The childhood of Maxim Trankov
Maxim found himself at the skating rink for the first time at the age of four.
His parents brought him there at the suggestion of his older brother Alexei, who learned from the newspapers that they were recruiting for the group. Despite the fact that Maxim did not have much zeal for training, his parents still insisted, dreaming of a sports career for their son, since they themselves were former athletes. The boy, continuing to ride, dreamed of quitting the sport until he was eight years old. He was a restless child, and it was not easy for his parents to force him to study. Maxim tried by hook or by crook to sneak out of training. In the end, his dream came true, and he spent a whole year without classes.
Figure skater Maxim Trankov started playing sports at the age of 4
The boy’s former coach Dolmachev soon called his parents with a proposal to return their son to the ice with new coaches Valery and Valentina Tyukov. And Maxim was again taken to classes, where he studied without a partner for almost two years, despite the fact that it was a pair skating group. His date was Alesya Korchagina. With her, the young skater received his first adult rank. The boy was already eleven years old then. Two years later he became a couple with Ksenia Vasilyeva. Together they managed to achieve seventh place at the junior championship. Two more years passed, and Irina Bogomolova became Trankov’s couple.
Maxim moved to St. Petersburg after receiving an invitation from Lyudmila Smirnova, where Irina Ulanova was his partner for three years. Their overall achievement was fifth position at the junior championship.
2002 was the year of transition to the Velikovs and the beginning of work with Natalya Shestakova, then with Maria Mukhortova. Three years later, the boys became world champions among juniors.
Maxim Trankov almost became an American figure skater at one time
Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov returned Russia's championship in pairs figure skating. They became two-time Olympic champions, winning both the team and individual competitions, and at the same time setting a new world record for the number of points scored. The victory of this pair played an important role in the overall result of the Russian team. It's scary to think, but all this might not have happened. At one time, Maxim Trankov almost left for America. And if he had not shown his famous integrity, it is likely that at the Sochi Olympics fans would have seen the athlete performing under the Stars and Stripes. This story was told to Our Version by the champion’s elder brother Alexey Trankov.
As you know, the main problem for figure skaters performing in pairs skating is finding a suitable partner. If you are lucky enough to make the right choice, luck and hard work will lead to medals. Again, the loss of an experienced partner often threatens the end of a sports career for the left alone member of the duet.
Such turns also happened in the life of Maxim Trankov. In the late 90s, his partner Ksenia Vasilyeva went to St. Petersburg to try out with another coach. As a result, Trankov was left without a partner. However, Maxim soon received an offer from the Northern capital from the famous figure skater couple Lyudmila Smirnova and Alexei Ulanov - to skate with their daughter Irina. But there were no significant results: in three years the couple could only achieve fifth place at the national junior championship. And I wanted more.
Quarrels began, and as a result Maxim ended up on the street, literally, without skates. At that time, manufacturers did not give skaters as gifts, as often happens now, and they could not afford their own.
And then Trankov’s former coaches opened up new opportunities for him. They said that their former student lives in America, where figure skating is just experiencing the peak of popularity. He expressed his readiness not only to train Maxim, but also to bear all the expenses. The only condition is to take American citizenship and compete for the United States.
What Russia experienced at the beginning of the 2000s is hardly worth recalling. The economic crisis had just happened, a salary of 200 dollars seemed like a countless treasure, but the prospects remained vague. The skater’s parents, Soviet athletes, hesitated: no matter how much they loved their Motherland, they still loved their children more. The objective reality was clear: we had to go. Maxim was trying to find out if the American partner chosen for him would agree to skate for Russia? It turned out there was nothing to think about it. Dad is a US Army officer, Uncle Sam in the flesh, and starts every day by raising the flag. “Russia? Know and know again!”
Nevertheless, those around him still convinced Maxim to go overseas. The athlete went to the American embassy. Soon the phone rang at the Trankovs’ house. “Dad,” the skater said into the phone to his father, “I don’t need America. I'm staying in Russia. I’ll succeed, we’ll make it through.”
