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Snowboarder Ilyukhina: I am retiring from my career, but this is due to a joyful event. As far as I know, you are still being actively checked

parallel giant slalom State and departmental awards results Olympic Games 2 (2010) world Cup

World Cup debut	11th of March
Parallel Views	9 (2013/14)
Snowboardcross	74 (2003/04)

European Cup

Ilyukhina Ekaterina Sergeevna(June 19, Novosibirsk) - Russian snowboarder who competes in parallel slalom and snowboardcross. Silver medalist at the 2010 Olympic Games in parallel giant slalom. Honored Master of Sports of Russia. Winner of the European Snowboarding Cup for the 2006/07 season, bronze medalist of the Junior World Championship in parallel slalom, three-time champion of Russia in snowboarding in parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom. Personal trainers Tikhomirov D.V., Maksimov A.V.

Biography

Like many snowboarders, she was initially involved in alpine skiing, then switched to snowboarding. At the beginning of her career, in addition to parallel sports, she also competed in snowboardcross, in which she became a bronze medalist at the Russian and 2005 championships. In her core disciplines, Ekaterina also collected a number of medals at the Russian championships: “gold” (2009), “silver” (2011) and two “bronzes” (2006, 2010) in parallel giant slalom, as well as two “golds” (2010, 2011) two “silver” (2005, 2009) and one “bronze” (2007) in parallel slalom.

At the stages of the European Cup, Ekaterina Ilyukhina won 10 victories in various disciplines and became a prize-winner 6 times. The best season was 2006/07, when Ekaterina stood on the podium 7 times.

Ilyukhina’s debut at the World Cup was the stage in the town of Bardonecchia, Italy, on March 11, 2004.

In the 2010/11 season, Ekaterina reached the podium for the first time, becoming third in the parallel slalom competition at the stage in Limone Piemonte, Italy, on December 10, 2010.

At the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi she finished 29th in parallel slalom and 12th in parallel giant slalom.

Prize-winning places at the World Cup stages

3rd place

December 10, Limone Piemonte, Italy

Results at the European and World Cup stages

European Snowboarding Cup standings in parallel events

2003/04 - 59th place(123 points)
2004/05 - 28th place(345 points)
2005/06 - 7th place(1332 points)
2006/07 - 1st place(4025 points)
2007/08 - 20th place(795 points)
2008/09 - 26th place(790 points)
2009/10 - 9th place(1250 points)

Snowboarding World Cup standings in parallel events

2004/05 - 62nd place(45 points)
2005/06 - 54th place(98 points)
2006/07 - 37th place(338 points)
2007/08 - 33rd place(720 points)
2008/09 - 32nd place(740 points)
2009/10 - 14th place(2170 points)
2010/11 - 14th place(2076 points)
2011/12 - 19th place(1400 points)
2012/13 - 22nd place(970 points)
2013/14 - 9th place(1830 points)

Snowboarding World Cup standings in snowboardcross

2003/04 - 74th place(26 points)

Outside of sports

Awards and titles

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An excerpt characterizing Ilyukhin, Ekaterina Sergeevna

