Nikolai Semenovich Zimyatov. Zimyatov Nikolay Semenovich Nikolay Zimyatov: personal life

Born on June 28, 1955 in the village of Rumyantsevo, Istrinsky district, Moscow region. Father - Semyon Mikhailovich Zimyatov (born 1917), a man of a rare profession - glass blower. Mother - Anna Petrovna Zimyatova (born 1921), primary school teacher. Wife – Lyubov Aleksandrovna Zykova (born 1959), skier. Daughter – Ekaterina (born 1981). Son – Dmitry (born 1987).

Nikolai’s first significant successes came in 1973 at the USSR personal and team championship in Syktyvkar, when he, speaking for rural VSOs of the Moscow region, took 3rd place at a 15-kilometer distance. The next year, Zimyatov won the 20-kilometer race, and in 1975 he distinguished himself as a junior in 3 disciplines: at the 15-kilometer distance he was third, at the 20-kilometer distance he was second, and in the relay he rose to the highest step of the podium.

Nikolai Zimyatov’s first performances in international competitions also occurred in 1975: at the 8th European Junior Championships in Finland, he won a silver medal in a 15-kilometer race. Having entered the adult category (1977), Zimyatov won bronze at the USSR Championship in the 30-kilometer race. And at the next, anniversary 50th national championship, Nikolai already won 2 gold medals - at a distance of 30 kilometers and in the relay. Subsequently (1979-84) he became the champion of the Soviet Union at various distances.

Nikolai Zimyatov took a serious step towards the ski Olympus in 1978 as a member of the USSR national team at the World Championships in Lahti (Finland). At the 30-kilometer distance he was second.

And here are the XIII Winter Olympic Games in 1980 in Lake Placid, America. The program of ski competitions opened with a 30-kilometer race in classical style. Nikolay got a good starting number - 56th (a total of 57 athletes started). From the very first kilometers, the coaches saw that Nikolai was ready to give battle to the main competitors ahead. From the 10th kilometer, he went ahead, ran in his favorite manner - with wide, as if flying strides, managing to listen to information from national team coach Boris Bystrov.

Finish – Zimyatov’s time is 1 hour 27 minutes 2 seconds, and he accepts congratulations on his victory. When Nikolai was told that second place went to his teammate Vasily Rochev, who showed a result of 1 hour 27 minutes 34 seconds, the joy of the triumphant knew no bounds. When asked by journalists what he was thinking about now, Nikolai Zimyatov replied: “Now it’s not a shame to return home!”

Zimyatov achieved another success with his team colleagues Vasily Rochev, Nikolai Bazhukov and Evgeniy Belyaev in the Olympic 4x10 kilometer relay race. As a result, our main rivals – the Norwegians – were content with silver medals, lagging behind the winners by more than 1 minute 40 seconds. So Zimyatov became the owner of the second golden “snowflake”.

And 3 days later, with an unprecedented time for races of this level, Nikolai Zimyatov wins the most prestigious race - 50 kilometers, beating the silver medalist Finn Juha Mieto by almost 3 minutes. Never before have Soviet skiers become first in the marathon distance of the Winter Olympics!

It is hardly possible to count how many times on the evening of that victorious day Nikolai Zimyatov was called the “king of skis.” And “His Majesty” himself sat modestly on the sidelines and embarrassedly repeated: “Well, things have worked out. Well, what kind of king am I to you?..” And even upon arrival in Moscow, he could not realize that the impressive crowd of people in front of the IL-86 ramp, which arrived from Montreal, had gathered on the airfield mostly for his sake.

Journalists asked: “Was your success a consequence of the use of some special tactics?” To this, the three-time Olympic champion replied: “I try to choose the most rational pace. I never start a race with all my might; after the first 2-3 kilometers I ask the coaches to give the main competitors time and, based on this, I choose my tactics. To keep the race in a winning spirit, you need absolute self-confidence, based on a clear knowledge of the character and capabilities of the body.”

Soon an important event occurs in Nikolai’s life - he starts a family; his chosen one was the famous skier Lyubov Zykova, in the 1970s a repeated silver and bronze medalist at the European junior championships, and later a participant in the Olympic Games.

After victories in Lake Placid, Nikolai, together with coach A. Kholostov, set themselves the preparation for the next Olympics as a “super task,” which is why Zimyatov “goes into the shadows” for a while. Unfortunately, Nikolai is beginning to be plagued by colds, which also causes the disappearance of his star from both the domestic and international sports horizons for a very long period by sports standards (2-3 years). He misses the next World Cup in 1982. Gradually, high hopes are no longer pinned on him, and perhaps the only people who believed in Zimyatov at that time were himself and his coach.

Zimyatov trains a lot, shows himself well when selecting for the team for the 1984 Olympics and goes to Sarajevo. Fate favors Nikolai - at a distance of 30 kilometers he receives the last, 72nd number. There was a good chance, but they still had to be able to take advantage of it, because another Zimyatov was coming to the starting line - a 28-year-old army man, more mature, mature and, obviously, understanding that he did not have to waste opportunities to rise to the highest step of the Olympic podium.

The Yugoslav weather turned out to be capricious - it snowed all night before the race. By the time the 30-kilometer race started, the temperature was minus six, there was a snowstorm - quite “Zimyatov” weather. Nikolai knew the names of his main competitors very well - they were Alexander Zavyalov, Swede Gunde Svan and Finn Aki Karvonen. As a result of a difficult struggle on the track, Zimyatov showed the best time - 1 hour 28 minutes and 56 seconds. The cost of this victory can be judged by his words, uttered in response to a journalist’s question to the winner, how he feels now: “I’m still all there, on the ski track... We’ll feel something later.”

