunity. Their relationship lasted for more than a year. But when Kudryavtseva realized that the matter would not reach the registry office, she switched to another hockey player - Igor Makarov . Even younger than Radulov. On June 8, 2013, Valeria Lvovna became the athlete’s legal wife.
Lera KUDRYAVTSEVA played tricks with RADULOV, but married MAKAROV (pictured) Photo: Instagram.com
It is curious that when another crisis emerged in the relationship between Radulov and Dmitrieva, it was Kudryavtseva who had a hand in their reconciliation. The hockey player’s former passion was also present at Sasha’s wedding along with Makarov.
According to Dmitrieva, Radulov proposed marriage to her three times. The gymnast said “no” twice, doubting that they could get along together. She agreed when her lover invited her to the Emirates and arranged a romantic weekend for Dasha in Dubai.
Job
– How did your wedding agency appear?
– This idea came to me with my partner, Victoria Koroleva. It is not only wedding, we work with other events - birthdays, anniversaries, children's parties. Basically, of course, we have large projects. This idea came to me just when Alexander and I were arguing. I called Vika, she did our wedding, and then we came up with ideas together. I say: “Vika, find me a job.” She: “Dasha, let’s open our own agency.” Me: “Come on.” Now we all sit and work.
– What is your position in the agency?
– Since I am a well-known public person, I do more PR. I try to promote the agency everywhere, talk about it everywhere, and gain clientele. I am surrounded by many athletes, gymnasts, public and media people. I try to do everything so that they contact me if they need to do some kind of event.
– How many full-time employees does the agency have?
- Four people. But there are a lot of contractors.
– How many weddings have you held? On the agency’s website it is written only about yours, on Instagram there is also one.
– (Victoria answers – approx. Sports.ru) We are just developing, we are not half a year old, since the opening of the agency there have been about five or six weddings and corporate events. The site is under development, a lot still needs to be done to fill it, materials will appear within a month. And there were several events where people did not want such materials to appear.
– Which of the weddings organized by your agency do you remember most?
- My. It seems to me that Vika can tell you about this in more detail; she worked. I had a lawsuit, a divorce, and, unfortunately, I wasn’t quite up to it.
– What is the most difficult thing in this business?
- There is nothing complicated. If this is your favorite job, what difficulties might there be? The only pity is that we don’t have much clientele yet. But this is normal, we have just opened, not even six months have passed, but I still want everything to be faster. I would, of course, like to make the wedding known to personalities.
It seems to me that we now have a crisis in the country. There is no money, no one wants to spend it, if they are planning a wedding, they try to do it as budget as possible.
– How much does it cost to organize a wedding in your agency?
– The wedding itself costs from 500 thousand to infinity, we take 5-10 percent.
– You conduct master classes in gymnastics. How does it work?
– A school is going to be held in any city in Russia or abroad, they write to me by email that they want to hold a master class or training camp. I started traveling so actively around last year, when the divorce started and I needed a job. For about a year I built a schedule of cities where I was invited, next year they basically automatically invite you again. There are one or two collections per month.
- How much does it cost?
– The fees last for several days, cost from 12 to 15 thousand rubles per child, at least 20 children, the amount varies. A master class is 1-2 days with an unlimited number of children, costs 100 thousand rubles. This is my personal fee.
– Tell us about your work in law.
– I joined there quite recently, it happened due to my specific family circumstances. I am the head of the public relations and media department. We have representative offices in Baku, Prague, Los Angeles, New York, London, Osaka, and we plan to open branches in Turkey and Iran in 2018. The company provides legal assistance in civil cases, arbitration cases, criminal cases, consumer protection and family matters. I think this is the most important thing, since it was Elman who handled my divorce.
– So he was involved in your divorce, and then invited you to work?
– Nobody invited me, I did it myself. I came to Elman and said: “I want to work, I want to try myself in a new field, study legal sciences, I need it.” He said: “Dasha, of course, I’m sorry, you’re great, but you have to go through a certain stage. I have to look, at least see your desire, your zeal.” I had to re-read a lot of literature and learn some laws. Honestly, it is very difficult to be in this field. But I need to be in it and I began to really like it. We discuss family matters, divorces, murders. It is very interesting.
Watching the work of international legal professionals, I was inspired for personal development. I realized how important it is to combine the role of the keeper of the family hearth and self-realization in the profession. Then I opened my wedding agency @radulova_wedding and put all my energy into its development. Now the agency’s work has been put on stream; it no longer requires such a huge commitment. Free energy appeared, which I wanted to direct into new activities. I told Elman about my desire and asked to give me a chance to work on his team in a completely new direction for me - working with the media and the public. Elman agreed with one condition - I had to successfully complete the probationary period, like any employee of the company. Every day I was given a task for which I had to find a solution. I spent the first day at a loss, I lost faith in myself. The level of knowledge and skills required seemed unattainable to me. I walked home and emotions fought inside me - fear that I wouldn’t succeed and shame for my weakness. I didn’t sleep all night - I read, consulted with specialists. I firmly decided that I could master everything I needed! The next day I went to work with confidence in my abilities. After weeks of painstaking work that deprived me of sleep, my candidacy was approved. I officially headed the department and took patronage over the employees. Very soon you will be able to personally evaluate the results of our work! #myworld #mylife #welcome to my world #new life #new love #new