– Did you have another daughter? – Stella asked carefully.
- Daughter? – Arno asked in surprise and, realizing what we saw, he immediately added. - Oh no! It was her sister. She was only sixteen years old...
Such a frightening, such terrible pain suddenly flashed in his eyes that only now I suddenly realized how much this unfortunate man had suffered!.. Perhaps unable to bear such brutal pain, he deliberately fenced himself off with a wall of their former happiness, trying to remember only bright past and “erase” from his memory all the horror of that last terrible day, as far as his wounded and weakened soul allowed him to do this...
We tried to find Michelle, but for some reason it didn’t work... Stella stared at me in surprise and quietly asked:
– Why can’t I find her, did she die here too?..
It seemed to me that something was simply preventing us from finding her on this “floor” and I suggested that Stella look “higher”. We slipped mentally onto Mental... and immediately saw her... She really was amazingly beautiful - light and pure, like a stream. And long golden hair scattered over her shoulders like a golden cloak... I have never seen such long and such beautiful hair! The girl was deeply thoughtful and sad, like many on the “floors”, who had lost their love, their relatives, or simply because they were alone...
- Hello, Michelle! – without wasting time, Stella immediately said. - And we have prepared a gift for you!
The woman smiled in surprise and asked tenderly:
-Who are you, girls?
But without answering her, Stella mentally called Arno...
I won’t be able to tell them what this meeting brought them... And there’s no need for that. Such happiness cannot be put into words - they will fade... It’s just that, probably at that moment, there were no happier people in the whole world, and on all “floors”!.. And we sincerely rejoiced with them, not forgetting those who they owed their happiness... I think both little Maria and our kind Luminary would be very happy, seeing them now, and knowing that it was not in vain that they gave their lives for them...
Stella suddenly became alarmed and disappeared somewhere. I followed her too, since we had nothing else to do here...
-Where did you all disappear to? – Maya greeted us with a question, surprised, but very calmly. “We already thought you had left us for good.” And where is our new friend?.. Has he really disappeared too?.. We thought he would take us with him...
A problem arose... Where to put these unfortunate kids now - I didn’t have the slightest idea. Stella looked at me, thinking the same thing, and desperately trying to find some way out.
- I came up with it! – already just like the “old” Stella, she happily clapped her hands. “We will make them a joyful world in which they will exist.” And then, lo and behold, they will meet someone... Or someone good will take them.
“Don’t you think we should introduce them to someone here?” – I asked, trying to “more reliably” accommodate lonely kids.
“No, I don’t think so,” the friend answered very seriously. – Think for yourself, not all dead babies receive this... And not all of them here probably have time to take care of them. So it's fair to the others if we just make them a really nice home here while they find someone. After all, it’s easier for the three of them. And others are alone... I was alone too, I remember...
And suddenly, apparently remembering that terrible time, she became confused and sad... and somehow unprotected. Wanting to immediately bring her back, I mentally brought down a waterfall of incredible fantastic flowers on her...
- Oh! – Stella laughed like a bell. - Well, what are you talking about!.. Stop it!
- Stop being sad! – I didn’t give up. - We see how much more we need to do, and you’re so limp. Well, let's go get the kids settled!..
And then, completely unexpectedly, Arno appeared again. We stared at him in surprise... afraid to ask. I even had time to think: had something terrible happened again?.. But he looked “overwhelmingly” happy, so I immediately discarded the stupid thought.
“What are you doing here?!..” Stella was sincerely surprised.
- Have you forgotten - I have to pick up the kids, I promised them.
-Where is Michelle? Why aren't you together?
- Well, why not together? Together, of course! I just promised... And she always loved children. So we decided to all stay together until a new life takes them.
- So this is wonderful! – Stella was happy. And then she jumped to something else. – You are very happy, aren’t you? Well, tell me, are you happy? She's so beautiful!!!..
Arno looked into our eyes for a long time and carefully, as if wanting to, but not daring to say anything. Then, finally, I decided...
- I can’t accept this happiness from you... It’s not mine... It’s wrong... I don’t deserve it yet.
“How can you not do this?!..” Stella literally soared. - How can you not - how can you!.. Just try to refuse!!! Just look how beautiful she is! And you say you can’t...
Arno smiled sadly, looking at the raging Stella. Then he hugged her affectionately and quietly, quietly said:
“You brought me unspeakable happiness, and I brought you such terrible pain... Forgive me, dear ones, if you ever can.” Sorry...
Stella smiled at him brightly and affectionately, as if wanting to show that she understood everything perfectly, and that she forgave him everything, and that it was not his fault at all. Arno just nodded sadly and, pointing to the quietly waiting children, asked:
– Can I take them “up there” with me, do you think?
“Unfortunately, no,” Stella answered sadly. “They can’t go there, they stay here.”
“Then we’ll stay too...” a gentle voice sounded. - We will stay with them.
We turned around in surprise - it was Michelle. “That’s all decided,” I thought contentedly. And again, someone voluntarily sacrificed something, and again simple human kindness won... I looked at Stella - the little girl was smiling. Everything was fine again.
- Well, will you walk with me a little more? – Stella asked hopefully.
I should have gone home a long time ago, but I knew that I would never leave her now and nodded my head affirmatively...