By now, all figure skating fans have heard about Trankov’s harsh and uncompromising character. This is how he showed up at the decisive moment.
My father had mixed feelings: on the one hand, it seemed like everyone was already tuned in to American stability. On the other hand, I was filled with a feeling of pride for my son. But he didn’t even try to convince Maxim - he knew it was useless.
And then Maxim Trankov ended up in a group with coaches Lyudmila and Nikolai Velikov, won all the world gold at the end of his junior career and entered the cruel world of adult skating. But that's a completely different story.
Olympic sandwich
The Olympics are in full swing, and like the appetite that comes with eating, more and more people want to go to the Games. Even those who previously had no plans to attend the Olympics are now hastily trying to get a fan passport.
On this topic
2844
The Robert Koch Institute did not rule out the possibility of three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic
The head of the institute said back in March that “the pandemic is developing in waves.” Epidemiologists in many countries around the world are warning of the beginning of a second wave of the pandemic.
True, if you haven’t done this in advance, you’ll have to worry and wait in queues to get the coveted fan passport or ticket to this or that competition.
“In the first days of the Olympics, the queues at the Center were even longer,” says Oleg Inin. “Because there they immediately issued passports, sold tickets, and issued those previously purchased via the Internet.”
Regarding other things, the guests of Sochi are unanimous: everything is organized at the highest level. Transport is free, runs like clockwork, and even the police smile at passers-by - where else can you see this? Yes, there are security checkpoints everywhere. But the control is carried out quickly, correctly and therefore does not bother you.
Those who bought tickets to the competitions taking place in the mountain cluster will have even more impressions. A beautiful embankment paved with paving stones, hotels built in the same style on both sides of the Mzymta River, and snow-capped peaks around.
“It feels like someone gave all the people who came here a long holiday weekend,” Olga Shchegolkova shares her impressions and admits: “I liked everything. But there were little things that the organizers should have thought through in advance.”
At competitions that are held outdoors in the mountains, it is very cold and during breaks you want to drink hot tea and eat a sandwich. As a result, as soon as a time-out is announced, huge queues form at the food stalls.
“It seems like there are a lot of them, but when all the fans rush towards them, it turns out to be not enough,” says the girl.
Well, the prices, as is customary in Sochi, are not encouraging. A paper glass of tea - from 100 rubles, the simplest sandwich - from 200 rubles. At such “Olympic” prices you won’t get much to eat. And the cuisine in the mountains is no different.
PS
When the issue was being typed up, it became known that the problem of long lines for tickets to the Olympic Games had been successfully resolved. According to Alexandra Kosterina, vice-president of the Sochi 2014 organizing committee, additional ticket offices have been opened in Adler on the territory of train stations and near sports facilities, she explained.
The beginning of the career of Maxim Trankov
Maxim and Maria found it difficult to find a common language, and there were conflicts.
The coaches changed, they worked with both Moskvina and Dmitriev. The transition of the couple to the “adult” category turned out to be quite difficult. In 2006, they stopped skating together for several months. Having started working in pairs again, the guys changed coaches again. Now it is Oleg Vasiliev. Already in 2007 they emerged victorious at the Russian Championship. But they had to miss the European Championships of the same year, since Maria’s injury did not give the opportunity to train and compete, but they still went to the World Championships, where they ended up only in eleventh position.
Maxim Trankov and Tatyana Volosozhar on and off the ice. The 2007\2008 season gave the guys silver at the Russian Championship, where the winners were the Kawaguchi-Smirnov couple. Maxim and Maria still managed to beat them, although a little later, speaking at the European Championship. The World Championship was not very successful for the couple, where they ended up only in seventh position.
