Voronin Mikhail Yakovlevich, Soviet gymnast: biography, sporting achievements

One of the most beautiful sports is gymnastics. It combines grace and strength, courage and grace. But often sports fans see the gymnasts performing only a beautiful picture, without hesitation, what they have to go through in order to achieve the required level, to look convincing for both fans and judges. Behind the beautiful facade of the speeches lies the daily painstaking work on oneself. And all in order to get out within a couple of minutes to show oneself the best. Forgetting about injuries, failures and falls, with a smile on his face ... This was the famous Soviet gymnast Mikhail Yakovlevich Voronin.

Childhood

Mikhail was born in Moscow on March 26, 1945. Early to his father without a father, Michael had already in childhood to learn all the hardships of the post-war life. The family budget consisted only of the salary of Mom's mother, and she worked as a simple cleaner. It was not to excess, at some point elementary money was not enough even for food. At the leisure of a teenager imprinted the residence of the Voronin family. They lived near the stadium "Dynamo", and all his free time little Voronin Michael spent on the sports arena. The teenager personally saw a lot of training, personally watched the occupations of famous athletes of the time. In fact, even then, Mikhail set a goal to connect his life with sports.

Sporting choice

Initially, Voronin Mikhail tried to enroll in the gymnastics section, which functioned at the Dynamo stadium. But the coaches did not take the boy. The reason for the refusal was the frail figure of a teenager. Nevertheless, the teenager no longer thought of his life without sports. Having got into the hockey section, Voronin Mikhail worked out for several years there, achieving certain successes at the school level. But all turned the usual lesson in physical culture. Konstantin Sadikov, the school teacher of physical culture of Michael, himself at one time was engaged in gymnastics. And it was he who managed to discern in the ordinary teen the future star of world sports. Gymnastics was so much enjoyed by a thirteen-year-old boy that hockey became second place. After studying for some time in his native school under the leadership of Konstantin Sadikov, Voronin Michael is enrolled in the section "Young Dynamo" where Nikolai Balashov becomes his first professional coach. And from that moment on, the sports career of the guy started a rapid upward movement.

Professional career

The whole career of Michael was closely connected with the sports society "Dynamo". And the first major successes came to him when he acted under the flag of this society. Mikhail Voronin is a gymnast who at the age of nineteen made his debut in the adult USSR championship and immediately achieved success by winning a bronze medal in the absolute championship. And this is in view of the fact that Mikhail's rivals were the best gymnasts of the Soviet Union. The next year's championship brings Mikhail a silver medal. The talented young man's progress was visible to the naked eye. Stable results, not by years cold-blooded performances did not go unnoticed by the coaches of the national team. And in 1966 followed by an invitation to the main team of the country, the national team of the USSR.

Mikhail Voronin: gymnast of the USSR

The first major international competitions, which debuted athlete, was the World Gymnastics Championships, held in Germany. The spectators of the sports complex in Dortmund were simply amazed by the performances of the young Soviet star. Already on the basis of the results of the first part of the competition, after appearances on the rings, Mikhail seized the overall leadership. Then followed by silver medals in performances on the horse and the bars. Before the free exercises, Michael's advantage over his rivals was overwhelming. It was enough for him to get 8.6 out of 10 possible points, and the title of the absolute world champion would be his. So it turned out, purely speaking in free exercises, Mikhail became the absolute champion of the world in gymnastics. Before Michael, no athlete won such a title at that age. Success in Dortmund brought Mikhail the title of Honored Master of Sports. Also, according to the decision of the coaching staff of the USSR national team, Mikhail becomes captain of the national team. Coach Michael at that time was Eugene Viktorovich Korolkov. In the past he was a wonderful gymnast, Evgeny Viktorovich did a lot to establish Mikhail Voronin as a real athlete.