To be honest, I wasn’t in too much of a mood to go for a walk, since after everything that had happened, my condition was, let’s say, very, very “satisfactory... But I couldn’t leave Stella alone either, so it would be good for both of them, though If only we were “in the middle”, we decided not to go far, but just to relax our almost boiling brains a little, and give our pain-wracked hearts a rest, enjoying the peace and quiet of the mental floor...
We slowly floated in a gentle silvery haze, completely relaxing our frayed nervous system, and plunging into the stunning, incomparable peace here... When suddenly Stella shouted enthusiastically:
- Wow! Just look, what kind of beauty is there!..
I looked around and immediately understood what she was talking about...
It really was extraordinarily beautiful!.. As if someone, while playing, had created a real sky-blue “crystal” kingdom!.. We looked in surprise at the incredibly huge, openwork ice flowers, dusted with light blue snowflakes; and the intertwining of sparkling ice trees, flashing with blue highlights at the slightest movement of the “crystal” foliage and reaching the height of our three-story house... And among all this incredible beauty, surrounded by flashes of real “northern lights”, a breathtakingly majestic ice palace proudly rose, the whole shining with the shimmer of unprecedented silvery blue shades...

Russian snowboarder Ekaterina Ilyukhina was born in Novosibirsk in the summer of 1987.

The athlete now competes in three disciplines at once: parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom and snowboardcross. The athlete’s most significant achievements at the moment are winning the European Snowboarding Cup in the 2006/2007 season and third place at the Junior World Championships in parallel slalom. But the most important success came to the athlete in 2010, when she became a silver medalist at the Olympic Games in Vancouver. In addition, Ekaterina Ilyukhina won the Russian championship three times in parallel slalom and in the same discipline over a giant distance.

The athlete is trained by famous Russian specialists A.V. Maksimov, D.V. Tikhomirov.

Like most snowboarders in the world, Ekaterina Ilyukhina first practiced alpine skiing, and only then changed her sport and switched to snowboarding. At an early stage of her sports career, the athlete tried her hand at a discipline called snowboardcross, in which she also had success. For example, in 2003 and 2005 she became a bronze medalist at the Russian Championship. In her profile events, Ekaterina Ilyukhina has a whole scattering of awards from Russian championships of various denominations.

At the stages of the European Cup, the Russian athlete won 10 victories, and stood on the podium 6 more times. The athlete performed best at the European Cup stage in the 2006/2007 season. Then Ekaterina Ilyukhina became a prize-winner of the stages seven times.

In the 2006/2007 season, Ekaterina Ilyukhina was able to win the overall European Cup standings, scoring 4025 points. The Russian athlete was in the top ten twice more, finishing in seventh and ninth places.

The Russian snowboarder first competed at the World Cup stages in 2004, starting at a stage in the Italian town of Bardonecchia. The athlete’s first podium finish came in 2010, when she took third place in parallel slalom at a stage in the Italian town of Limone Piemonte.

In the overall standings of the World Cup stages, things were not so good for the athlete. The best performances date back to the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 seasons, when the athlete took fourteenth places in the overall standings.

The Russian athlete participated in the Snowboardcross World Cup competitions only once, in the 2003/2004 season.

The most important, unexpected success came to the athlete in 2010. This year, Ekaterina Ilyukhina went to her first Olympic Games as part of the Russian national team. In Vancouver, the Russian athlete unexpectedly became the silver medalist of the Games in her signature discipline - parallel giant slalom.

It is worth noting that the Olympic competitions were held in pouring rain, which added additional difficulties to the performances of all athletes. And in such difficult weather conditions, the athlete’s attitude helped her achieve unprecedented success in this type of program for Russia.

Thus, Ekaterina Ilyukhina became the first snowboarder in the history of Russian sports to win an Olympic award.

After the competition, the athlete admitted that this medal was very unexpected for her, because before that she had not had any serious success at major snowboarding competitions. According to her, she was not even sure that she would go to this Olympics due to the very high competition in this type of program. Most of all, Ekaterina Ilyukhina’s success was rejoiced in her hometown of Novosibirsk.

After the Olympic Games, Ekaterina Ilyukhina was awarded the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree. The Russian athlete was awarded such a high award for her excellent performance at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and her great personal contribution to the development of sports.

