On the birthday of ZMS Russia Aleksey Yuryevich Nemov - “Legends of Russian Artistic Gymnastics

Alexey Nemov (born May 28, 1976) is a Russian athlete and gymnast. Four-time Olympic champion. Editor-in-Chief of the sports review and analytical magazine “Big Sport”.

Childhood

Alexey Yuryevich was born in the Mordovian village of Barashevo. After some time, he and his mother moved to the city of Togliatti, where he grew up. They lived in a small family; their mother worked in a kindergarten and combined several part-time jobs. From the age of five, Nemov began practicing gymnastics and attended a sports school at an automobile plant. The first coach was I. Shestakova, then P. Denisov. I met my father when he was nine years old. The father was released from prison, but family life did not work out, and the parents divorced.

The boy grew up to be a bully, but had excellent coordination. He was enrolled in the Olympic reserve, and from the age of seven he trained with E. Nikolko, Honored Trainer of the Russian Federation. Together they began intensive training, which proved to be very effective. He received his secondary education at school No. 76. Then he graduated from the branch of the Samara Pedagogical University.

The first victories of A. Nemov

Sports career development

Alexey’s first outstanding victory was first place in the championship among Soviet youth; the athlete was then 13 years old. After this event, he took part in many competitions at various levels, where he invariably achieved success. In 1990, he came first at the Youth Spartakiad. Three years later he becomes the winner of the USSR Cup in all-around.

In 1994, he won four victories in the Goodwill Games. Nemov’s old back problems are getting worse, and doctors state that gymnastics is contraindicated for him. Despite the diagnosis, the athlete made every effort and was able to recover. In 1995, at the World Championships in Japan, he received gold in the vault. A year later, in Puerto Rico, he repeated his success and also took silver in the uneven bars.

A. Nemov in Atlanta, 1996

Having distinguished himself at the world championships, Nemov gets into the Olympic team. Before the competition in Atlanta, I had to work and train hard. The result was stunning: six prizes. Gold medals in the team competition and vault, silver in the all-around, three bronze medals.

In 1997, he underwent shoulder surgery, but this did not prevent him from taking gold at the World Championships held in Switzerland. For services in sports he was awarded the Order of Courage. Two years later, at the world championship in China, he won two golds and a silver. By the 2000 Olympic Games, the athlete was in excellent shape, and high hopes were placed on him. And in Sydney, Nemov again received six medals, becoming the absolute champion. His achievements: two gold medals - all-around and horizontal bar, one silver and three bronze. In 2003, at the 37th World Championships in the USA, Alexey received silver and bronze.

Nemov continued to prepare - now for the Olympics in Athens. He was still the favorite in the competition. The athlete showed an impeccable and difficult program, but stumbled a little at the very end. As a result, he received an underestimated score from the judges, which excluded him from the medal contenders. The indignation of the fans was not long in coming; they practically blocked the competition, not allowing the next participants to compete. The stands did not calm down for eight minutes. The judges made an unprecedented decision - a change in ratings, which turned out to be insignificant. This measure did not calm the hall; Nemov had to ask the audience to calm down. The case led to the removal of some judges and changes in the evaluation system. Alexei received an official apology.

Nemov communicates with the stands in Athens, 2004

Other achievements

In 2000, Alexey was awarded the “sports Oscar”. A year later he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland. In 2004, he was awarded a special award from the Fair Play International Committee for his generosity in sport. He also won the national prize “Russian of the Year”. After leaving big-time sports, he took the position of vice-president of the Artistic Gymnastics Federation. In 2005 he received the Pierre de Coubertin Prize in the category “For Action”. A year later in Russia the athlete was awarded the Order of Honor.

Currently, Alexey works as the editor-in-chief of the Bolshoi Sport information publication. He is also a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense and holds the rank of reserve colonel. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Patriarchal Council for Cultural Affairs. At the same time, he published the book “Fair Game” (co-authored with I. Stepantseva), in which he talked about his life. Alexey conducts numerous master classes for the younger generation and creates interesting gymnastics show programs. Participates in charity events, for example, in 2016 he acted as a player in a charity basketball match. Also in 2016, he organized a unique sports performance “Legends of Sports”.

Nemov with his family

Personal life

Alexey is married. I met my wife at the Ozero Krugloye sports base. Nemov spent a lot of time training there, and Galina worked as an administrator. At the time we met, she was married and had a son. Romantic relationships arose only after several years of friendship.

