Adelina Sotnikova: biography, personal life. nationality, children, husband (photo)

Childhood and youth

The future champion was born on July 1, 1996. She was born prematurely, so from the first days of her life she began a desperate struggle for her place in this world. The baby survived, and this became her first personal victory, which would be followed by others.

In order to somehow improve the health of a weak, sickly child, the parents decided to send their daughter to a sports school, which became a springboard to her Olympic future. The first mentor of 4-year-old Sotnikova was Anna Patrikeeva, who taught figure skating at the regional sports school in Biryulyovo. This largely determined the future sports biography of the figure skater.

After 3 years, the girl began studying at the CSKA school with Irina Goncharenko. Strength of character (the athlete’s nationality had an impact) and the desire to win forced Adelina to train hard, she dutifully followed all the instructions of her mentor, diligently performed new elements, and successfully demonstrated the most difficult of them while performing at various competitions.

Biography and personal life

Adelina Sotnikova was born in 1996 in Moscow.
The girl began to show the extraordinary qualities of her character literally from the first day of her birth, having been born with difficulties at seven months. Already at the age of 4, she began to learn the basics of figure skating at a sports school in Biryulyovo with coach Anna Patrikeeva, and when she was 7 years old, she studied at the famous CSKA figure skating school. The young figure skater's hard training and fearless character brought amazing results - at 14 she became the champion of Russia in single skating.

Sports career

The girl’s third mentor, Elena Buyanova, essentially brought the young athlete to the big ice. Of course, a significant contribution to Sotnikova’s future victories was made by choreography teacher Irina Tagayeva, as well as experienced coach and unsurpassed master of her craft Tatyana Tarasova, who tried to convey all her skills to the young athlete.

Buyanova herself became the champion of Russia in figure skating among juniors at the age of 12, and Adelina repeated her success. In 2008, she won gold at the Russian Championship - it was a real success, which became the beginning of the path to an Olympic medal in Sochi.

But the next season was a failure for Adelina - at the National Championship she could only reach 4th place, and at the Russian Championship she slipped to sixth place. At that moment, Sotnikova almost lost heart, but the situation was saved by her mentor, who forced the girl to train again and again, honing her skills to the point of automatism. The athlete had almost no time left for her personal life, but the result was worth it.

Interesting!
In 2011, Adeline again became a champion, receiving the main prize at competitions among juniors of all nationalities in Australia. She was only 0.27 seconds short of the international record.

After that, she won more than once at international and Russian championships, receiving worldwide recognition.

The 2011-2012 season was the most controversial in the figure skater’s sports biography. She failed the Grand Prix and did not advance beyond the rental competition. But at the World Championships the girl managed to take third place and win bronze.

Several more great victories followed:

second place - Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck in 2012, in the same year the 16-year-old athlete received the title “Master of Sports of International Class”;
silver medal - European Championship in 2013.

Sports took a lot of time, but at that time the girl was still in school, which she had to finish. She had to simultaneously prepare for competitions that were important to her and for an equally important exam—the Unified State Exam. At that time, the load on the body was simply incredible, but the diligent student coped with it and successfully passed the test, passing the school program as an external student (in 2 years), planning to enter the Russian State University of Physical Education.

The beginning of the career of figure skater Adelina Sotnikova

The 2011\2012 season also became productive for the athlete, although not as successful.
At the Grand Prix stage she made a number of mistakes. Because of this, Adeline did not qualify for the finals, but at the World Junior Championships she was able to take bronze. At the international tournament Golden Skate of Zagreb, the girl competed with “adult” athletes. She went home, taking gold, which only confirmed the title of national champion.

A. Sotnikova: T. Tarasova taught me to overcome myself. In the winter of 2012, Sotnikova took part in the first Youth Olympics in her life. The result was brilliant - a silver medal.

Buyanova is the athlete’s main coach, choreography is taught by Irina Tagaeva, and mastery lessons are taught by the unsurpassed master and experienced coach Tarasova. The contribution made by Tarasova to the musical design and choreography of Adeline is invaluable. In the 2012\2013 season, the matured figure skater, who turned 16, got the opportunity to compete at international championships for “adults.”

She had to finish school and prepare for the Unified State Exam. For Sotnikova, there are only grades 4 and 5; she does not accept others. The plan was to enter the Russian State University of Physical Culture. According to Adelina, this will help her, even after finishing her sports career, to remain in her favorite sport, taking up refereeing or coaching.

Adelina Sotnikova 2013 As a result, the graduate passed all subjects with B grades, but she was happy with such grades, since she was taking a two-year program. It was hard, I had to study a lot. True, during this period Adeline had only one training session a day. She endured and dealt with everything. At the same time, new programs were being staged, which were handled by Pyotr Chernyshev. After a short rest, the athlete had training camp ahead in Latvia.

Sochi Olympic Games

Many Russian athletes shone at the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, and this year brought incredible, but quite expected success for Sotnikova. In the figure skating competition, Russia was represented by two young, but already quite successful athletes - Yu. Lipnitskaya and A. Sotnikova.

The enchanting performance of Adelina, who received the highest score at the end of the competition - 224.9 points, brought the girl a gold medal. In the short program, Sotnikova received second place. At the same time, not only the technical performance of complex elements was assessed, but also acting skills.

Interesting!
Residents of Chuvashia were especially happy about Sotnikova’s victory, because they consider her their countrywoman. Adeline’s great-grandfather Alexander Kochetov, a combat pilot who became a hero of the Soviet Union, came from these very places. He is Tatar by nationality, which largely determined the girl’s persistent character, which influenced her personal life and biography in general.