The achievement of the 2008\2009 season was that the couple was selected as participants for the Grand Prix Final. Unfortunately, they ended up only in sixth position, due to the fact that Maxim, like many judges and athletes, was seriously poisoned. Immediately after the performance, he ended up in the hospital. At the Russian Championships taking place two weeks later, the couple took second place, although they were the leaders. The reason was the skater’s failure to complete two jumping elements: recent stress had an effect. But Trankov was able to cope with this and take 3rd and 5th places at the European and World Championships, respectively.
Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov. World Cup 2013. The 2010 Olympic Games brought the guys only seventh place, and the post-Olympic championship, where the young skater fell while performing the program due to a mistake, left them in fourth position.
Blonde and rapper. Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov
Blonde Masha has a tough character.
Nevertheless, Maxim gets along with her. The St. Petersburg pair of figure skaters Mukhortova - Trankov is now on the crest of success. This year they took silver at the European Championships, last year they took gold at the Russian Championships. They are complete opposites. But despite this, one whole. When at the World Championships Maxim became ill due to a hand injury and the couple had to interrupt the free program, Masha supported him greatly. And she wasn’t upset that she didn’t receive the award. The 2010 Olympics are ahead. The guys believe that they will catch up. COSMO Masha, when did you decide that you wanted to ride as a couple? MASHA
I've liked couples since childhood.
I watched the competition on TV and said: “Dad, I want to skate in pairs!” “Mash, look how hard it is,” he objected, “everything needs to be done the same way...” And I told him: “Easy, I want to try!” I was living in Lipetsk at the time, and the boy, Yegor Golovkin, was found with coach Natalya Pavlova in St. Petersburg. I arrived with practically no belongings, they looked at me, and... I immediately stayed. It turned out that riding in pairs is really not easy. And the choreography is tough. They say to me: “Adagio!”, I don’t know any of this, I don’t understand, I’m confused... It was terribly awkward, and more than once the thought arose that I had to leave. And my mother is not nearby, nor my home, nor my friends. My arms and legs hurt, my nose was bleeding from overexertion. But I persevered, and Natalya Pavlova put everything she could into me. She believed in me, although she took “nothing”. COSMO How did you relieve stress? MASHA
called home, but did not complain.
This is the kind of person who is embarrassed to cry in front of his parents. I still worry about everything within myself: if there are problems, I don’t voice them out loud, otherwise my mother will be upset. It’s better to sit down, rethink and go to training the next day with new ideas. And all the difficulties experienced were not in vain. I realized this when my first success came. I was already skating with Pasha Lebedev, we began to go to competitions in other countries, win places, earn money. COSMO What do you usually spend your prize money on? MASHA
I'm a spender.
I don't know how to save money. Everyone scolds me that this is impossible. My things no longer fit in my closet. For me, shopping is a little joy; it lifts my spirits. Something didn’t work out on the ice, I thought: I’ll go to the store and look at the beautiful things. Then I'll buy it. And after a while I lose interest in them, put them on once or twice and that’s it. COSMO You have a collection of angels. How did she appear? MASHA
Now they give me angels, but before I bought them myself.
Not only figurines, but also keychains, badges, lanyards for phones with the inscription “Angel”. The story is this: when I had been skating with Pasha for the last year, we went to the Junior World Championships. After the competition we were hanging out together, in a big group, and he suddenly said: “My partner is an angel!” I, a small girl, loved this recognition. And when I was already skating with Maxim, his dad brought me as a gift several figurines of angels with wings, they resemble fairies. The collection began with them. COSMO Maxim, how do you cope with Masha’s irrepressible character? MAXIM
For some time I tried to fight this and adjust Masha to myself.
But I realized it was useless. Now I give in if reasonable arguments do not work on her. Why conflict? More valuable to yourself. MASHA
When I'm nervous, I don't hear anything.
What the coach tells me is that Maxim. I start to panic: “I can’t do it... I’ve forgotten how to do it, I can’t do anything...” MAXIM
Even if we have a serious fight, which rarely happens, I’m the first to come up.
And I say: sorry, I lost my temper. COSMO Did you immediately realize that you were a couple? MAXIM
I really wanted to ride with Masha.