After the Olympics in 1996, she and her child came to Alexey in Tolyatti. Gradually, the athlete found a common language with Galina’s son Zhenya. When Nemov was allocated housing in the Moscow region, the family moved. During the Olympics in 2000, the couple had a son, named Alexei after his father. Then the father of the athlete himself showed up, attracting the attention of journalists. The press discussed for a long time Nemov’s relationship with his father, as well as their conflict, which ended in a breakup.

Aleksey Nemov Career: Athletics
Birth: Russia village Barashevo, 28.5.1976
Alexey Nemov is a famous Russian athlete and gymnast. Born on May 28, 1976, Alexey Nemov is a four-time Olympic champion. In 2000, in London, he was awarded the World Sports Awards as the best athlete on the planet.

Alexey NEMOV was born on May 28, 1976 in the village of Barashevo, Mordovia. Lives in Togliatti, has an apartment in Nakhabino, near Moscow. Height 174 cm, weight 75 kg. Graduated from Togliatti Pedagogical University with a degree in coaching. Two-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics (in team all-around and vault), world champion (1998, 1999) in floor exercise.

There were countless accidents in the life of little Lesha Nemov. The coaches could have easily passed him by. But when these days I analyze the chain of these cases, I become more and more convinced: this boy was destined to become a gymnast.

Lesha was brought into sports by his mother when the boy was four and a half years old. Such little ones were not accepted into the gymnastics group, and therefore the newcomer was asked to wait. Perhaps, after that, Nemov could have ended up in another sport, for example, in hockey, because Tolyatti is a town of hockey players. But you can't escape fate. A year and a half later, coach and choreographer Irina Shestakova was making a set for an artistic gymnastics group. I went to kindergartens, looked after the children. Among her students, as it turned out later, was the very same Lesha Nemov.

Shestakova worked with him for seven months, and when she was going on maternity leave, she handed over her ward to Pavel Denisov. Denisov trained with Nemov for about a year, but it turned out that the coach then had two strong groups. He kept the best for himself, and handed over the weaker guys to Musaev. Musaev is my student, and we began to train these kids together. I still have a barn book, a “ledger” of those years, where I wrote down all the characteristics of the students and their results. So, next to Nemov’s name there were the following lines: “He studies satisfactorily. Physical data is weak. Coordination abilities are high. Cocky, impudent, but a promising gymnast.” Lesha was truly weak and physically unprepared. But on the trampoline he spun like a top: dexterous, tenacious, “wound”... It came from nature, from God - such “trickery” is forbidden to teach.

Alexey, what got you so hooked on gymnastics?

Now I like gymnastics because I am good at something. I achieved results. I can express myself through sports. Now this is my existence, my service. And before I didn’t think about why I chose exactly that same picture. Mom gave it to me and I started studying. At first it wasn’t serious, I wanted to throw it a few times, but later I got into it.

Once you are on the national team, you and the gymnasts spend about 8 months of the year near Moscow at the Ozero Krugloye training base. From year to year - a few training sessions a day, the same faces of coaches and athletes... What makes you cross the threshold of the gym? What is the motivation?

The desire to achieve results. But sometimes you get very tired psychologically from all this monotony. I want to jump out and not bother anyone.

Is the roof moving?

The cardan breaks off. You're losing your temper. You shout at the coach... This used to happen to me quite often, but today I’ve matured - I try to control myself. When I can’t bear it, I get into the car and drive home to Nakhabino for a few hours. (The leadership of the Air Force, where I am a member, gave me an apartment for winning the Olympics.) I come home. There is a wife and son. I find myself in a different world, in a different atmosphere, and it becomes easier for me - I take my mind off sports.

Does such a strict organization of gymnast training exist only in Russia?

This is only practiced here. From time immemorial, in the USSR and in Russia it has been the custom: if you want to achieve results, you must completely return all of yourself to gymnastics. The athlete should not be distracted by any extraneous things. It’s difficult: sitting on Krugloy and training, training, training... It’s different for foreign gymnasts. They live at home, study and, at the very least, train twice a day. They have their own organization, and they also have hard times. I think there is no point in comparing them and your training styles.

In your opinion, if our gymnasts had trained differently, would they have achieved results?

Results - yes. But they would not be leaders in artistic gymnastics...