And then at the Olympic stadium the weather was almost ideal for cross-country skiing - frost minus 10-12, hard ski track, windless, sunny. In such impeccable conditions it was easier to prove ourselves to our rivals, and Swann did it better than anyone else. A UPI correspondent wrote then: “The Swede, who prayed to the sports gods for the end of the snow storm, waited in the wings and won a gold medal in the 15-kilometer race.” The best of our team back then was Nikitin (4th place), and Nikolai Zimyatov finished sixth.

Everyone was looking forward to the 4x10 kilometer relay. Of the 17 teams that started, the contenders for gold were determined by the third stage - the Swedes and the Russians. The race took place in the most intense competition. Two champions, Zimyatov and Svan, reached the final, decisive stage. They lead alternately - first one, then the other. It was an exciting confrontation between two titans of skiing. As a result, the young Swede still beat Nikolai Zimyatov in less than 10 seconds. Authoritative experts noted then: “If Nikolai had not run tag, he might have had enough strength to win...”

The last race of the Olympics - the 50-kilometer marathon - did not go well for Nikolai, as they say. However, even without this, Zimyatov’s participation in the 84 Olympic Games deserves admiration.

In the entire history of world skiing, only three athletes managed to become owners of 3 or more gold medals in individual races, one of which was the marathon - the Swede Sixten Jornberg (Olympic champion in 1956, 1960 and 1964), Nikolai Zimyatov (gold at the Olympics) Games 1980 and 1984) and Norwegian Bjorn Dali (winner of the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Olympics). Each of them is rightly called the “king of skis.” And no matter how ironically our compatriot treats his “monarchical” title, we perceive it exactly like that.

Nowadays our winning principle is “Believe in yourself!” Nikolai Zimyatov, as the coach of the national team, instills in his students. Every year, in the area of the village of Golovino, not far from the homeland of the outstanding athlete, open competitions are held for the prizes of Nikolai Zimyatov.

Nikolai Semenovich Zimyatov - four-time Olympic champion, silver medalist of the Olympic Games, awarded the titles Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1980), Honored Coach of the USSR. Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1980), Friendship of Peoples (1984), and medals for sporting achievements.

Four-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Nikolai Zimyatov summed up the results of the World Championships that ended in Lahti.

“NEED TO LEGALIZE THE TITLE “KING OF SKI”

- Nikolai Semenovich, Ustyugov could become the third “king of skis” (see the section “from the history of the issue”) in Russian history.
- I didn’t, it’s a shame for Sergei. Unfortunately, this is an unofficial title. Kuzin received it at the World Championships, and I received it at the Olympics in Lake Placid in 1980. But it would be necessary to legitimize - to award this title for a specific achievement. They could present some kind of crown. Someone should come to FIS with such a proposal. I'm somehow out of my depth. And then everyone says: king, king. And the king is without a crown.

- Let's go back to the marathon. Ustyugov and Alexey Chervotkin were in the leading group of about 15 skiers, including four Norwegians. But at the finish line, Canadian Alex Harvey pulled ahead and won. Ustyugov yawned the Canadian's jerk?
- I watched the replay, the situation for Sergei at the turn was not bad. I think Harvey realized that he could win: there were 100 meters left to the finish and he went for broke. But I’m happy for Ustyugov, he continued our victorious traditions in Lahti. Sergei Savelyev won gold at the World Championships here in 1978, and my career began at that championship. And our girls - Elena Vyalbe and Anfisa Reztsova - performed excellently here.

Savelyev gave me a photograph from Lahti, it hangs at home. The last stage of the relay and our two teams pass the baton on two tracks at once: Nikolai Bazhukov to Savelyev, and I to Evgeniy Lukyanov. And all the pursuers were one and a half minutes behind. It was a commercial start, so we performed as two teams.

- How do you feel about the mass start?
- Not very good. Mass starts appeared when I was already working as a coach. Another sprint appeared, all these new styles. Athletes from non-skiing countries - Canada and the USA - began to dominate the sprint. This has already become a slightly different sport. I understand that these are the demands of television people. The races are fast and convenient for TV viewers. There has been sprinting before, but only in commercial competitions.

- How do you feel about mass start at classic distances - 30 and 50 km?
- Well, where can you get away from this? The call of the times. The only thing is that we can’t teach our guys not to lead from the very start. The others follow them. How many races have we lost this way? We need to change tactics - don’t go forward right away, stay in the lead group, but a little behind.

- You also had a case when you were in the lead, Gunde Svan sat behind you the entire distance, and passed you at the finish line.
- It was at the Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984. The last stage of the relay. Svan was young then and was afraid of me. He sat down behind me and sat there for nine kilometers. I slowed down and let him pass, but he still didn’t overtake. It was also impossible to slow down too much - then the main group would catch up with us. In general, Svan sat behind me, and in the last kilometer he took the lead. So the Swedes won gold, and we came second.

“THE LEADERS WERE REMOVED, AND WE PERFORMED BRILLIANTLY WITHOUT THEM”

- Do the results of the World Cup inspire optimism?
- Of course they do! I don’t know if Elena Valerievna (Vyalbe, head coach of the national team and president of the Russian Ski Racing Federation. - Ed.) had a plan for this championship, but I think it was exceeded. We had a whole group of leaders removed, but we performed brilliantly without leaders. We proved to the whole world that we are clean and that we have an excellent reserve.