After the completion of the Olympic Games, Ekaterina was included in the Russian National Olympic Committee, where she works on the athletes’ commission. Ekaterina is an Honored Master of Sports of Russia.

In addition to sports, Ekaterina devotes a lot of time to studying. She is a student at the Kuzbass State Pedagogical Academy.

An unusual hobby for an athlete, Ekaterina enjoys collecting ceramics.

“I don’t even remember myself without skis,” Ekaterina ILYUKHINA, a snowboarder from Novosibirsk who fought for the honor of Russia at the Olympics in Sochi, often says. “I started skiing for the first time when I was 2 years old.”

Fun for the whole village

As they say, God himself ordered Katya Ilyukhina to become an athlete. She was born in the village of Kamenushka, near the Klyuchi ski resort in the Novosibirsk region, where there is snow for five and a half months a year. In Kamenushka, literally the entire village has been into skiing for decades. And on weekends, city residents from Novosibirsk come here to explore the ski slopes. Her mother Lyubov Afanasyevna recalls:

“My children watched people skiing from the mountains from infancy and, of course, they also wanted to. Therefore, as soon as they turned two years old, I put all my three children on skis. There were no boots that small, so my father attached his skis to felt boots with galoshes. They learned to roll down quickly, but had to be carried uphill by hand. Katyusha, the youngest, already at the age of 6 firmly said: “I myself!” This was her favorite word as a child. She did not tolerate anyone's help, even in her studies. Very independent. I don’t remember having any problems with her, even as a teenager, only joy.”

Katya with the Olympic flame. Photo: AiF / Guzel Biktimirova

Katya is the youngest in the family, but not at all a spoiled child. Sergey Nikolaevich- the father of the family - believes that all children should be treated equally and responsibilities around the house should be distributed equally. It seems that even now, when they have long grown up, dad is afraid of offending someone and doesn’t want to single anyone out. “Yes, I’m proud of Katya,” he admits, “after all, winning a silver medal in parallel giant slalom on a snowboard at the Olympic Games in Vancouver is a serious claim to success. But I’m also proud of my son, a lieutenant colonel, and my eldest daughter, who works as a lawyer in a large company.”

By the way, the father also had a hand in his daughter’s sporting success. There was a period when he worked as the director of the Klyuchi ski resort and in every possible way encouraged the passion for skiing of all the village children and, of course, his own children. There has always been a children's ski section here, and then the very first in the region - a snowboard section.

Life is according to the bus schedule

Speaking about Katya, athlete's older sister Marina does not hide her emotions: “She was always the most beloved, everyone in the family simply adored her. She and I are 8.5 years apart, so I often had to take her to kindergarten or pick her up when my parents had no time. My sister was always cheerful, I never heard any whims from her.

And during our school years, our whole life was subject to the bus schedule, on which we went to Akademgorodok Novosibirsk to school every day. Everything was easy for Katya: both studying and homework. There was never any reason for disputes about who should wash the floor or the dishes. Even though she was the youngest, she was often the first to grab a rag and urge my brother and me on.

Ekaterina in Sochi. Photo: RIA Novosti

Katya loves people, there are always many friends around her, and she also adores horses and dogs. As a child, I spent a lot of time in the stable - my parents kept a horse at that time. She can mount a horse and gallop off into the field, or go beyond the outskirts with the dogs - wander among the hills. One day our hound named Veterok got lost. Our whole family went looking for her for several days. Everyone was very worried, but they resigned themselves - what can you do? But Katya still couldn’t calm down: she printed out at least a hundred advertisements and posted them in the village and in Akademgorodok for several days. Only Veterok was never found... And now Katya lives in Moscow, so we rarely meet. I honestly miss it."

He put the future Olympic champion on a snowboard older brother Konstantin in 1998. By the way, he won first place at the Russian Snowboard Cup in 1999. But his sports career was hindered by his studies at the Omsk Academy. Konstantin recalls: “One of my good friends bought a snowboard at the end of 1998. At that time, this sport had just appeared in Russia. He gave me a snowboard to ride for a few days. I stand up to him, and my little sister (she was about 12 years old at the time)’s eyes were lighting up - I wanted it so bad. But to try, she had to put on a pair of thick socks and stuff papers into the men's shoes. She rode like that for almost a year—an acquaintance gave her a snowboard. It was very expensive to buy it for the family.”

