Alexander Tikhonov: biography of the biathlon star

Alexander Tikhonov is the pride of world and national sports, the biathlon star, the winner of four Olympics, an outstanding champion who managed to successfully realize himself in sport and business.

The beginning of sports career

The diagnosis of "congenital heart disease" did not become an obstacle for Alexander in his sports career. Skiing in the life of the future Olympic champion was present from the very childhood. In addition, the example was submitted by four parents: mother Nina Evlampievna, who worked as an accountant, and father Ivan Grigorievich, who taught physical education at school. Repeatedly participating in regional competitions held among teachers, he became a winner.

Alexander, a native of the village of Uyskoe (Chelyabinsk Region), was born on January 2, 1947. At the sixth year of his life, he accidentally fell into a cauldron with boiling water, while receiving severe burns. The year spent in the hospital may have tempered the character of the future athlete. Studying in the fifth grade, he won district competitions in skiing.

Further on his life path was studying at the Chelyabinsk School, then working as a mason in a refractory masonry at a metallurgical plant. And during this period Tikhonov remained faithful to skiing, regularly training in a nearby park after the end of the day. Next, a promising young man enrolled in a sports school, where he was engaged in parallel skating and cycling. Service in the Soviet Army led to a forced break in the beginning of the career of Tikhonov, who returned to the sport with new zeal.

Alexander Tikhonov: biathlon for life

In 1966 Alexander Tikhonov won junior ski competitions of union scale at a distance of 10 and 15 kilometers. Relay champion was already part of the adult team of the USSR. This year was a fateful year for Tikhonov. He suffered a leg injury, which gave a successful start to his career as a biathlete.

To restore health, Alexander was sent to the Estonian town of Otepaa, where at that time biathletes settled. The guy on crutches, watching with interest their training, said Alexander Privalov - the coach of the national team - and suggested for a variety of practice shooting. Defeat the goal without a miss and speed - the talents Tikhonov possessed in order to try himself in a new sport. We can say that he was lucky: just at once Alexander was in the main part of the team, where for the relay urgently needed fast racers.

Tikhonov - biathlete of world level

The first Olympic Games for Tikhonov took place in 1968. Starting first, Alexander earned a silver medal, making two slips and giving the Norwegian to Magnar Solberg 5 seconds. The main start for the biathlete was the relay race, in which he ran the first stage. Seeing the Swede ahead of him, Alexander could not allow him to be ahead of the Russian. Gathering his will into a fist, Tikhonov won about 40 seconds for the remaining two kilometers. As a result, the USSR national team became the leader in this race, and the chest of the Soviet athlete was decorated with the first gold medal of the Olympic Games. The next 4 gold medals were added a little later, all for the victory in the relay races.

There was a case that showed the unity of athletes and the desire for victory at any cost. It was in Sapporo (Japan). Tikhonov Alexander Ivanovich at the Olympics confidently overcame his first stage and greatly bypassed rivals when the unforeseen happened: the ski crumbled to smithereens. The biathlete had to travel almost one kilometer on one ski. Dieter Speer (the GDR team) came to the rescue: seeing the hobbling Soviet athlete, the German gave him his own ski. True, she did not fit Tikhonov much, but it was quite possible to run in it. As a result, Alexander managed to rehabilitate himself and handed the baton to the ninth in a row. His courage and perseverance spurred the partners who brought the USSR team to the first place and won the title of the Olympic champions. Tikhonov was the first in the history of biathlon to be awarded the World Cup, established in 1977.

Life after sport

Tikhonov Alexander Ivanovich completed his sports career at the age of 33, unable to withstand competition with a promising younger generation. Coaching work, in which he tried to realize himself, did not ask, so the interest of the Olympic champion switched to business.

In the 80 years, Alexander Tikhonov with a group of former athletes formed a Soviet-Austrian enterprise engaged in adventure tourism. Enough of several tours in order to understand that this direction of business for him was unprofitable. Then the former sportsman began to sell Japanese cars. Near his salon there was an Italian company engaged in the sale of bakery equipment. Tikhonov worked there on commission, and put the percentage he took as a second-hand bakery. This was the starting point for the creation in Moscow of a successful network of firms under the brand name "Tikhonov and K", engaged in the sale of bakery products in their own shops and outlets. Later such business grew into a company for the production of cereals in the Rostov region, and then - fish and meat products.

Dark spot in biography

Establishing the food business, Alexander Tikhonov decided to create an equestrian club under his own name. The start for making such a decision was a horse given to an athlete in 1994. At 47, Alexander began to learn how to ride. The habit of not regretting himself gradually turned riding lessons into training, which led to his full participation in competitions. For some time in the Federation of Equestrian Sport of Russia Tikhonov served as vice-president.

In 1996, Tikhonov returned to biathlon as president of the Russian Biathlon Union, where he stayed until 2008. A significant part of this time, the former sportsman was forced to spend abroad, hiding from criminal prosecution (suspicion of an attempt on the life of Aman Tuleyev - governor of the Kemerovo region). In 2007, Alexander Tikhonov was found guilty, sentenced to 3 years in prison and released right in the courtroom (due to the amnesty announced in honor of the 55th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War). The athlete himself did not plead guilty, and Aman Tuleyev several times refused to complain to Tikhonov through the news agencies.

As for his personal life, Tikhonov is married for the fourth time, has 3 children. Lives and works in Moscow.