She is my sixth partner. When I arrived from Perm to St. Petersburg, I skated with Irina Ulanova, the daughter of Olympic champion Alexei Ulanov. We were friends and were like brother and sister. Three years. But Irina was a little tall for me. And we eventually broke up. There were other attempts to find a mate. When I saw Masha, I was amazed: she was doing a complex leg-turn jump, beautiful throws. Masha was small, thin, just the kind of partner I like. When I ended up at Velikov’s, I decided to take a risk and invite Masha to ride together. MASHA
At that time, Pasha and I went to the Grand Prix, took places, and I thought: is it worth starting all over again?
Maxim then only entered Russian competitions. And for me it was a risky step. COSMO What finally convinced you? MASHA
First of all, we’ve already been riding next to Maxim for a year.
I knew what he was capable of. Secondly, when I broke up with Pasha, I got sick and didn’t go to training for some time. And I even thought about quitting the sport altogether. Maxim called me and said: “I heard you have problems. Me too. Let's try". MAXIM
We slipped for quite a long time, but the next year we won the junior world championship.
MASHA
And, of course, the victory inspired: “We can do anything!”
Who are your main competitors on the international stage? MASHA
Actually, Germans and, of course, Chinese couples.
MAXIM
We don’t always manage to fight with them, but with the rest of the skaters we are approximately on the same level.
COSMO Maxim, is it true that you are into hip-hop? MAXIM
I used to write songs myself.
And I tried to participate in the group. I love hip-hop culture and everything connected with it. I painted graffiti myself and dressed in hip-hop style. MASHA
When Maxim is in the mood, he begins to compose texts on the go and read them to me.
MAXIM
I love Russian rap, the groups “Center”, “Krovostok”.
We had a problem before. We're driving in the car, he wants to listen to one kind of music, I want to listen to another... MAXIM
I don't like pop music.
MASHA
But Maxim re-educated me a little: I liked one song.
And at first she shouted: “Turn it off, I have a headache!” In response, Maxim analyzed the lyrics of pop groups and laughed: “Listen to what they are singing about! Well, there’s no point in that.” And once I listened carefully to “Tattoo” - “I am a monkey, you are a monkey...” And I laughed. Indeed, no! MAXIM
I also sometimes listen to what Masha likes.
But the lyrics are important to me, and the beautiful melody is important to her. COSMO Did you teach Masha how to use the computer that you are fluent in? MAXIM
I'm not that much of a computer genius.
I just like to communicate on the Internet, I have my own blog. Masha bought a small laptop this year. MASHA
And she pestered him all the time: “Help me which button to press... I’m a blonde!”
MAXIM
Masha also bought a camera.
And at first I photographed everything: the sky, the sun. And Maxim. He loves to be photographed. I constantly capture it from different angles. This way and that... COSMO Is friendship between a man and a woman real? MAXIM
In sports - yes.
When you work together, the concepts of “man” and “woman” are erased. On the street I can praise her for something, say: “Oh, what cool jeans you have!” But on the ice we are first and foremost partners. There Masha is a piece of me. MASHA
We have no embarrassment; in an unexpected situation, we can change clothes together.
And we won't blush. COSMO Maxim, when you had an injury, who was more worried: you or Masha? MAXIM
Not that he was worried.
I was ready for this. It’s a shame that because of this injury the arm was taken away and it was not possible to provide proper support. But for a long time the doctors could not find something to treat me for. And we still had to go to the championship. MASHA
And those people who accused us of stopping at the free program because we couldn’t cope are talking nonsense.
We stopped because Maxim couldn't do it anymore. MAXIM
And the decision to stop at the World Championships, believe me, is not easy.
When a million people and your whole family are looking at you. But I brought my partner to the end of the program. MASHA
I didn’t worry when I had problems with my leg.
And when there was an unsuccessful ejection. Because I knew: Maxim would pick it up. He will pull himself together, he will give his last strength. It is very important. COSMO What's the longest time you've been separated? Do you miss each other? MAXIM
For a month.
