Who are they girls athletes who gave their lives for sports?

The most valuable thing given to a person from birth is life and freedom. When a person is deprived of freedom in all its manifestations, then, in fact, he is deprived of life itself. It’s like putting a man in a dungeon with steel bars on the windows and saying: “Live!” Today we will tell you about six amazing women who decided to use the right of free choice in their own way: they chose victory, paying for it with their lives. Is the victory worth the price, and what is the price of the victory? We suggest thinking about this using the example of six real stories of sports achievements and victories.

---

Elena Mukhina: a long road of pain

At 16, most girls dream of scarlet sails. The talented gymnast Lena Mukhina, at this age, had no time to think about such “trifles”: she spent twelve hours every day in the gym. There, under the strict control of the ambitious and domineering coach Mikhail Klimenko, Lena practiced the most difficult elements and jumps.

In 1977, the young gymnast won three gold medals at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Prague. And, a year later, she received the title of absolute world champion in Strasbourg.

The sports world predicted Lena Mukhina’s victory at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. To increase the chances of getting into the Soviet national team, coach Mikhail Klimenko decided to take extreme measures: by maximizing the training loads, he basically did not pay attention to the girl’s injured leg, forcing her to perform somersaults practically in a cast. Klimenko was maniacally aimed at obtaining Olympic gold.

In July 1980, at a preparatory training session in Minsk, the coach demanded from his student to demonstrate the most difficult somersault, with a landing on the head and somersault.

This happened in front of the athletes of the Olympic team: the gymnast, making a somersault, pushed too weakly and crashed her head into the floor, breaking her spine in half. The doctors explained the reason for the weak jerk a little later: this is not a healed leg, which, through the fault of the coach, did not have time to recover.

What is the price of Elena Mukhina’s victory?

Mikhail Klimenko, immediately after the tragedy, emigrated to Italy. Lena Mukhina was never able to recover, becoming an immobilized disabled person at the age of 20. In 2006, the athlete died at the age of 46.

Ashley Wagner: sports for health

The history of the sporting achievements of American figure skater Ashley Wagner, who won the bronze podium at the recent Olympic Games in Sochi, is shocking in its details.

The athlete herself made a public confession, saying that during her sports career she received five open concussions while practicing jumps. And, as a result of the last serious fall in 2009, Ashley began to have regular seizures, as a result of which the athlete could not move and talk for several years.

The doctors who examined her only helplessly threw up their hands, until, during the next examination, they found a slight displacement of the cervical vertebra. The displaced fragment of the vertebra put pressure on the spinal cord, depriving the young woman of the ability to move and speak.

What is the price of Ashley Wagner’s victory?

In a recent interview Ashley said literally the following: “Now any dialogue with me resembles a conversation with Dory from the movie Finding Nemo. After all, because of all these monstrous injuries, I cannot remember the sequence of movements. I forget almost everything I have to remember. “

Ashley did not die, unlike our other heroines, but she lost her health forever. Apparently, the girl was still able to find the answer to the question: is sport needed at such a price, and what is the price of victory?

Olga Larkina: solo synchronized swimming

The sport of high performance requires from athletes tremendous courage, endurance and the ability to overcome. The bitter words: “If nothing hurts you, then you are dead” can rightfully be attributed to the life story of a talented synchronized swimmer Olga Larkina.

For the sake of the Olympic gold medal in Athens and Beijing, Olga trained for days, leaving only an hour and a half a day to rest.

Intense workouts began to interfere with aching back pains, which were getting worse every day. Experienced chiropractors, massage therapists and doctors examined the athlete, but they could not find anything dangerous. And, Olga felt worse and worse.

The correct diagnosis was made too late, when the pain became unbearable.

What is the price of Olga Larkina’s victory?

Olga died at the age of twenty, on the rise of her sports career.

An autopsy showed that the athlete, throughout her life, suffered from multiple ruptures of blood vessels and capillaries. Just imagine: every blow with an arm, leg and body on the surface of the water, during numerous trainings and performances, responded in Olga with an attack of incredible pain. The pain that she bravely endured from year to year.

Camilla Skolimovskaya: when the hammer flies at you

It is customary to divide all sports into women and men, despite the tendency to blur strict boundaries between them. Whether such erasure is competent is not for us to judge: such is the need and specificity of modern times.

Since childhood, Camilla Skolimovskaya did not tolerate dolls, but she adored cars and pistols. In a word, everything that boys play. Apparently, that is why she chose a male sport for herself: she took up hammer throwing, and quite successfully!

The talented Polish athlete won the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. After the triumphant victory, Camilla took an active part in various competitions for several more years. But, sports fans began to notice that Camilla’s sports results are getting worse. The athlete complained of breathing problems, but, at the same time, in order to improve her athletic performance, she continued training as usual.

What is the price of Camilla Skolimovskaya’s victory?

Intense training, and the lack of time to take care of their health, were fatal. On February 18, 2009, Camilla, after another dynamic training session, died on the spot. Autopsy showed that neglected breathing problems led to a fatal pulmonary embolism.

Julissa Gomez: somersault beautiful and deadly

There are sports that can be ranked first in terms of danger and the possibility of serious injury. We are talking exclusively about high performance sports. But, for example, perfectly understanding and knowing how dangerous artistic gymnastics is, girls still dream of it.

Julissa Gomez also dreamed of gymnastics from early childhood: a great hard worker and a talented athlete. She loved gymnastics so much that she was ready to spend in the gym all day long.

What is the price of Julissa Gomez’s victory?

During the execution of the vault in 1988 in Japan, the athlete accidentally stumbled on a poorly fixed springboard, and with all her might hit her temple on the “sports horse”.

The girl was paralyzed, and the resuscitation apparatus took over the functions of her life support. But, after just a couple of days, the apparatus broke down, which led to irreversible brain damage and coma.

The young gymnast died in Houston in 1991, just two months after her eighteenth birthday.

Alexandra Huchi: a life spanning twelve years

Sasha Huchi showed great promise, being, at the age of twelve, the hope of Romanian artistic gymnastics. In general, speaking about the tragic fate of such a talented and courageous girl, I would like to ask the sky: “Why ?!”

Surely, the exact same question was frenziedly asked by Vasile and Maria Huchi, the parents of the young athlete, when on August 17, 2001, their daughter Sasha, who played in the Romanian junior team, suddenly fell suddenly, falling into an instant coma.

What is the price of Alexandra Huchi’s victory?

After the death of the young athlete, it was found that all the time Sasha subjected her body to monstrous sports loads, having congenital heart failure.

The leading coach of the Romanian national artistic gymnastics team, Octavian Belu, said the following words about Sasha: “She was the main star of our national team, and if it had not been for this misfortune, then after only three to five years, Alexandra would have brought the country the first medal.”

Summary

Sport is synonymous with health and longevity: but only amateur sport. When parents send their young children into professional sports, they should understand that the “territory” of high-performance sports is very dangerous and unpredictable.

Only those parents are wise who, observing their child, tactfully and carefully guide him, without depriving, at the same time, the daughter and son of the most important thing – the freedom of their own choice.