- But all our successes rest on Ustyugov alone. A year before the Olympics, is this worrying?
- Well, listen, how was Justyna Kowalczyk the only leader in Poland for many years?! Talents like Ustyugov are not born often. And it’s good that the coaching staff managed to maintain Sergei’s excellent form throughout the season. After all, some people sacrifice Tru de ski for the World Cup. And Sergei performed brilliantly at two main competitions. I think Sergei would have won the sprint at the Games in Sochi, if not for that ill-fated fall.

- Who is behind Ustyugov, where is the nearest reserve?
- Alexander Bessmertnykh, Andrey Larkov, Petr Sedov, Alexey Chervotkin - this is the closest reserve. Only the Bessmertnykhs are older, and the rest are young, they still have to perform and perform. And they are already catching up with the leaders.

- The suspended ones - Alexander Legkov, Alexey Petukhov, Maxim Vylegzhanin - aren't they reserves for the Olympics if everything ends well for them?
- These guys are experienced, they have achieved a lot. It is unlikely that they will improve, unlike the young ones. But at the Olympics, of course, if they want, if they are prepared, they can still shoot.

- But for now their future career is in question.
“I think the situation will be resolved well for them.” There is no evidence of their guilt. But the question is, who will compensate the children for this suffering? Someone will have to apologize.

FROM THE HISTORY OF THE QUESTION

In 1954, at the World Championships in Falun, Soviet racer Vladimir Kuzin became the first Soviet world champion, winning the 50 and 30 km races. The Swedish king solemnly presented him with a large silver cup for this, on which was engraved: “To the King of Skis from the King of Sweden.” In addition to Kuzin, the unofficial title of “king of skis” was achieved in different years by: Matti Raivio and Mika Myllylä (both Finland), Nikolai Zimyatov (USSR), Gunde Svan (Sweden) and Peter Northug (Norway).

However, Zimyatov is the only one of the “kings” who managed to win these two distances at the Olympic Games; the rest won victories at the world championships, which are held twice as often as the Olympics.

The Olympic Games in Lake Placid '80 were marked by the birth of another "king of skis"

Moscow region racer Nikolai Zimyatov won three gold medals - in the 30-kilometer race, 50-kilometer race and in the relay. Four years later, at the Games in Sarajevo-84, he will once again win the “thirty”.

Where did this unofficial title come from - “king of skis”? 60 years ago, after the World Championships in Falun, Sweden, the first title holder was the Soviet racer Vladimir Kuzin, who won two distances of 50 km and 30. The Swedish king, delighted with Kuzin, presented him with a huge silver cup with the engraving: “To the King of Skis from the King of Sweden.” Today the story about this already looks like a beautiful legend.

For more than half a century, the list of “ski kings” includes a dozen famous names. These are those who won “thirty” and “fifty” at one of the largest competitions - the Olympic Games or the World Championship. But Zimyatov is on the right flank in this row. He was the only one who managed to do this at one Olympics. It's 80 in Lake Placid. It was then that the village of Rumyantsevo near Moscow became known throughout the world, because it is the birthplace of the “ski king”. As a child, Nikolai, like all boys, played football in the summer and hockey in the winter. But at the same time he was often susceptible to colds.

My mother was worried that I was coughing, sneezing, or falling down with a fever,” recalls Nikolai Zimyatov. - I decided that it would be better if my son went to music school. For some time I lost on the button accordion, or rather, I suffered. Five kilometers from Rumyantsev, at the Novo-Petrovsk school, the ski section was led by Alexey Ivanovich Kholostov. He did not divide the guys into promising and unpromising. The sports school did not have enough equipment and did not have comfortable locker rooms. But then they didn’t just pay attention to these things, my generation could train under any conditions. I liked studying with Kholostov. On his advice, I began to douse myself with cold water and over time I got rid of colds, and even bathed in the fall. And most importantly, my mother allowed me to leave the button accordion and give up the “musical” (smiles).

Zimyatov's first serious success came at the 1978 World Championships in Lahti, Finland, where he came second at a distance of 30 kilometers. According to him, that silver award is very dear to him, since it allowed him to finally strengthen his faith in the Olympic victory. Two years later in Lake Placid, Nikolai fully justified the hopes of himself, Kholostov, and the entire ski team. And now it’s hard to believe his words that before the start on the “thirty” his knees were shaking, and he walked the first kilometer or two “on autopilot.” I calmed down only after the tenth kilometer, and after the victorious finish I exhaled: “Well, now I’m not ashamed to return home.”

Then there will be victories in the 4x10 kilometer relay race and the fifty-kopeck relay. Before Zimyatov, at the age of 24, none of the skiers had won any Olympics three times.

Kholostov was nearby in these moments of happiness. The rural trainer was taken on a trip to the USA as an incentive. By that time, he had already transferred his best student to the USSR national team for several years. But it was clear to everyone who knows about skiing whose main contribution was in preparing the hero of Lake Placid. When journalists asked Kholostov how he managed to raise the “king of skis,” he sincerely answered: “You just have to work honestly.”

Photo from the archives of the Moscow Region Winter Sports Center

After the 1980 Olympics, Zimyatov’s career hit a low point. He performed unsuccessfully at the USSR championships and did not qualify for the national team for the 1982 World Championships. The national team coaches first assured journalists that nothing terrible was happening, Zimyatov would soon become the old Zimyatov. But this did not happen, and the same mentors had already changed their tune: “We have new talented guys growing up in our team. They will be able to compete for gold at the Olympic Games in Sarajevo.”