& Nemov’s coach Evgeniy Nikolko:

Lesha and I began to work very intensively. Lessons at school began at 12 o'clock, and every beginning of the day the boy came to training. Then study. At seven in the evening - the second training session, after which he went home, did a home errand, and in the evening he ran for about forty minutes to “jump” on the trampoline... Leshka lived across the street from the Sports Palace and ran to training sessions with pleasure all the way. He is nimble and lively by nature. I was very afraid that I would expel him from the group. As soon as I scared him, he burst into tears. Lesha was very passionate about gymnastics.

Despite his vulnerable nature, the boy soon became a leader. He also took the position of leader in the team - a man who is respected not only for his sporting successes. Yes, he is quick-tempered, hot-tempered, sometimes in his heart he can send me away. For the whole hall, like Kafelnikov on the court... But I understand why this unbridled anger comes from fatigue, overload, sores. In such cases, I pretend that I didn’t hear anything. I understand that it’s easy for a guy to express his emotions. Sometimes I myself say: “Lesh, swear, you will feel better.”

When you leave the sport, won’t you ask yourself the question: “Why did I need all this?” After all, the cost of medals is not only luck and glory, but also injuries, instability in the wake of the sport...

Good interrogative motive. I'm sure many people ask themselves this question afterwards. In particular, I began to seriously engage in gymnastics in the 4th grade. This means that in practice, from that time on, I did not devote as much time to studying as required. Then I graduated from a pedagogical university in Tolyatti - I can work hard as a coach. That's all. That is, I don’t have any prospects like that, because after sports, then traveling around the world, at least one of the gymnasts has the desire to act as an ordinary coach. First of all, they don't pay any money. Children's schools and centers are closing. Only thanks to Leonid Yakovlevich Arkaev (President of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation) are some traditions preserved. But being a children's coach is also a thankless job, because you find a talented boy, work with him for six years, put your heart and soul into it, and then he leaves - you don't like it... This is because it's like a dark horse: if you're lucky, you're not lucky. Many coaches give up after all this. When I started, our gymnast section was the healthiest in the Sports Palace. Judoists or boxers have one locker for their uniform, but we have three...

And yet: have you decided for yourself what you will do next?

Paradoxically, I will most likely become a coach. But not here, not in Russia. Look at the latest competitions in Moscow, “Stars of the World 2000” - foreign teams came, but who are the gymnasts’ coaches? All ours!

Wouldn’t it be insulting to work abroad and train opponents for the Russian national team?

What if the athlete or coach is not paid at home? Why should I sit back, starve with my family, and at the same time say: “I am a patriot”?.. It’s not our fault that this is happening. We are placed in such conditions. When I listen to the stories of foreign colleagues, what kind of salary they receive is not difficult compared to us. If in Russia coaches could receive at least half of these amounts, no foreign countries would be needed... I love my country. Unpredictable, of course. As the song says - “Let them shout: “Vatchizna!”, but we like it...”

So, the current generation of athletes puts coins at the forefront?

It would be nice to have them, but these days many people train and practice without money. It's in our blood, I guess. Moreover, when you are the only one, without a family, you don’t focus on how much you will get for competitions. It is much more important not to let the team down and to achieve results. With the advent of my family, I personally began to worry about everything together, including my financial situation. Therefore, like all boys, I train through pain, because it is forbidden to survive in any other way at the moment in Russia. Without a good result on the platform, you will not earn anything.

Nemov's coach Evgeniy Nikolko:

It's not easy with Lesha. Because he is a person, and he needs a special approach. You have to adapt to him, at times even playing the image of a supposedly weaker one. For example, Lesha doesn’t like it when mistakes are directly pointed out to him. He doesn't like it when people talk to him. Even after successful performances, when I pat him on the shoulder, he gets offended: “Evgenich (this is short for Evgeniy Grigorievich), don’t.” The guy does not tolerate paternal familiarity and in such cases, as a rule, distances himself. He rarely opens up to me, due to the fact that he is used to always making decisions himself. Most often, he does not need advice, but help. This was also the case with the family, when Lesha decided to marry a girl with a child. Many condemned him for this, but I said: “Lesh, in love there are no advisers. Since you chose, it means I support you.”

How important is his support, I mean family, for an athlete?

I would not like to touch on the family topic, but I can say one thing: I love my wife, although we are not married yet. I love her son, because now he is my son too. My wife understands me inside and out, and I am happy that I met such a woman. I definitely like everything about her. I feel at peace with her, but for an athlete this is important.

Are you coping with the role of dad?..

At first it was unusual for me, due to the fact that I myself am quite young. But the image is interesting - to seek mutual understanding with the child.