But we still call each other. Sometimes I want to go out into nature and go for a ride, so I invite Masha with me. But in general I’m the type that rarely miss anyone. My girlfriend is even offended by this. She went to work in Mexico for a year, and I only started to really miss her after nine or ten months. By the way, now she is away again, and I live with her parents. And the fact that I am so cold is explained by the fact that I left home at the age of 15. I lived in St. Petersburg for a year without my mom and dad, completely alone. At first I was homesick for my hometown of Perm, for the atmosphere, for my family. And then he got sick and broke away. MASHA
I am also very independent.
But Maxim, when we are close, helps me all the time. For some reason he thinks that I can’t do anything. After all, he knows me only from the ice, he sees me at training camps, but he has little idea what I am like in real life. And I use it. Almost like: “Maxim!” There are couples who went for a ride and then went their separate ways. I can not do that. I need friendship, attention. MAXIM
And in life I am more of a loner.
That is, I don’t really like to communicate a lot. I make an exception for Masha. COSMO Maxim has a girlfriend. Have you found your soul mate? MASHA
Not yet, because I'm not a loving person.
There are suitors, gentlemen. But sometimes there is simply no time to respond to advances. COSMO Which older fellow skaters do you actively communicate with? MAXIM
We were friends with Petrova and Tikhonov.
We skated with the same coach, and they helped us a lot. Of course, when we left Velikov for another coach, we moved away a little. The guys started touring the show. And now Masha and I are the “senior comrades”. MASHA
When I started, I didn’t think that children would ever look at me.
Yes, we trained, we tried, and now Maxim and I are “seniors”, and there is more responsibility. COSMO Don't want publicity? Do you deliberately not participate in TV projects? MAXIM
We had an invitation from “Russia” to the first ice show.
But we couldn't. We had to fly to Moscow often, and we trained... But I want to go on television. I personally love performing and, perhaps, in the future I will connect my life with journalism or become a commentator. But at the same time, publicity is a big burden. MASH
TV project is great.
But for now the main thing is the victory we are heading towards. The Vancouver Olympics are just around the corner. And it is much more important for us. We would like to thank the Bosco Family boutique and the Angleterre Hotel for their assistance in conducting the shooting.
Maxim Trankov today
These failures led to the fact that Trankov began to seriously think about quitting the sport and stopping skating.
He was choosing between the option of leaving and the option of changing his coach and partner. In the end, the decision was made, and the couple, on Maxim’s initiative, broke up, and he also changed the coach. Trankov explained such changes by a misunderstanding with his partner and the coach’s biased attitude towards himself. His new couple was Tatyana Volosozhar, just at that time she was also without a partner, and his new coach was Nina Moser, as well as Nikolai and Stanislav Morozov.
Skating together turned out to be successful. In November 2013, the guys took first place in Tokyo at the Grand Prix.
Personal life of Maxim Trankov
Parents played a significant role in their son’s career.
It was they who insisted on serious sports and Maxim’s sports career. At the end of 2012, Trankov bought a house for his father and mother in the Moscow region, where they moved from Perm to be closer to their son. Unfortunately, on the day Maxim departed for the European Championship (January 2013), his father died of a heart attack.
What it cost Trankov and his partner to win, only he knows. After the championship, Maxim immediately went to Perm for his father’s funeral.
Maxim immediately developed excellent friendly relations with Tatyana Volosozhar. There wasn't even a grinding-in period.
Figure skaters Maxim Trankov and Tatyana Volosozhar
Athletes manage to understand each other, which is reflected in well-coordinated teamwork. Tatyana and Maxim created a joint blog in which they share their hopes, experiences and impressions of the competition, answer questions and simply talk about themselves.
Recently, Maxim celebrated his thirtieth birthday, in addition to congratulations from friends and relatives, he received a lot of recognition and wishes from his fans, who admired the wonderful sports couple and wished them only victories.