Zimyatov was transferred to the second squad. Before the start of the 1984 Olympic season, the senior coach of the country's men's team, Boris Bystrov, directly stated that he did not see a place for Zimyatov at the Games in Sarajevo. They say that Nikolai could not bear the burden of fame, he started the training process, while he was “resting”, his comrades went ahead...

You can imagine what was going on in the soul of the three-time Olympic champion then.

“Don’t pay attention to anything, Kolya! - Kholostov looked sternly into the student’s eyes. - You can prepare for the Olympic Games. Understood? You can!"

By that time, Zimyatov had married and his daughter was growing up. Emotional balance gradually returned to normal.

And he again made us wonder and admire. He won several races at the qualifying starts. The coaching staff ordered Nikolai a ticket to Sarajevo. And there he was the only one on the team who managed to win gold.

In terrible weather, with wind and snowfall, Zimyatov won the “thirty”. But it was Zimyatov, probably more than anyone else in the history of Russian skiing, who was able to run in a snowstorm, in ice, and in a blizzard. It was his weather, his race. With each kilometer, he increased his pace, gaining further and further time ahead of his rivals. When Nikolai emerged from the forest at the stadium, he received a standing ovation. It was clear that the Olympic champion would finish. Ski king.

Soon a new stage began in the life of Nikolai Zimyatov. He switched to coaching. I worked with juniors and biathletes, gaining experience. In the 90s, the Russian women's team, using the baggage accumulated in the Soviet Union, had no equal. And Nikolai Zimyatov made a big contribution to this. He put a lot of effort into training three-time Olympic champion Elena Vyalbe, with whom he began working in the youth team.

We grew up in a great country - the USSR,” emphasizes Nikolai Semenovich. - At international competitions we felt like envoys of a great power. In our time, patriotism was higher; hardly anyone would argue with this. We were more worried about the result. All this was imprinted in the character. Vyalbe, Lazutina, Danilova - these are all skiers from the USSR. They, of course, worked a lot, but in achieving their goal they were greatly helped by the spirit that was inherent in the Soviet Union.

Today Nikolai Zimyatov works at the Winter Sports Center near Moscow, advising leading skiers. Going to the Olympic Games in Sochi.

...At one time, Nikolai Zimyatov put both his daughter Ekaterina and his son Dmitry on skis. But they did not follow in their father's footsteps. The son, however, showed promise. According to Nikolai Semenovich, he ran well in both “classics” and “skating”, and was a member of the Moscow team. However, he still chose to study at the Faculty of Furniture Design at the Stroganov Art Academy. My daughter found herself in volleyball. She played for CSKA and was a prize-winner of the Russian Championship. She got married and gave birth to two boys. Maybe they will repeat the path of the great grandfather?..

REFERENCE

Nikolai Semenovich ZIMYATOV was born on June 28, 1955 in the village of Rumyantsevo (Istrinsky district). Honored Master of Sports in cross-country skiing, Honored Trainer of Russia. Four-time Olympic champion. Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and Friendship of Peoples. Currently, he is a consultant at the Olympic Training Center for Winter Sports in the Moscow Region.

Four-time Olympic champion Nikolai Zimyatov became the most titled participant in the 50th Kazan ski marathon. About how he became the hero of the 1980 Olympics, what is still remembered in Norway, and why he ended his career after inventing skating, in an exclusive interview with BUSINESS Online.

“I DON’T THINK THE LAKE PLACID OLYMPICS TERRIBLE”

Nikolai Semenovich, according to my childhood memories, you quite unexpectedly became the hero of the 1980 Olympics. In any case, that’s what the correspondents of those years wrote.

– Well, before Lake Placid I already had “silver” at the World Championship, won, by the way, in the Finnish city of Lahti, which will soon host this year’s World Championship (starting on February 23. – Ed.) Although it was a start , which I remember for the general public of ski lovers. But in fact, I won my first medals at international competitions at the European Junior Championships. Specifically Europe, since at that time juniors competed at this level, and not at the world championship, as now. To be fair, all of our strongest skiers of those years represented Europe. In the Olympic year 1976, I successfully started in the Finnish city of Lieto. I was 20, and then I took second place.

– Who “dared” to overtake you?

– There was one such member of the Finnish national team named Matti Pitkänen. He was four years older than me (skiers have competitions in the under category, where athletes up to 23 years old participate. - Ed.). Pitkänen later became an Olympic champion in the relay race; he is a famous skier. As for me, then I became the silver medalist at the 1978 World Championships in Lahti, as I already said. Then I turned out to be the youngest in our team, which included Nikolai Bazhukov, Evgeny Belyaev, Sergey Savelyev, Vasily Rochev (By the way, the winner of the Kazan Marathon was his daughter-in-law Olga Rocheva (Moskalenko) - Ed.). Alexander Zavyalov, my same age, was also in Lake Placid.

Nikolai Zimyatov with three gold medals at Lake Placid 1980

– Was the Goat part of your generation?