Does your son call you “Dad” or “Lesha”?

It depends. It's very nice when he says "dad". But I want these words to come from the heart, and not according to orders. I will try to become a good father to him, although sometimes I will bark and shout sternly. If you are always gentle with children, they will soon sit on your neck...

What do you think love is?

This is when you know that they are always waiting for you.

Nemov's coach Evgeniy Nikolko:

Lesha didn’t have any serious injuries in sports - he fell, crashed, broke... But microtraumas tormented him. It's natural: fatigue accumulates. The shoulder “flyed” - the ligaments became wet from the load. His back has been injured since childhood. When Lesha was still little - his mother told me - he fell on an iron bucket... When the physical education doctor examined the child afterward, he said: attack with the back. Therefore, I also developed a special set of exercises for Lesha. Before the start, I pay the guy my utmost attention: a nice massage, I knead, I rub my back, I rub for about twenty minutes. How does he manage to win with such a back?.. He endures. And Lesha’s board in practice is perfect: he gets up tightly, because this guy has the innate instinct of a gymnast.

By the way, Leshka is an excellent gentleman. Not any coach can talk about his student like that, but Nemov is a man. And in difficult times it is not forbidden to rely on him. A few years ago, I was struck down by a single incident. We have a trainer at our base - and so, his wife urgently needed surgery on her joints. They had no money. And at that time, treatment cost 25 million rubles! They went and borrowed, but they couldn’t make up the entire amount. As Leshka found out, he himself offered pennies. He said, give it back as best you can. And at the moment this lady walks normally, without crutches, otherwise she could barely move...

What scares you most in life?

Loneliness and loss of loved ones.

Does your mother admire you? He says: “Lesha, what have you become!”?

No, she says: “I always knew that you would be like this!” I love my mother very much because she raised me alone. My father left the family when I was still little.

Don’t you want to accommodate your child?

Really want to. But the coach says: “Be patient until the Olympics...”.

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He became a great gymnast despite the circumstances. Once, when I was a child, I fell and hit my back hard on an iron bucket. The injury he received only made itself felt years later, when Alexey Nemov was already seriously involved in sports. But he did not give up gymnastics: he devoted too much energy and years to it. Overcoming pain, only on character, Nemov won two gold medals at the Olympics in Atlanta and is now preparing to compete in September at the Olympic Games in Sydney.

Alexey NEMOV was born on May 28, 1976 in the village of Barashevo, Mordovia. Lives in Togliatti, has an apartment in Nakhabino, near Moscow. Height 174 cm, weight 75 kg. Graduated from Togliatti Pedagogical University with a degree in coaching. Two-time Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics (in team all-around and vault), world champion (1998, 1999) in floor exercise.

There were many accidents in the life of little Lesha Nemov. The coaches could have easily passed him by. But when today I analyze the chain of these cases, I am more and more convinced: this boy was destined to become a gymnast.

Lesha was brought into sports by his mother when the boy was four and a half years old. Such little ones were not accepted into the gymnastics group, and therefore the newcomer was asked to wait. Perhaps, after this, Nemov could even end up in another sport, for example in hockey, because Togliatti is a city of hockey players. But you can't escape fate. A year and a half later, coach and choreographer Irina Shestakova was recruiting for an artistic gymnastics group. I went to kindergartens, looked after the children. Among her students, as it turned out later, was the same Lesha Nemov.

Shestakova worked with him for seven months, and when she was going on maternity leave, she handed over her ward to Pavel Denisov. Denisov trained with Nemov for about a year, but it turned out that the coach then had two strong groups. He kept the best for himself, and handed over the weaker guys to Musaev. Musaev is my student, and we began to train these kids together. I still have a barn book, a “ledger” of those years, where I wrote down all the characteristics of the students and their results. So, next to Nemov’s name there were the following lines: “He studies satisfactorily. Physical data is weak. Coordination abilities are high. Cocky, impudent, but a promising gymnast.” Lesha was indeed weak and physically unprepared. But on the trampoline he spun like a top: dexterous, tenacious, “wound”... It came from nature, from God - such “trickery” cannot be taught.

- Alexey, what got you so hooked on gymnastics?

Now I like gymnastics because I can do something. I achieved results. I can express myself through sports. Now this is my life, my work. And before I didn’t think about why I chose this particular species. Mom gave it to me and I started studying. At first it wasn’t serious, I wanted to quit several times, but then I got involved.

