Gymnast Maria Filatova: biography, personal life and interesting facts

The Soviet school of gymnastics was rightfully considered one of the strongest in the world. Particular attention was attracted to women-representatives of this elegant sport. Olga Korbut, Elena Mukhina, Olga Bicherova, Natalia Shaposhnikova - this list can be continued indefinitely. A distinctive feature of these representatives of gymnastics was their miniature, which, however, did not prevent them from showing their fearlessness and courage during performances on various sports equipment.

In the same row with these celebrities is Maria Filatova - a famous Soviet gymnast, a woman with a very difficult fate.

Childhood

A small Siberian town Leninsk-Kuznetsk was founded in the early twentieth century. The main wealth of this city is coal, and all the working activity in it was somehow associated with its prey. So the Filatovs were a real miner's family. In her July 19, 1961, a girl appeared Maria, the future star of gymnastics in the Soviet Union.

For the first time about this sport five-year-old Masha heard in the yard, from her girlfriend. To convince parents to give her to the gymnastics section it was not difficult, the benefit of the Central Palace of Culture, where the training was held, was within walking distance from the Filatov House. And the first competitions on the bridge and splits Masha won.

In the future, the group of initial training, where it originally fell, was divided, and Filatova was in the group of Tatyana Ivanovna Ivanova, who became the first coach of the future champion.

First successes

After classes with Tatyana Ivanova, Maria Filatova becomes a member of the couple Mametiev, Innokenty and Galina. They played a huge role in the formation of the young Mary. It was under their leadership that she, speaking at domestic competitions, managed to get into the youth national team of the Soviet Union. For that moment Masha was only thirteen years old.

Two years later, in 1976, Maria made her debut in the adult national championship in gymnastics. The debut turned out to be successful, and the fifteen-year-old girl took fourth place in the absolute all-around competition, which, with the competition that prevailed at that time in women's gymnastics, was an excellent result.

Debut Olympic Games

In the same 1976, the Soviet national team was preparing for the main sporting event of the four-year period - the Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. In the original list of applicants for a trip to Canada, Mary did not get. But during the last training camp the girl managed to prove to the coaching staff of the Soviet national team that she deserves a place in the main team of the country.

As time showed, the coaches did not make the wrong choice. The Soviet team, having such gymnastics stars as Nelli Kim, Olga Korbut, Lyudmila Turishcheva, managed to outstrip the Romanian national team in a difficult struggle and win Olympic gold. A big contribution to the overall victory of the national team was made by the fifteen-year-old Filatova Maria.

In personal appearances, it was difficult for Filatova to compete with experienced rivals, as a result she took the ninth place in all-round events.

Farewell to Leninsk-Kuznetsk

After a successful performance at the Montreal Olympics, Filatov, Maria firmly secured a place in the main part of the women's national team of the USSR in artistic gymnastics. Successful performances in the domestic arena alternated with successes at the world's biggest starts. So, in the active athletes were victories in the team championship at the World and European championships, gold in the absolute championship of the World Cup, repeated victories in the championships and the Cups of the Soviet Union. And all these years, alongside Maria, were her first mentors - Innokentiy and Galina Mametyeva.

The main sports event for our country was approaching - Olympiad-80 in Moscow. It was decided that Leninsk-Kuznetsk gymnastics school will be relocated to Moscow. But a series of incomprehensible bureaucratic decisions led to the fact that Maria Filatova had to leave for Belarus, to the city of Minsk.

Moscow Olympics

All these changes in life led to the fact that for the Olympic Games in 1980, Filatov was already preparing with another coach. The new coach of Mary was the famous Belarusian specialist Nikolai Miligulo, who gave the world of gymnastics Nelli Kim.

The tandem with the new coach brought Maria another Olympic gold, received in the team championship. Also these Olympic Games have brought her and a personal medal - Filatova Maria Evgenevna, whose achievements were quite substantial, became a bronze medalist in performances on bars.

Completion of sports career

But after the triumphant performance at the Moscow Olympics, the sports results of the talented gymnast went into decline. There were still occasional successes, like, for example, silver in the absolute championship at the World Cup in 1981. But she knew that the age of athletes in gymnastics is short enough. And after the USSR championship in 1982, where she took 9th place in the absolute championship, Maria decided to leave the big sport. At that time she turned 21 just.

Personal life

Already living in Minsk, Maria met with Alexander Kurbatov, also in the past a gymnast. After the end of his sports career, Alexander practiced acrobatics, worked as a circus acrobat.

In 1986, Maria and Alexander played a wedding. A year later, the newlyweds had a daughter, whom her parents called Sasha. Later, Alexandra followed in the footsteps of her parents and was actively engaged in gymnastics, quite successfully performed at the junior level. She won the state championship, at a time when the Kurbatov family lived in the US. However, in the future career of a professional athlete Alexandra did not work out, and she became a coach-choreographer.

Life after the end of sports career

In 1984 Filatova Maria, whose sports biography is considered in the article, graduated in absentia from Novokuznetsk Pedagogical Institute, specializing in "children's coach". For some time, Maria worked with her husband in the Minsk circus, and Maria performed with a solo program on the flip-flops.

After the maternity leave, Maria was invited, together with her family, to Northern Ireland to work on a contract with the national team of that country. In Northern Ireland, the Kurbatov family lived for 4 years, from 1992 to 1996. Then followed the invitation to the United States of America also for coaching. There, the Kurbatov family settled in the city of Rochester, in the state of New York. Here gymnast Filatova Maria together with her husband began to work as children's coaches, typing their own gymnastic groups.

Homecoming

Despite a fairly successful overseas life, Maria's main desire was to return to her native Leninsk-Kuznetsk. The problem arose where no one had expected.

While living in the United States on a green card, Filatova Maria had no right to obtain a Russian passport. All the time living in the US, she tried to obtain Russian citizenship. It was a vicious circle: Filatova was supposed to appear in Russia in order to obtain citizenship, but it was impossible to obtain a visa without Russian documents. Attempts to obtain Russian citizenship under a simplified scheme for special merits before the Motherland have not been crowned with success. Maria received a response from the migration service that her services to the Fatherland are not a weighty argument for obtaining Russian citizenship.

Despite the official refusal, Filatova Maria did not abandon her attempts even after returning to her homeland. She wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, where she brought her arguments, confirming the right to reside on the territory of Russia legally. In the struggle for Mary entered such famous people as the governor of the Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev, the Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Alexander Karelin and many other famous politicians and sports stars of our country. As a result, justice triumphed: March 24, 2015 from the hands of the governor of the Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev, Maria Filatova received a Russian passport. She was also awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the Kemerovo Region".

At present, Maria E. Filatova, whose biography was presented to your attention in the article, lives and works with her husband Alexander Kurbatov in his native Leninsk-Kuznetsk, in a sports school named after the first coach of Maria, Innokenty Ivanovich Mametyev. And there is no doubt that it will not take much time, and we will see the pupils of this couple at the major competitions in gymnastics.