– You mean the Ukrainian skier Alexander Batyuk, who started competing under his own name, and then changed it. Well, he was younger, like Yuri Burlakov and Vladimir Nikitin, with whom we defended the colors of the national team at the next Olympics in Sarajevo, in 1984. Coming back to me, after the junior team I smoothly moved into the national team, and became second at a distance of 30 kilometers at the World Championships in Lahti. Seryoga Savelyev won, the third, somewhat unexpectedly, was the Pole Jozef Lushchek, who at the same time became the first world champion in the history of this country. I started preparing for the Olympics in the USA, and in 1979 I went to the Pre-Olympic Week. Here, again, it is necessary to make a reservation for sports fans that there were no such starts as the stages of the current World Cup in those years; they officially appeared only in 1981, therefore, then there were fewer international starts. And in the pre-Olympic week, I again took what had become my usual second place, in my opinion, behind the then famous Oddvar Bro from Norway. But this stability of performances allowed me to count on an Olympic berth.

– The 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, America, according to the recollections of many of its participants, seemed terrible.

– Yes, no, I think it was quite normal, especially if you remember its results. What were the horrors?

– You lived in the Olympic Village, which later became a prison.

- That's exactly what happens next. At the time we moved into it, it had just been rebuilt, and nothing showed what would happen in this building in the future. Then we weren’t so picky.

“SKIERS DID NOT GO TO THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE OLYMPICS”

– I read in the memoirs of Olympic champion Anatoly Alyabyev, who said that at the opening ceremony one of the local residents took a megaphone and scolded our athletes in Russian, “obscene”.

– I can’t confirm, because skiers traditionally did not participate in opening ceremonies. This happened in the USA, and then in Yugoslavia, in Sarajevo. We had to be one of the first to start at a distance of 30 kilometers, and therefore we were not allowed to attend the opening. As for the rest of the competitions, there were no excesses, and there probably couldn’t have been. We lived there in isolation, all the time was devoted to training, recovery activities, and competitions. We didn't go anywhere much. And where will you go, if it’s Lake Placid, it’s a village. True, a village in New York State, but still...

Nikolay Zimyatov in Kazan at the 50th ski marathon

– In other words, the atmosphere of the competition was no different from your debut starts in Lahti? And this despite the fact that such an event took place between them as the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979, after which the West was openly anti-Soviet.

– Well, the situation immediately became tense, roughly reminiscent of the situation that has developed now. In this regard, you are right, there were changes compared to Lahti 1978, when it was impossible to talk about any tension in relations. She simply wasn't there.

– Nowadays it is customary to approach Olympic competitions very seriously, take acclimatization into account, and conduct competitions in conditions as close as possible to those that will be expected at the next Olympics. How did you prepare in your time?

– We had a standard system of preparation for international competitions, worked out over the years. We settled at a base in the Georgian town of Bakuriani, and trained intensively there in high altitude conditions. This is now a ski resort, but then it was the base of the Olympic team. There we modeled the Olympic tracks, their terrain, and raced them. But in mid-mountain conditions it was much more difficult, the air was thin, there was not enough oxygen, but such training conditions made it possible to then approach international competitions in optimal shape. Figuratively speaking, it was a kind of springboard, after training on which we “jumped” to the international start.

– It’s surprising, by the way, that in Georgia there were such wonderful conditions for training skiers, but there were no skiers themselves.

– Now I don’t know why, but in our time they were concentrated on team sports. The same football players of Dynamo Tbilisi thundered throughout Europe. Plus they were strong in martial arts, in the same fight.

Alas, then, after the collapse of the USSR, we lost all our Olympic bases without building anything for ourselves. And this, in addition to Bakuriani, Tsaghkadzor in Armenia, Otepya in Estonia, where we also held various training camps, Raubichi, Belarus, Koncha-Zaspa, Ukraine, lost all Olympic bases, and then we had to rent them, I’m talking about those times when he himself worked as a coach.

“IF I WAS SELECTED FOR THE USSR TEAM, I WAS AUTOMATICALLY CONSIDERED AS A MEDAL CONTENDANT”

– Well, we Russians, the “occupiers”, have built bases throughout the Union. Let's talk in more detail about your debut at the Olympics. The first was a victory in the “thirty”.

– Yes, because of her, I repeat, I missed the opening of the Games. But with my gold medal, I set a victorious mood for the entire Olympic team, as they say, hard trouble begins. Although, personally, I didn’t realize the full scale of this event at the time, I just felt that I had achieved the goal of part of my life, namely, sports.

Nikolai Zimyatov at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics

– But, based on previous competition experience, it seems to me that the leaders of the Soviet team, if they made forecasts for a medal, then saw more experienced Soviet skiers than you as contenders.

- I don’t agree. The fact is that the level of our skiing then was such that if you were selected for the national team, you already became a contender for medals. Anyone who distinguished himself at domestic competitions, the same USSR championship, the Spartakiad, would already be a contender for medals at international competitions of the highest standard.

After my Olympic debut, my second distance was a 15-kilometer start. I finished fourth, losing to the bronze medalist Ove Aunli from Norway just a little bit, three or four seconds. But it’s not even this that’s offensive, but the fact that I strayed from my running schedule, succumbing to the “provocation” of the German racer Johan Behle. In athletics, athletes who choose this running tactic are called “hares.” He then started the distance very well, which involuntarily forced the others to increase the pace. As a result, he himself broke down and took a place in the second ten, but I also broke down a little.

– The medal draw at that distance entered the world history of sports. Swede Thomas Wassberg beat Finn Juha Mieto by just 0.1 seconds at a distance of 15 kilometers. Our journalists later wrote that a huge bearded Finn, two meters tall, then simply destroyed the temporary locker room to hell.

– Well, I didn’t witness this, I was busy with myself, with my condition. Because I felt a certain decline in form after the Olympic victory, all the adrenaline that surged. But my form was excellent then, and by the start of the Olympic relay I was fine again.