- Once you join the national team, you and the gymnasts spend about 8 months a year near Moscow at the Ozero Krugloye training base. From year to year - several training sessions a day, the same faces of coaches and athletes... What makes you cross the threshold of the gym? What is the motivation?

The desire to achieve results. But sometimes you get very tired psychologically from all this monotony. I want to escape and not see anyone.

- Is the roof moving?

The cardan breaks off. You're losing your temper. You shout at the coach... This used to happen to me often, but now I’m older, I try to control myself. When I can’t bear it, I get into the car and drive home to Nakhabino for a few hours. (The leadership of the Air Force, where I am a member, gave me an apartment for winning the Olympics.) I come home. There is a wife and son. I find myself in a different world, in a different atmosphere, and it becomes easier for me - I take my mind off sports.

- Does such a strict system of training gymnasts exist only in Russia?

This is only practiced here. From time immemorial, in the USSR and in Russia it has been a tradition: if you want to achieve results, you must completely devote yourself completely to gymnastics. The athlete should not be distracted by any extraneous things. It’s difficult: sitting on the Round Hall and training, training, training... It’s different for foreign gymnasts. They live at home, study and train at least twice a day. They have their own system, and they also have hard times. I think there's no point with

compare their and our training styles.

- In your opinion, if our gymnasts had trained differently, would they have achieved results?

Results - yes. But they would not be leaders in artistic gymnastics...

& Nemov’s coach Evgeniy Nikolko:

We started working with Lesha very intensively. School lessons began at 12 o'clock, and every morning the boy came to training. Then study. At seven in the evening there was a second training session, after which he went home, did his homework, and in the evening he came to “jump” on the trampoline for about forty minutes... Leshka lived across the street from the Sports Palace and always came running to training sessions with pleasure. He is nimble and lively by nature. I was very afraid that I would expel him from the group. As soon as I scared him, he burst into tears. Lesha held on to gymnastics very strongly.

Despite his vulnerable nature, the guy quickly became a leader. He also took the place of leader in the team - a man who is respected not only for his sporting successes. Yes, he is quick-tempered, hot-tempered, and sometimes he can send me away in his hearts. For the whole hall, like Kafelnikov on the court... But I understand where this unbridled rage comes from - fatigue, overload, sores. In such cases, I pretend that I didn’t hear anything. I understand that the guy just needs to throw out his emotions. Sometimes I myself say: “Lesh, swear, you will feel better.”

- When you leave sports, won’t you ask yourself the question: “Why did I need all this?” After all, the price of medals is not only success and glory, but also injuries, instability after sports...

Good question. I'm sure many people ask themselves this question later. For example, I started doing gymnastics seriously in the 4th grade. This means that practically from that time on I did not devote as much time to my studies as was required. Then I graduated from a pedagogical university in Tolyatti - I can work as a coach. That's all. That is, I don’t have any prospects as such, because after sports, after traveling around the world, few gymnasts have a desire to work as an ordinary coach. First of all, they don't pay any money. Children's schools and centers are closing. Only thanks to Leonid Yakovlevich Arkaev (President of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation) are some traditions preserved. But the work of a children's coach is also a thankless task, because you find a talented boy, work with him for six years, put your heart and soul into it, and then he leaves - you don't like it... It's like a dark horse: if you're lucky, you're not lucky. Many coaches give up after all this. When I started, our gymnast section was the largest in the Sports Palace. Judoists or boxers have one locker for their uniform, but we have three...

- And yet: have you decided for yourself what you will do next?

Paradoxically, I will most likely become a coach. But not here, not in Russia. Look at the latest competitions in Moscow, “Stars of the World 2000” - foreign teams came, but who are the gymnasts’ coaches? All ours!

- Wouldn’t it be a shame to work abroad, to train opponents for the Russian national team?

What if the athlete or coach is not paid at home? Why should I sit back, starve with my family and at the same time say: “I am a patriot”?.. It’s not our fault that this is happening. We are placed in such conditions. When I listen to the stories of foreign colleagues, what kind of salary they receive is simply heaven and earth compared to us. If in Russia coaches could earn at least half of these amounts, no foreign countries would be needed... I love my country. Unpredictable, of course. As the song says - “Let them shout: “Ugly!”, but we like her...”

- So, the current generation of athletes puts money at the forefront?