Participation in olympiads

The next two seasons after the triumphant performance in Dortmund further confirmed Mikhail Voronin as the best gymnast of the planet. All the major competitions in which Voronin took part almost invariably ended with his confident victory. And this was not surprising. By his own admission, Mikhail, even the second place, he saw as a huge failure. Such high results in the competitions held automatically made Voronin the main favorite of the 1968 Olympic Games held in the Mexican capital. However, the possible triumph turned into the biggest sports disappointment in the life of Mikhail. Excellent performances during the Olympic gymnastics tournament brought Voronin to the lead in the overall standings in the all-around. It was necessary to perform in the last form, exercises on horseback. Everything was going fine, but at some point, Michael grabbed his finger for the tights. This error cost Michael a loss of 0.3 points. As a result, Voronin earns 9.5 points for his performances on horseback. And the win of the title of the absolute Olympic champion depended on the performance of the Japanese gymnast, Kato. He had to perform in free exercises, and in order to get around our gymnast, the Japanese needed to score at least 9.9 points. According to eyewitnesses, the performance of the Japanese gymnast was not irreproachable. But what was the surprise of both the fans and specialists, when the referee team put Kato 9.9 points necessary for the victory. But even in spite of such an unfortunate failure, Michael assembled and beautifully finished these Olympic Games, having won 2 gold and 3 silver medals in some kinds of all-around events.

It would seem that there is still a lot of time ahead, there will still be chances at subsequent Olympic Games, but the fate of the athlete is unpredictable. By the 1972 Olympics, Mikhail approached with a full bouquet of sports injuries, which ultimately pushed him to the decision to finish the career of the athlete.

Trainer

Finally, he could not leave the sport. After the Munich Olympics, Voronin was appointed head coach of the Central Council of the Dynamo Society. In the period from 1978 to 1983 he was one of the coaches of the USSR national gymnastics team. And yet the main place in the soul of Michael was occupied by his native "Dynamo". The whole life of Mikhail Voronin is closely connected with this sports society. In the dashing 90s it was Voronin who kept the Dynamo gymnasium, making him one of the best in the world. It is the Dynamo gymnasts that are not the first Olympic cycle that form the basis of our gymnastic team. And this is the great merit of Mikhail Yakovlevich Voronin.

Mikhail Yakovlevich Voronin: family

The first wife of Michael was Zinaida Druzhinina - Olympic champion in Mexico City in gymnastics, a beauty. With Mikhail Voronin, they looked like an ideal couple. But, unfortunately, Mikhail Voronin is a gymnast whose personal life has not developed in the best way. After the end of sports career Zinaida became addicted to alcohol. Even despite the fact that by this time the Voronin family had already had a son, Zinaida left the family. The second spouse, Vera Ivanovna, had nothing to do with sports. All her life she worked at school, an ordinary teacher. With Mikhail Yakovlevich she met in 1979, but officially they became lawful spouses only in 1991.

Disease

According to relatives, Mikhail Voronin was a very healthy person. At some point he was worried about the consequences of sports injuries, but this is in the order of things for all athletes. Everything turned upside down in the summer of 2002. The temperature rose, which they could not bring down. I had to go to a hospital in Botkin. And it was there that a terrible diagnosis was made - oncology, and already at a fairly neglected stage. A number of operations were carried out, which only postponed the inevitable. On May 22, 2004, at the age of 59 years, Mikhail Yakovlevich Voronin passed away. The cause of death is an ill-fated, incurable oncology. A famous Soviet gymnast was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

Achievements

Injuries forced Mikhail Voronin to finish his sports career early enough, but even in eight years in big sports, the athlete has a huge number of awards. Two Olympic gold, six silver and one bronze Olympic award. Mikhail Voronin is a gymnast who twice became a world champion, five times a silver medalist and twice won bronze medals. To this, you can add a lot of awards in the internal sports arena.

Mikhail Voronin, a gymnast whose biography was considered in the article, was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland and the Badge of Honor for his services to the national sport.