56 years of happiness of the queen of figure skating, who brought up 4 duos of Olympic champions: Tamara Moskvina

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

She is rightfully called the queen of figure skating and is admired for her ability to bring up real champions. Tamara Moskvina has led many of her students to the podium, she has always been fearless in her approach to training. Tatyana Tarasova once said: "Tamara is never afraid of anything, because there is always Igor behind her." Tamara Nikolaevna walked hand in hand with Igor Moskvin for 56 years, but in November 2020 he was gone.

Pupil and trainer

Tamara Bratus was born on the fourth day after the start of the Great Patriotic War, until the age of seven she lived in the Urals, where the whole family was evacuated from Leningrad. From the first days, her father went to the front, and after returning he became the most important authority for Tamarochka, he taught her the ability to stand up for herself. Peers called the little fragile girl a sparrow and sometimes offended. Until the father taught his daughter how to fight back. Since then, "Sparrow" was renamed "Eagle" and they were afraid to bully with her.

In 1948 the family returned to Leningrad, and three years later Tamara Bratus first came to the Burevestnik skating rink. Since then, figure skating has taken the most important place in her life. The first coach of Tamara was Ivan Ivanovich Bogoyavlensky, it was he who drew attention to the girl's characteristic creative approach and extraordinary imagination in skating. She invented this and for the first time showed the legendary "Biellmann" - one of the most difficult elements of figure skating.

In 1957, Tamara Bratus went to coach Igor Moskvin. She was only 16, he was 28 years old. At first, their communication was limited exclusively to the training process. But the longer Igor Moskvin treated Tamara Bratus, the more clearly he understood: this girl means much more to him than any of his students. Organized, collected, very talented and at the same time inquisitive, always striving to learn new things, active and incredibly kind. Later, Igor Borisovich admits: he simply could not help but pay attention to her.

In 1964, Igor Moskvin and Tamara Bratus became husband and wife. Their wedding was attended by 34 people, and during the shouts of "Bitter!" the bride was so embarrassed to kiss that each time she covered the kiss with a white napkin. The newlyweds went on a honeymoon near Gelendzhik together with their best friends - Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov.

Then, in 1964, Igor Moskvin convinced his wife to switch from single skating to pair skating. At first, Tamara Moskvina did not agree, but her husband found the right words and outlined the athlete the right perspective. Despite the prizes in the USSR championships, she did not achieve much success at international competitions, and she never got to the world championship at all. But together with Alexei Mishin already in 1966 she became the bronze medalist of the Winter Universiade, two years later she climbed to the second step of the European Championship, took “gold” at the USSR Championship, “bronze” at the European Championship and “silver” at the World Championship in 1969 year.

One passion for two

In 1969, she announced the end of her sports career. We can say that the coach and husband Igor Moskvin set new tasks for Tamara. In 1970, the eldest daughter Olga was born in the family, four years later, the youngest Anna. The daughters remembered for the rest of their lives the love with which their parents looked at each other, how their father kissed their mother's hands and was ready to wear her all the time. Olga and Anna never heard quarrels between their parents, and even more so they never raised their voices at each other. Except for one case.

At that time, Tamara Moskvina was already a successful coach, her couple Valova and Vasiliev were preparing for the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984, as were her husband's couple, Selezneva and Makarov. The confrontation between the athletes was so strong that Oleg Makarov broke Oleg Vasiliev's jaw during training. Igor Borisovich's couple was disqualified for a year.

About what was happening then in the family of coaches, only their relatives knew. Tamara and Igor Moskvins, who had never quarreled before, constantly argued. They began to conduct heated discussions behind closed doors, which had never been in their home before. There were rumors that the couple were on the verge of divorce at the time. But, according to Tamara Moskvina, they knew how to separate work and personal life. They really parted for a while, but only as coaches. They tried to set up their pairs' training schedule so that they did not overlap on the ice. A year later, Valova and Vasiliev climbed to the first step of the podium at the Olympic Games, Selezneva and Makarov took third.

And the spouses after this incident made a fateful decision for themselves - to form a coaching duet. Since then, they have been practically inseparable. They were united not only by personal feelings, but also by a passion for work.

Eternal separation

In 2016, Igor Moskvin retired, and on November 10, 2020, he was gone. Tamara Nikolaevna at that time was at competitions in another city and continued to take athletes to the ice. When she was asked how she was able to do this, Tamara Moskvina replied that she had lost the closest person. And she really wanted to lock herself in the room and give vent to her tears, but at the same time she knew exactly what her husband would say to her: “Tamara, you prepared the guys together with other specialists, go and finish your job. And I'll wait for you …”Despite all the pain of loss, she did not abandon her athletes. Work and family help her every day. And also - the invisible support of the spouse.

In June 2021, Tamara Nikolaevna turned 80 years old, or, as she herself says, “twenty to one hundred”. For the anniversary, she received the most valuable gift: her pupils took first place in pair figure skating at the world championship. For Russia, this is the first victory in the past eight years. She herself goes out on the ice every day with her students, and also skillfully drives a scooter around her native Peter, and intends to educate champions for a very long time.

Tamara Moskvina's colleague Tatyana Tarasova was also able to find her happiness. A fortune teller predicted a meeting with her future husband when she was 31 years old. The prophecy came true on the same day and was followed by 33 years of strong family happiness. In their life there were many partings, hungry times, ups and downs. Only their feelings remained unchanged, which made it possible to save the family, no matter what.