A snowboard school opened in Klyuchi only in 2000. They took almost everyone there. Catherine's first personal trainer wasAnton BLAGOVIDOV. “I noticed Katerina at regional alpine skiing competitions,” he says, “and invited her. She didn't think for a minute. The girl is very stubborn, but she accepted the saying “the coach is always right” with a smile. She needed to be convinced, not ordered. For example, I advised that you urgently need to increase your running pace - the speed is low. And she: “Everything is fine with me!” There was no speedometer, so to prove it, I asked her to run in tow behind the car at a certain speed. And then she felt that she was falling far behind. Convinced.

In 2006, Katya joined the Russian national team and went to Moscow. When she comes to Novosibirsk, she calls me and we communicate. She’s in good shape now and I think everything will work out for her.”

Snowboarder Ekaterina Ilyukhina at the Olympics in Vancouver. Photo: Russian Ski and Snowboard Federation.

The whole family watched her performances closely and cheered. “When Katya became second in Vancouver,” recalls brother Konstantin, “there were so many emotions that I can’t even describe. Mom and sister cried with joy.”

Luck has run out

According to the results of the competition in parallel slalom, Ekaterina, unfortunately, could not make it to the 1/8 finals. Here's how the athlete herself assessed her success:

This is a sport, you can’t guess where you’ll stand on the podium. I did it in Vancouver, although now I was much stronger than at the Games in 2010. There are no problems, but luck has turned away from me and some of the athletes on our team,” Ilyukhina said. — I was in peak shape, I was very well prepared for the Games. Of course, I was counting on the giant more than the slalom. There were training sessions the day before, everything worked out great, but I got to the first qualification and I don’t know what happened to me, but I did very poorly.

Ekaterina ILYUKHINA, a Russian snowboarder who competed at the Olympic Games in Sochi in parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom and snowboard cross (the competition took place on February 19 and 22). Born on June 19, 1987 in Novosibirsk. She became a bronze medalist at the Russian Championships in 2003 and 2005. in snowboard cross. In specialized disciplines at the Russian championships, she won gold (2009), silver (2011) and two bronzes (2006, 2010) in parallel giant slalom, two golds (2010, 2011) two silvers (2005, 2009) and bronze (2007) in parallel slalom. At the stages of the European Cup she won 10 victories in various disciplines and became a prize-winner 6 times.

The silver medalist of the 2010 Olympics in parallel giant slalom, the Russian snowboarder, in a conversation with RIA Novosti correspondent Ildar Satdinov, announced that she had decided to end her career in connection with the pleasant news for her, spoke about how doping officers were pursuing her at home in Novosibirsk, and remembered how hard it was to win a medal at the Vancouver Games.

“In January I was simply pursued by doping officers”

- Katya, have you really decided to end your career?

Yes, I'm retiring.

- It's a pity, not very good news for the fans.

You know, who cares. For me, this decision is associated with a very joyful event. At the same time, I did not plan in advance or during the season that I would retire this season. It happened.

- How difficult was this decision for you?

When a woman finds out before the Olympics that she is pregnant, it is no longer possible to compete at the Games. I can’t risk my health or anything else right now. On the one hand, this is good news, on the other hand, it’s probably not entirely good news for sports.

- If you evaluate your career as a whole, are you satisfied with how your sports life went?

For 15 years as a member of the Russian national team, I had many victories and defeats. There has been a slight decline in recent years. Perhaps this was due to a change in the coaching staff, I was very used to him, who also became the president of the Russian Snowboard Federation. It was very difficult for me to readjust, apparently I still haven’t readjusted. Maybe I’ll come back in the future, but that’s in doubt for now.

- So you leave yourself the opportunity to return to professional sports?

At the moment I don't think about it at all. But in our sport everything is possible. If you have the opportunity to train all year round on a slope, in the snow, then why not? There are snowboarders who still perform at the age of 40...

- For example, Austrian Claudia Riegler is still competing in the World Cup at 44 years old.