“MY CROWN WAS 30 KILOMETERS”

– But, still, you had to be afraid of some kind of misfire. This happened, for example, with our women’s team, which lost gold to the GDR team.

“I don’t remember that they pushed us extra because of this, there was enough of an independent attitude to start, this is the Olympics. And my teammates helped, I ran to the last, fourth stage, having a gap of half a minute from my pursuer Oddvar Bro, who was second. And we must take into account that, on average, we were stronger than our opponents. At some unofficial competitions, we could field two relay teams, which would take first or second places. That's how high the average level of Soviet skiing was at that time.

After three starts and two victories, I, frankly speaking, already refused to start at the last distance, the Olympic “fifty kopecks”. I suggested that my teammates, veterans of Soviet skiing, for whom this Olympics would be their last, declare. The same Vasily Rochev was a champion only in relay races, I wanted him to get an additional chance. But in the end, my personal trainer Alexey Ivanovich Kholostov expressed his authoritative opinion - “Run, and see how it turns out!” I ran, and everything turned out well when I “brought” three minutes to the second prize-winner. Although, to be honest, by my nature I was not a marathon runner. As well as a sprinter, because at a distance of 15 kilometers I did not have enough speed. And at the “fifty kopeck” I didn’t have enough endurance; the optimal distance for me was “thirty”. But Lake Placid was “my” Olympics, everything worked out very well there in the end. Although I didn’t fully realize it at the time, I won three out of four golds. One can only guess how such a result would be treated now.

– You became one of the heroes of that Olympics, at least of its ski program. And then we missed the World Championships in Norway in 1982. Why?

– There are a complex of reasons. Purely physically, you feel some kind of failure in your physical form, you need to recover. Added to this was emotional emasculation. We were the face of the country, we had many interviews and meetings with workers. It was very distracting. We should, for good measure, “forget” about the results of the Olympics, whatever they may be, and start preparing for new starts from scratch. But it didn't work out.

– As a result, that World Championship in Norway also went down in the history of world skiing. I mean the finish of the relay race, following which the teams of the USSR and Norway shared the gold, and Finland and Germany became bronze medalists. There was nothing like this in skiing either before or after this championship, right?

– Yes, I remember watching this championship. All that season I was plagued by some kind of illness, my immunity was undermined, and I constantly had a high temperature. My partner on the USSR ski team, Sasha Zavyalov, carries with him a video of that relay race, which is of great interest, especially among the Norwegians. If, to be honest, using the photo-finish technique, as they do in athletics, to determine the winners in the 100-meter dash, then we should have been the first. But, given that the start was in Norway, perhaps remembering the experience when people destroyed the locker room out of resentment, and the total distance of 40 kilometers that the relay runners ran, they did not find fault with the little things, and both were awarded gold medals teams. And according to this principle, they later gave two bronze medals to the Finns and the Germans. And this, I think, is fair.

Having thus missed that championship, in 1983 I returned to the national team, won three races at the World Cup stages, and approached Sarajevo in optimal shape. Another generation of Soviet skiers had already started there; only Sasha Zavyalov and I remained from Lake Placid.

“SKATING STYLE BECAME ONE OF THE REASONS FOR LEAVING THE SPORT”

“Not only have generations changed, the style of skiing has changed. The so-called skating course appeared.

– Yes, at the Olympics there were already skiers who ran “skate”, but from the next World Championships almost everyone ran in this style. This, by the way, was one of the reasons why I soon had to leave the sport. The fact is that this is not my style, and, in general, this was not the style for the entire generation of our skiers.

– Yes, I noticed that there was a reassessment of “ski values”. If before the advent of the skating style the leaders were Soviet racers, Norwegians, and Finns, then already the 1985 World Championships in Seefeld, Austria, were marked by the superiority of Swedish skiers.

– Well, their racer Gunde Swan was the founder of the skating style.

- Yes, but then a whole generation of champions grew up next to him - Torgny Mogren, Christer Mybekk. The Italians appeared, and the situation in skiing, in general, changed. And for some time there was a decline, both among the men and the women's team.

– Skis have changed in general. I don’t think that the next generation of athletes who became great, including thanks to skating, would be competitive if only the classic skating remained. But we will never know the exact answer. As for us, we spent a long time adjusting to the skating move, could not understand it, and wasted time. Moreover, this applied to both the men's and women's teams, since we all prepared together. As for me, the “horse” ruined my career. I then went into coaching, worked for two years in the youth team, took a break, and felt that there was still gunpowder in the flasks. Moreover, I have not lost my physical shape. I decided to return to the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. And according to estimates, at that time I was sixth or seventh in the national team, which allowed me to qualify for games and go there, hoping to start. Maybe at a relay race. But at the last moment, the coaching staff decided to play for the future, and made a choice in favor of Gennady Lazutin.

– You mentioned his last name, but right off the bat I couldn’t even remember the achievements of this skier, besides the fact that he is the husband of the legendary Larisa Lazutina (Ptitsyna).

– Yes, he didn’t succeed either in Calgary or later, although in juniors he was a very noticeable skier. And, to be honest, I was not able to work at full capacity on my last estimated start in Bakuriani without getting caught in the grease there. If before there were no questions about me before the selection, then before Calgary they already were. Based on them, the coaching council made its choice. Then the leaders were representatives of the new, already the third during my career, generation of Soviet skiers - Vladimir Smirnov, Alexey Prokurorov, Mikhail Devyatyarov (By the way, the winner of the Kazan Marathon was his son Mikhail Devyatyarov Jr. - Ed.). And objectively I was already inferior to them.