It would be nice to have them, but today many train and work with virtually no money. It's probably in our blood. Moreover, when you are alone, without a family, you don’t focus on how much you will get for competitions. It’s much more important not to let the team down, to achieve results

A. With the advent of my family, I personally began to worry about everything together, including my financial situation. Therefore, like all the guys, I train through pain, because there is no other way to survive in Russia now. Without a good result on the platform, you will not earn anything.

Nemov's coach Evgeniy Nikolko:

It's not easy with Lesha. Because he is a person, and he needs a special approach. You have to adapt to him, sometimes even playing the role of the supposedly weaker one. For example, Lesha doesn’t like it when mistakes are directly pointed out to him. He doesn't like it when people talk to him. Even after successful performances, when I pat him on the shoulder, he gets offended: “Evgenich (this is short for Evgeniy Grigorievich), don’t.” The guy does not tolerate paternal familiarity and in such cases usually distances himself. He rarely opens up to me because he is used to always making decisions himself. Most often, he does not need advice, but support. This was also the case with the family, when Lesha decided to marry a girl with a child. Many condemned him for this, but I said: “Lesh, in love there are no advisers. Since you chose, it means I support you.”

- How important is his support, I mean family, for an athlete?

I would not like to touch on the family topic, but I can say one thing: I love my wife, although we are not married yet. I love her son because now he is my son too. My wife understands me inside and out, and I am happy that I met such a woman. I like absolutely everything about it. I feel calm with her, but for an athlete this is important.

-Are you coping with the role of dad?..

At first it was strange for me, because I am quite young myself. But the role is interesting - to find mutual understanding with the child.

- Does your son call you “dad” or “Lesha”?

It depends. It's very nice when he says "dad". But I want these words to come from the heart, and not according to orders. I will try to be a good father to him, although sometimes I will bark and shout sternly. If you are always gentle with children, they quickly sit on your neck...

- What do you think love is?

This is when you know that you are always welcome.

Nemov's coach Evgeniy Nikolko:

Lesha didn’t have any serious injuries in sports - he fell, crashed, broke... But microtraumas tormented him. It's natural: fatigue accumulates. The shoulder “flyed” - the ligaments became wet from the load. His back has been injured since childhood. When Lesha was still little, his mother told me, he fell on an iron bucket... When the sports doctor later examined the child, he said: there was a problem with his back. Therefore, I even developed a special set of exercises for Lesha. Before the start, I pay the guy the closest attention: a good massage, kneading, kneading his back, rubbing for about twenty minutes. How does he manage to win with such a back?.. He endures it. And Lesha’s board is almost perfect: he stands up tightly, because this guy has an innate instinct for a gymnast.

By the way, Leshka is a wonderful person. Not every coach can say this about his student, but Nemov is a man. And in difficult times you can rely on him. A few years ago I was shocked by one incident. We have a trainer at our base - and so, his wife urgently needed surgery on her joints. They had no money. And the treatment at that time cost 25 million rubles! They went and borrowed, but they couldn’t collect the entire amount. As soon as Leshka found out, he offered money himself. He said, give it back as best you can. And now this woman walks normally, without crutches, otherwise she could barely move...

- What scares you most in life?

Loneliness and loss of loved ones.

- Does your mother admire you? He says: “Lesha, what have you become!”?

No, she says: “I always knew you would be like this!” I love my mother very much because she raised me alone. My father left the family when I was still little.

- Don’t you want to have your own child?

Really want to. But the coach says: “Wait until the Olympics...”

"We are thinking about what to do in this situation, because this can happen to anyone. I want to somehow punish these people. This is a real provocation. They behave so intelligently, at the same time they provoke, knock on the window and ask: “What are you doing?” are you doing?" And what, you don’t even understand in this situation. What is it, Alexey also wants to figure it out for himself,” the Russian News Service quotes the athlete’s wife.

ON THIS TOPIC

Galina Nemova is sure that this was a provocation. “Alexey just came out and asked to leave. This was cynically provoked, there is nothing to comment on rudeness. I don’t know what kind of group this is, and who allowed them to behave like this, and where the police are looking. These are some ordinary people, they cynically provoke you. Alexey is a decent person, he asked them to move away from the car. He asked them to leave. At that moment I walked away, as Alexey stopped for me to go to the restroom. It took about five to seven minutes. “I come - Alexey tripped, they twisted his arm, he broke his watch, the car mirror broke,” she said.

"At this time, the child was sitting in the car and crying.. The whole family was driving home. Others simply moved away and did not contact. Lesha couldn’t drive away, he was waiting for me. Did Alexey see the video of the fight on the Internet? We don’t even know that they posted something,” Galina concluded.