Rigler is not exactly an example for me in this regard, since she has neither children nor family. She spends all her free time on the slope and lives in the mountains.

- As far as I know, you are still being actively checked?

For the last month I have been tested for doping almost every other day. I was in the testing pool because it was a requirement to participate in the Games and I planned to qualify for the Olympics in South Korea. In January I was simply pursued by doping officers! Every evening, WADA employees were waiting for me in front of the room. Due to health reasons, I missed the final stage of the World Cup before the Olympics, so I did not note anything (in the WADA control system). I returned home to Novosibirsk. Today I went to bed at 3 a.m., and at 6 a.m. I was picked up for doping control.

- Maybe this was the last visit of the doping officers?

I announced back in mid-January that they would definitely not compete at the Olympics due to their situation. But WADA decided to test me anyway.

“I hope our athletes will “fight” at the Olympics in Pyeongchang”

- Can you say that Vancouver’s silver is now worth its weight in gold for you?

For me, of course, this is a significant achievement, and, probably, until now I have not fully realized it. After all, this was my first medal. I’ve been training with the national team now, and I see the mood of my colleagues, what the athletes are talking about. What they have in their heads now is completely different from what we had before. We had training, training, training. It's completely different now. When I came second in Vancouver, I was upset. I lost just a little in the fight for gold!

Yes, I won this silver medal, but for this I worked very hard, without sparing myself. At the moment I don’t see such an attitude in the national team. Now the girls also plow and train seriously in the summer. But I don’t see such zeal for the result. At the same time, the coaching staff is trying very hard to set up the girls. I’m 30 years old, and so is Katya Tudegesheva. She has it in her - a constant desire to win, to progress. The other generation does not have this; they stop developing. Won somewhere - and that's all, well done. But this is not enough, we must constantly develop and move forward.

How did you perceive the decision to allow Russians to the Olympics only as neutral athletes? At the same time, a large number of athletes were not admitted without clear reasons.

For me, an athlete who has achieved a lot, this is unacceptable. How can you participate now after this? The IOC says Russian athletes can only hang their flag in their room during the Olympics and nothing more. Well, what is it? I participated in two Olympic Games, I know what it is. The Olympics are joy, it is pride for the country. And now they tell our guys: “You’re nobody, you’re neutral.” You are not allowed to attend the opening or closing of the Games as an athlete from your country. I don't understand this attitude towards our team. I hope that our athletes will “fight” at the Olympics in Pyeongchang and will prove that this is not the case. It's very disappointing that we are treated this way.

- What are your expectations from the performance of Russian snowboarders in the “giant” at the Games?

I hope for the best, I wish our entire team that there will be medals. But this will not be easy to do. I think our boys have a better chance of getting on the podium than our girls. I would really like our athletes to return from Pyeongchang with medals.

On Friday, 22-year-old Ekaterina Ilyukhina brought the Russian team a silver medal, becoming second in the parallel giant slalom.

Russia flew into Olympic snowboarding history on a wet, cold morning on Cypress Mountain on the outskirts of Vancouver. That’s what it’s called, this hill, despite the fact that, at a casual glance, ordinary, simple-minded fir trees grow there. For greater accuracy in denoting the historical moment, I’ll tell you that at the entrance to the stadium, the heavily thawed remains of a snowman stood tilted. His hands were rubber gloves filled with snow, in which the guards felt the visitors. There was someone's snow board leaning against the wall of the sports equipment storage room. “Canadian girls kick ass,” it said. Loosely translated, this means: “Canadians will attack everyone!” It was implied that with their feet.

The Canadians and the Canadians really piled on everyone at this Olympics, but there were doubts about the parallel giant slalom. In “hard” snowboarding (where, unlike youth-extreme “soft” snowboarding, athletes perform in tight tights and generally look more like skiers), North America is not particularly hot. Canadian Ross Rebagliati was once on fire (in every sense), but since he achieved a golden triumph and a marijuana scandal at the same time, Europeans dominate this sport more and more. Recently, their number includes Russians, or rather Russian women.