Could I have medals if I got hit? Except in the relay race, where we ended up second. Or on your favorite thirty. I say this based on my own state in which I was during the Olympics. Because I then had a successful start at international competitions in Czechoslovakia. And, after the Olympics, I finally ended my career.

“I LEFT THE SPORT, HAVING EXHAUSTED MY RESOURCE”

– At the age of Christ, at 33 years old, practically young, if you look at those who later raced. Not early?

– In this regard, I definitely think it’s normal. I started racing very early, already in school, in the eighth grade. We can talk about unique people, like, among the current ones, Olav-Ole Bjoerndalen, a biathlete from Norway; among my contemporaries there were Galina Kulakova, who ran until she was 42 years old, or Risa Smetanina, until she was 45. But, in general, we have a certain resource, which is developed over time. And, I believe that the life of an athlete is short, and therefore you need to try to give your best, and not wait for some next competitions, believing that you will become even stronger with age and will get some more chances. And then live an ordinary life. I managed to run until I was 33 years old, while I showed decent results.

– And at this time, the Italian Maurilio de Solt had just entered the international arena, winning his first medals at the age of 34.

– I admit that he and his teammates on the national team came to the sport later, and they had the opportunity to extend their sports career.

– In the years of my youth, skiing did not leave Soviet television screens. But then biathlon was practically not shown, with the exception of the Olympics. Now the situation has changed radically, and skiing in our country is in the position of a “poor relative”, being on the margins of biathlon in popularity. Why?

– Our biathlon was successfully promoted by the Federation, at the time when it was led by Mikhail Prokhorov. A whole team came there who knew what to do to popularize their sport. Well, we must admit that biathlon is both interesting and unpredictable. Although, it must be admitted that now they are trying to make skis different, much more watchable. There are skiathlons, pursuit races, sprint races, team sprints, and so on. Now ski competitions are held completely differently than during the years of my career, when racers were launched, say, 50 kilometers with a difference of 30 seconds, and we sorted it out there for six to seven hours. Now they are launching a mass start, and the race keeps you in suspense all the time. For the athletes themselves, this may not be very convenient; there is an element of unpredictability, but for television viewers and fans on the track this is a much more optimal option. Well, the popularity of skiing on television could bring back the results, without this there’s nowhere.

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Nikolay Zimyatov.

Achievements: four-time Olympic champion (“gold” for 30 and 50 km, 4X10 km relay in Lake Placid 1980, “gold” for 30 km in Sarajevo 1984. In Lake Placid he became one of the heroes of the Olympics, in addition American speed skater Eric Hayden, who won five gold medals, and the US hockey team, silver medalist at the 1978 World Championships at a distance of 30 km.

One of six skiers awarded for victories in the same competitions at distances of 30 and 50 km. unofficial title "King of Skis". The only one who won at these distances at the Olympics. The other five “kings of skiing” were awarded this title for their victories at the world championships.

Four-time Olympic champion, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Honored Coach of the USSR