Let us remind you that the incident occurred in the center of Moscow, on Petrovka Street. Representatives of the Stopham organization considered that the Olympic champion stopped illegally in the second row, so they pasted a sticker on the windshield of his foreign car. Nemov got out of the car and got into an argument with the activists.

"He was asked to repark. There was no reaction. I stuck a harmless sticker on him, said a couple of phrases and left. On the second day, he stood on the same street again. Nemov tore off the sticker... The crowd began. He hit me in the face with his palm. I pushed him away from me, tried to calm him down, knocked him down, tried to hold him. He is an athlete and has skills,” REN TV quotes Magomed Ismailov. “I threw him to the ground and held him, trying to calm him down. It was clear that the man was furious. He could have hit me harder. I was trying to protect myself."

Alexey Nemov was born on May 28, 1976 in the village of Barashevo, Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, from where he soon moved with his parents to the city of Tolyatti.

Alexey began practicing gymnastics at the age of five at the specialized children's and youth school of the Olympic reserve of the Volzhsky Automobile Plant in Tolyatti, where his mother brought him.

The first coach, I. Shestakova, soon transferred Alyosha to the group of the Master of Sports in artistic gymnastics, Honored Coach of Russia E.G. Nikolko, with whom Nemov then trained throughout his sports life. The cocky, lively boy had excellent natural coordination; he spun on the trampoline like a top: dexterous, tenacious - a gymnast from God. Moreover, he lived across the street from the gym and therefore willingly trained twice a day: in the morning with everyone, and in the evening he came “to jump on the trampoline.” At first I was captivated by the game, the desire to make a beautiful movement, to master a new exercise, but from the age of eleven I wanted to grow athletically, and the work began in earnest.

The desire to achieve results helped Alexey learn to endure grueling hours of training and a strict regime of self-restraint. He first played for IC AvtoVAZ, and later for VS (Togliatti), a sports club of the Ministry of Defense (SK MO).

In 1989, Nemov won the USSR youth championship, and the next year he became the winner of the USSR Student Youth Spartakiad in certain all-around events. He joined the Russian national team while still a schoolboy in 1992. And after graduating from high school in Tolyatti - in 1993, his first big victory came in adult competitions - Alexey won the National Cup in the all-around. The following year in St. Petersburg he became a four-time winner of the Goodwill Games.?

1995 was a truly successful year for Alexey Nemov: in the Japanese city of Sabaya, he became the world champion for the first time - in vault, won the title of Russian champion in the same all-around event and was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of Russia.

At his first Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta (USA), where the Russian team competed independently for the first time, Alexey Nemov rode as number five on the team, which did not prevent him, overcoming the pain from injury, “in character,” to become a two-time Olympic champion (in the team championship and in vault), win a silver medal in the all-around and three bronze medals (in floor exercise, pommel horse and horizontal bar).

But his main sporting feat and triumph awaited him at the XXVII Olympic Games in 2000 in Sydney (Australia), where Nemov became the absolute champion, winning six (!) of the seven Olympic medals received by the Russian men's team.

Immediately after the end of the Games in Sydney, A. Nemov planned to retire from the sport, but, looking at the bench of the Russian team, he realized that it was too early to leave.

The new Olympic cycle was a crisis for Russian gymnasts - the long-term consequences of the collapse of the USSR were affecting them. For the first time in 50 years, our men's team failed to win a single medal at the 2001 and 2002 World Championships, and from the next world championship, held in 2003 in Anaheim (USA), they brought only 2 bronze medals. Both of these medals - in the exercises on the horizontal bar and on the uneven bars - were brought to his team by A. Nemov.

Particularly memorable for A. Nemov was his third Olympics in 2004 in Athens, where he competed as the leader of the team. Despite an injury received shortly before the competition, in the finals of the tournament in exercises on the horizontal bar A. Nemov showed the most difficult combination in the history of artistic gymnastics (6 flights, including a combination of three flights by Tkachev and a flight by Ginger), making only a minor mark on the board, for which Usually 0.1 point is deducted. “Technology of the XXI century! No gymnast in the world can perform combinations of such complexity today!” – the commentators admired with one voice.