The Russian women's slalom team brought three winners of the World Cup stages to Vancouver, which gave great reason to count on the first snow-board medal in history. The three favorites were also joined by 22-year-old Ekaterina Ilyukhina - a native of Novosibirsk, a resident of Khanty-Mansiysk, a student, an athlete (I probably shouldn’t have clarified this), the owner of a fantastically sunny temperament, the eruption of a laughing volcano and the queen of training tracks.

This last definition is not necessarily complimentary. It precisely implies the fact that Ekaterina was the only one of all the Russians in Vancouver who had never won a major competition. And he didn’t even make it to the finals. As you already know, Katino’s bad luck was solemnly buried on Cypress Mountain.

In press materials prepared by the organizers of the Games, it was stated that Ilyukhina's nickname was Chica-Yo-Yo. From the very beginning, this information seemed dubious, or more precisely, too tempting to be true. That’s how it turned out in the end: Ilyukhina herself, having heard this, was so surprised that she stopped smiling for a split second, and then said that her name on the team was Katrin. Apparently, to distinguish it from the namesake Tudegesheva, who (if you believe the same materials) is called Katjuha. Who and why invented this Chica, and even Yo-Yo, remained a mystery. Maybe someone on whom Ilyukhina made a lasting impression. Which probably happens to everyone who sees her for the first time.

In the interview below, your correspondent allowed himself not to mark with the word “laughs” in brackets those places where Ilyukhina in every possible way reflected a cheerful mood. Laughed. Giggling. She smiled slyly. She choked with laughter. Later, reading this bell-like conversation from the recorder, all that was left was to laugh. She laughs so contagiously, this pseudo-Chica. You can randomly scatter the word “laughs” in parentheses in any quantity throughout all her answers. You probably won't get to the truth.

Ilyukhina won her medal in crazy circumstances - on a mountain completely “blind” from rain and fog, on which almost everyone, including the Russian, had fallen by the end of the day. It was even worse because on one of the two parallel tracks (the “blue one”) the snow was much bumpier, which is why at the beginning of the descent the snowboarder had to hang around quite a bit on the bumps. The task on the red track was to drive as quickly as possible, on the blue track - not to fall. Not everyone succeeded. Tudegesheva, for example, having created a maximum margin (one and a half seconds) on red, started too quickly on blue, fell on her stomach and was eliminated in the first round. After which, short and slouched, she lowered her pierced nose, sat down under the Christmas tree and began to cry quietly. Unlike her fellow hockey players, she was unbearably sorry.

Tudegesheva's opponent, the German Kober, met exactly the same fate in the quarterfinals against Ilyukhina - a one-and-a-half-second margin on red, a fall on blue. And Ilyukhina herself flopped on blue in the semi-finals, but then made up the deficit on red, while her opponent was shaken to the core by the “blue” potholes.

In the final there was no force majeure, but no victory. Ilyukhina fought like a miniature, smiling lion against the Dutchwoman Sauerbreij, but she, finding herself on the red track, was a little faster.

Well, any medal is valuable as an initiative, especially since Catherine was so happy about her silver that it was completely unnecessary to feel sorry for her. Have you ever seen a pretty girl laugh wildly while simultaneously chattering her teeth from the cold? If not, then you have lost a lot. Get creative and find out. In the meantime, let’s give the floor to the heroine of a new sport for Russia.

“I honestly don’t feel like I’ve earned a medal yet,” Ilyukhina said immediately after the final. - We had so many days of training - we arrived very early, on the 11th. You walk and can’t wait to see when the start will take place. Every day you go out to train and think: “Damn! I wish I could skate like I’m training today at the Olympics!” And yesterday I walked for half a day and did not understand what was happening to me. I mentally imagined the track: how I was driving along it - and I couldn’t do anything. My legs can't walk, my hands are shaking...

- Are you really called the queen of training runs?

Actually yes. Everything is always great during training, but at the start something always doesn’t work out. Whether I’m burning out or something else, I don’t know. Maybe some kind of self-doubt. But now I’ve approached the Olympics - well, I don’t know - more seriously, or something. I thought: “Why am I training and training, but I can’t win at least some place. Good. Medal.” Damn, I couldn’t even get to the finals before, although I always had the most consistent runs in training. I gave it my all, but the time came for the official start, and... And then I realized that I could qualify, but then I was only good enough for the first races. After which it burned out again. I lost not “physics”, but psychologically.