Nikolai was the third and youngest of the children in the Zimyatov family. The future Olympic champion mastered the skiing alphabet at the Novo-Petrovsk sports school, located 5 kilometers from his home. A. Kholostov, a true skiing enthusiast, became his personal trainer for many years. It was he who recognized in Kolya the makings of a great athlete and managed to “reconfigure” his student from simple skiing to a serious passion for them - fortunately, the boy already had a stubborn character and the ability to overcome difficulties that had arisen from childhood. It cannot be said that nature endowed Nikolai with great health, but from birth he was endowed with a unique quality - his body, under extreme conditions, was able to seem to flare up, to “flare up” at the peak of stress. True, after such stress, he needed a longer rest than others.
Nikolai’s first significant successes came in 1973 at the USSR personal and team championship in Syktyvkar, when he, speaking for rural VSOs of the Moscow region, took 3rd place at a 15-kilometer distance. The next year, Zimyatov won the 20-kilometer race, and in 1975 he distinguished himself as a junior in 3 disciplines: at the 15-kilometer distance he was third, at the 20-kilometer distance he was second, and in the relay he rose to the highest step of the podium.
Nikolai Zimyatov’s first performances in international competitions also occurred in 1975: at the 8th European Junior Championships in Finland, he won a silver medal in a 15-kilometer race. Having entered the adult category (1977), Zimyatov won bronze at the USSR Championship in the 30-kilometer race. And at the next, anniversary 50th national championship, Nikolai already won 2 gold medals - at a distance of 30 kilometers and in the relay. Subsequently (1979-84) he became the champion of the Soviet Union at various distances.
Nikolai Zimyatov took a serious step towards the ski Olympus in 1978 as a member of the USSR national team at the World Championships in Lahti (Finland). At the 30-kilometer distance he was second.
And here are the XIII Winter Olympic Games in 1980 in Lake Placid, America. The program of ski competitions opened with a 30-kilometer race in classical style. Nikolay got a good starting number - 56th (a total of 57 athletes started). From the very first kilometers, the coaches saw that Nikolai was ready to give battle to the main competitors ahead. From the 10th kilometer, he went ahead, ran in his favorite manner - with wide, as if flying strides, managing to listen to information from national team coach Boris Bystrov.
Finish – Zimyatov’s time is 1 hour 27 minutes 2 seconds, and he accepts congratulations on his victory. When Nikolai was told that second place went to his teammate Vasily Rochev, who showed a result of 1 hour 27 minutes 34 seconds, the joy of the triumphant knew no bounds. When asked by journalists what he was thinking about now, Nikolai Zimyatov replied: “Now it’s not a shame to return home!”
Zimyatov achieved another success with his team colleagues Vasily Rochev, Nikolai Bazhukov and Evgeniy Belyaev in the Olympic 4x10 kilometer relay race. As a result, our main rivals – the Norwegians – were content with silver medals, lagging behind the winners by more than 1 minute 40 seconds. So Zimyatov became the owner of the second golden “snowflake”.
And 3 days later, with an unprecedented time for races of this level, Nikolai Zimyatov wins the most prestigious race - 50 kilometers, beating the silver medalist Finn Juha Mieto by almost 3 minutes. Never before have Soviet skiers become first in the marathon distance of the Winter Olympics!
It is hardly possible to count how many times on the evening of that victorious day Nikolai Zimyatov was called the “king of skis.” And “His Majesty” himself sat modestly on the sidelines and embarrassedly repeated: “Well, things have worked out. Well, what kind of king am I to you?..” And even upon arrival in Moscow, he could not realize that the impressive crowd of people in front of the IL-86 ramp, which arrived from Montreal, had gathered on the airfield mostly for his sake.
Journalists asked: “Was your success a consequence of the use of some special tactics?” To this, the three-time Olympic champion replied: “I try to choose the most rational pace. I never start a race with all my might; after the first 2-3 kilometers I ask the coaches to give the main competitors time and, based on this, I choose my tactics. To keep the race in a winning spirit, you need absolute self-confidence, based on a clear knowledge of the character and capabilities of the body.”
Soon an important event occurs in Nikolai’s life - he starts a family; his chosen one was the famous skier Lyubov Zykova, in the 1970s a repeated silver and bronze medalist at the European junior championships, and later a participant in the Olympic Games.
After victories in Lake Placid, Nikolai, together with coach A. Kholostov, set themselves the preparation for the next Olympics as a “super task,” which is why Zimyatov “goes into the shadows” for a while. Unfortunately, Nikolai is beginning to be plagued by colds, which also causes the disappearance of his star from both the domestic and international sports horizons for a very long period by sports standards (2-3 years). He misses the next World Cup in 1982. Gradually, high hopes are no longer pinned on him, and perhaps the only people who believed in Zimyatov at that time were himself and his coach.
Zimyatov trains a lot, shows himself well when selecting for the team for the 1984 Olympics and goes to Sarajevo. Fate favors Nikolai - at a distance of 30 kilometers he receives the last, 72nd number. There was a good chance, but they still had to be able to take advantage of it, because another Zimyatov was coming to the starting line - a 28-year-old army man, more mature, mature and, obviously, understanding that he did not have to waste opportunities to rise to the highest step of the Olympic podium.
The Yugoslav weather turned out to be capricious - it snowed all night before the race. By the time the 30-kilometer race started, the temperature was minus six, there was a snowstorm - quite “Zimyatov” weather. Nikolai knew the names of his main competitors very well - they were Alexander Zavyalov, Swede Gunde Svan and Finn Aki Karvonen. As a result of a difficult struggle on the track, Zimyatov showed the best time - 1 hour 28 minutes and 56 seconds. The cost of this victory can be judged by his words, uttered in response to a journalist’s question to the winner, how he feels now: “I’m still all there, on the ski track... We’ll feel something later.”
And then at the Olympic stadium the weather was almost ideal for cross-country skiing - frost minus 10-12, hard ski track, windless, sunny. In such impeccable conditions it was easier to prove ourselves to our rivals, and Swann did it better than anyone else. A UPI correspondent wrote then: “The Swede, who prayed to the sports gods for the end of the snow storm, waited in the wings and won a gold medal in the 15-kilometer race.” The best of our team back then was Nikitin (4th place), and Nikolai Zimyatov finished sixth.
Everyone was looking forward to the 4x10 kilometer relay. Of the 17 teams that started, the contenders for gold were determined by the third stage - the Swedes and the Russians. The race took place in the most intense competition. Two champions, Zimyatov and Svan, reached the final, decisive stage. They lead alternately - first one, then the other. It was an exciting confrontation between two titans of skiing. As a result, the young Swede still beat Nikolai Zimyatov in less than 10 seconds. Authoritative experts noted then: “If Nikolai had not run tag, he might have had enough strength to win...”
The last race of the Olympics - the 50-kilometer marathon - did not go well for Nikolai, as they say. However, even without this, Zimyatov’s participation in the 84 Olympic Games deserves admiration.
In the entire history of world skiing, only three athletes managed to become owners of 3 or more gold medals in individual races, one of which was the marathon - the Swede Sixten Jornberg (Olympic champion in 1956, 1960 and 1964), Nikolai Zimyatov (gold at the Olympics) Games 1980 and 1984) and Norwegian Bjorn Dali (winner of the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Olympics). Each of them is rightly called the “king of skis.” And no matter how ironically our compatriot treats his “monarchical” title, we perceive it exactly like that.
Nowadays our winning principle is “Believe in yourself!” Nikolai Zimyatov, as the coach of the national team, instills in his students. Every year, in the area of the village of Golovino, not far from the homeland of the outstanding athlete, open competitions are held for the prizes of Nikolai Zimyatov.
Nikolai Semenovich Zimyatov - four-time Olympic champion, silver medalist of the Olympic Games, awarded the titles Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1980), Honored Coach of the USSR. Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1980), Friendship of Peoples (1984), and medals for sporting achievements.
Lives in Moscow.