However, in front of millions of television viewers, the judges gave Nemov the worst average score at that time - 9.725 points. The indignant audience supported the Russian gymnast for several minutes with applause and protested against the judicial injustice, not allowing the next participant to start the exercise, and calmed down only after the athlete himself twice - with gestures and his irresistible, “Gagarin” smile - asked the audience about this. For the first time in the history of artistic gymnastics, the reaction of the audience forced the judges to reconsider the initial score and raise it to 9.762 points, which was still not enough for a medal: in the final protocol, A. Nemov was only fifth.

But, without reaching the podium, our athlete won. With his skill, his restrained and dignified reaction to what happened, Alexey Nemov won the love and respect of millions of people in Athens and proved that his name is deservedly inscribed in the history of sports with a special line.

Subsequently, an official apology was made to A. Nemov, some judges were removed from judging, and changes were made to the rules of the competition: in addition to the score for technique, the complexity of the exercise began to be assessed, taking into account the complexity of individual elements and connections between them.

After the Athens Olympics lieutenant colonel Russian army A. Nemov, who defended the honor of his country on the gymnastics platform for 12 years, ended his sports career.

In 1999, Alexey Nemov graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education of the Togliatti branch of the Samara State Pedagogical University. In 2005, he entered the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he studied for two years, but due to heavy workload, he transferred to the State University of Management, from which he successfully graduated. At the same time, I was looking for myself as an organizer of entertainment events related to sports.

In 2008, based on the successful experience of his first gymnastics shows in 2006 and 2007 and cutting-edge technologies, A. Nemov created a unique, enchanting show “Pulse of Victory” - a kind of excursion into the history of the Olympic Games, a synthesis of gymnastics, circus art, dance and figure skating. One of the main goals of the show was to popularize gymnastic sports among young people, and it is no coincidence that students from children's sports schools, orphanages, and cadet corps made up the majority of the audience of this show.

In 2008, A. Nemov was elected to the Laureus World Sports Academy. For outstanding achievements in sports, the name of Alexey Nemov is included in the Guinness Book of Records.

As vice-president of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation, Alexey Nemov travels a lot around the country, talking with children about sports, and at the same time continues to work on new projects.

Alexey Nemov became an outstanding gymnast despite the circumstances: the consequences of a childhood back injury haunted him throughout his entire sports life, forcing him to do a special back warm-up before each competition. Perhaps it was precisely this ability, developed over years of hard training - to endure pain, overcome fatigue, concentrate and, at the right moment in the right place, to “give it all out”, multiplied by natural talent and skill honed by hard work, that allowed him to successfully overcome circumstances and achieve high goals, in sports and in life.

A.Yu. Nemov is the absolute champion of the Olympic Games (2000), Olympic champion in the team championship (1996), in vault (1996), in horizontal bar exercises (2000), silver medalist of the Olympic Games in all-around (1996), in floor exercises (2000) , Olympic bronze medalist in the team championship (2000), floor exercise (1996), pommel horse exercise (1996, 2000), horizontal bar (1996), uneven bars (2000), world champion in floor exercise (1997,1999) , in the pommel horse (1999) and in the vault (1995, 1996), silver medalist of the World Championship in the team championship (1994, 1999), in the uneven bars (1996), bronze medalist of the MIA championship in the team championship (1997), on uneven bars (1994, 2003), on pommel horse (1996), on horizontal bar (2003), European champion in the team championship (2000), on floor exercise (1998, 2002), on uneven bars (1994), silver medalist European Championship in team competition (1994, 1998, 2002), bronze medalist of the European Championship in all-around (1998), winner of the European Cup stage (1996), absolute champion of Russia (1996), champion in pommel horse exercises (1999, 2000), high bar (1995, 2000), silver medalist of the Russian Championship in all-around (2000), floor exercise (2000), vault (2000), uneven bars (2004), high bar (2004), bronze medalist of the Russian Championship in exercise uneven bars (1994), floor exercise (2004), winner of the Russian Cup in the all-around (1993), silver medalist of the Russian Cup in the all-around (2000), uneven bars (2004), winner of the Goodwill Games in the team championship (1994), in the all-around (1994), floor exercise (1994, 1998), pommel horse exercise (1994), silver medalist in the team championship (1998), high bar exercise (1998).

Winner of the World Sports Awards prize, a special prize from the International Fair Play Committee and the IOC diploma “For Nobility in Sports”. Winner of the national award “Russian of the Year” in the “Triumphant” category. Winner of the “Expert” award from the city of Togliatti and the Samara region in the “Person of the Year” nomination.

Awarded the orders: “For Services to the Fatherland”, IV degree, “Courage”, “Honour”.

Honorary citizen of the city of Tolyatti.