- Is this why you got a psychologist on your team?

Well, actually everyone contributed. Doctor, trainer, psychologist, service people - all, all, all.

- What did the psychologist tell you before the start?

She told me: “You feel so good, your pulse is so regular! You’ve never had such a pulse!” She said: “You will perform well!” Actually, I didn’t pay much attention to these words, because there’s no point in relaxing either. But here it is, it worked.

- Did you sleep well?

Until twelve at night - not very good, but then - okay, until six.

- When did you realize that you had a chance to win medals?

I had thoughts when we were riding with Gorgone (in the eighth of the finals - S.M.’s note), because I saw that she didn’t do well in her first attempt. She somehow immediately turned out to be quite far from me. But I thought that, let’s say, Russia and Russia would compete for reaching the semifinals. Only Katya Tudegesheva was unlucky.

- You too, in the semi-finals.

To be honest, I’m completely shocked by what happened there. She fell right on a flat area. She stood up and started jumping to speed up and move on. I think: you never know - maybe she will fall too, and I’m right there. I’m driving, but it still doesn’t fall! As a result, I received a penalty - one and a half seconds. That's a lot. And before the second attempt, the coach told me: “Pass as best you can.”

- That's exactly what he said? What if it’s verbatim?

Oh, I don’t remember! He said: "Stomp!" Probably... Well, I gave it my all, caught up with her, caught up with her and somehow managed to reach the finals.

- What happened in the last descent, when silver was already guaranteed?

I tried and drove normally, but below... It happens there - if you go wrong to the flag, you will lose altitude - that’s all. I tried to repeat the semi-final, when I snatched fourteen hundredths from the Austrian.

- Only in the semi-finals did you go on the red track for the second attempt, but it was easier.

Yes its true. While my opponent on the blue one was rattling, I quickly rushed by, and then we were evenly matched, and the board rolled me out.

- During the qualifications, many were indignant that the competition was held in the rain, but you said that it was your weather.

In fact, it cheers me up. In good weather, on the contrary, nothing happens. Because we are used to training like this. Other teams don’t go out in the fog and rain, but all we hear is: “Okay, let’s continue to work according to plan.”

- But visibility was almost zero. How did you travel? By memory?

Well... You go to the start line, everyone shouts to you: “Come on faster, thirty seconds left!” You fasten your boots, but your glasses are already covered with wet snow. You quickly, quickly try to wipe it off... I had so many napkins blown away by the wind today!.. You wipe it, but the glass doesn’t wipe, all the wetness remains. Then you get up to the start - and it seems like nothing. But halfway through the route you suddenly realize that you can’t see anything at all. There you just have to notice the flags. I drove by feel. It's good that the track here is just perfect.

- You didn’t have a burden of expectations in Vancouver. That helped?

Yes! At least I finally won something.

- “At least something” - you said it well.

I'm telling you, I still don't really understand anything.

- Is your team friendly? Do you go for a walk or shopping with someone?

Damn, yes, friendly. We all support each other. And for shopping - sometimes with one girl, sometimes with another.

- Tell us how you got into the sport and why you chose snowboarding.

Actually, I’ve been in sports for a long time, but first I did alpine skiing. And then I saw a snowboard and wanted to do it all myself. And for some reason I immediately got a hard board on which you ride in ski boots. Some friends brought it. Then I was taken to the Russian Cup... Or to the championship?.. In general, there I immediately showed the third result, and I was taken to the national team. All these years I trained and trained, but I didn’t win anything. Maybe the overall standings of the European Cup, but in recent years everything has somehow been like this...

- If you believe the same dubious sources, you study at a Novosibirsk university.

Oh, is it possible without comments?

- What, they lied again? Or did you quit?

No I am learning. At the Kuzbass Pedagogical Academy.

- Will you be a coach?

Yes, I will train Olympic champions. But I'm not done yet!

- How will you celebrate the medal?

I don't know yet.

- How do snowboarders celebrate their medals?

Damn, but really - how? I do not know!

- You're probably having a blast somehow. Maybe you go to discos?

No, we don't go.