Biography of Adeline Sotnikova

Adelina Sotnikova gave it her all in training, determined to show what she could do at the top level of figure skating and use her success as a means of supporting her younger sister Maria, who suffers from a rare genetic disease. She earned the world junior figure skating title in 2011 in Gangneung (KOR) and finished second to compatriot Elizaveta Tuktamysheva at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Germany the following year. In December 2013, the gifted 17-year-old won her fourth national title and a month later won a silver medal at the European Championships in Zagreb in an event won by Yulia Lipnitskaya.

INITIAL FAILURE IN SOCHI

Is your career over or not?

At the beginning of 2021, it became known that Sotnikova decided to leave her mentor, who led the figure skater to the Olympic gold medal - Elena Vodorezova (Buyanova) and train with the equally famous figure skater Evgeni Plushenko. It must be said that the Olympics in Sochi, or rather, the preparation for it, took a lot of energy from the athlete. This affected her further performances - almost all of them were failures. Sotnikova remained behind new young talents - Maria Sotskova, Evgenia Medvedeva and others.

The Russian Championship, held in Chelyabinsk in 2021, was marked by the victories of Evgenia Medvedeva and the then young athlete Alina Zagitova. The latter, by the way, has already displaced almost all the winners of previous years from the pedestal.

Adelina Sotnikova began to miss one season after another and it is unknown whether she will return to the big ice. According to the famous coach Tatyana Tarasova, it’s time for Adeline to officially announce her retirement.

But the skater herself continued to train hard, memorize complex elements and draw up new performance programs together with her coach Evgeni Plushenko. In addition, Adeline takes an active part in social activities, for example, on Russia Day in 2021, she held an introductory figure skating training session, in which anyone could participate.

But overall, the 2017-2018 season was not very successful for Sotnikova. The Olympic champion was only included in the reserve squad of the Russian figure skating team; in fact, this is a “bench” on which the girl can remain.

Childhood and family

Adeline's biography is the story of a simple girl from Biryulyovo who achieved her dream. The future champion was born into an ordinary Moscow family in 1996. Date of birth: June 1st. Her name should not be confused with the more common name Angelina.

The baby was a long-awaited child and was born premature. Adeline’s dad worked as an investigator, and her mother was a former acrobat athlete, but due to an injury she had to leave the sport. At the age of 4, the girl took her first steps on the ice at a sports school in Biryulyovo, where she was coached by Anna Patrikeeva, and at the age of seven she already moved to CSKA.

At the age of eight, Adelina begins working with Elena Buyanova-Vodorezova, a famous Soviet figure skater and prodigy on ice. The cooperation turned out to be very long, the athlete and the coach developed a warm, trusting relationship.

In 2008, a mini-sensation occurred: Adelina, at the age of 12, won the adult Russian championship, in which she repeated the fate of her coach. Then she could not yet compete in adult world competitions, but they started talking about the athlete as the future hope of Russian figure skating. When working with the coach, the athlete combined a strong character and complaisance, strictly following recommendations and instructions. Titanic hard work, efficiency and love for figure skating led to such high results. But that was only the beginning.

Personal life

A rigid training schedule and intense preparation for competitions take up almost all of the girl’s time. There is not even a minute left for her personal life, but despite this, she still tries to visit her parents, also Tatars by nationality, and pay more attention to her sister, who suffers from a rare disease.

Interesting!
The Sotnikov family is very friendly; relatives sincerely rejoice at the figure skater’s successes, are proud of her achievements and support her in failures. In the biography of Adelina Sotnikova, a certain emptiness is visible in everything connected with a serious relationship.

Almost nothing is known about the athlete’s novels. Once there were rumors on the Internet about a girl’s connection with the famous figure skater M. Kovtun. Users “analyzed” several joint photographs of this couple published on Instagram and drew conclusions about the imminent wedding, their future together and the children of their idols. In fact, the relationship between Adeline and Maxim turned out to be only working.

But the relationship with Alexander Molochko, the host of the TV project “Magazzino”, was real. The couple first appeared before society in 2021 at the premiere of the film “Hero”. Judging by their joint photos, the young people are in love with each other and are absolutely happy. Then Alexander (also 1/5 Tatar by nationality) officially announced his relationship with the figure skater and further joint plans, which were not destined to come true. A month later, the couple broke up due to the fact that the TV presenter cheated on the famous figure skater.

In January 2021, Adelina Sotnikova posted an interesting photo on her Instagram page, in which the engagement ring was clearly visible. The fans were excited by this fact, but the athlete herself refused to comment. Therefore, the fact of marriage in her biography and the presence of any personal life remains a mystery.

Childhood of champions. Adeline Sotnikova

“I want to say a big thank you to everyone for their support, for their love for me, this is really my big family, the figure skating story is not over, but the sport is officially closed,” Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova announced today. The last time the skater competed was in the 2015/16 season, after which she skated in numerous shows.

Let's remember how Adeline walked towards the main victory in her life.

Sotnikova was born on July 1, 1996 in Moscow, and from the very beginning of her life she had to overcome difficulties: she was born premature, 7 months pregnant, so from the first days of her life Adeline began a desperate struggle for her place in this world, she survived, and this became her first personal victory, followed by others.

In order to somehow improve the health of a weak, sickly child, the parents decided to send their daughter to a sports school, which became a springboard to her Olympic future. The first mentor of 4-year-old Sotnikova was Anna Patrikeeva, who taught figure skating at the regional sports school in Biryulyovo, this largely determined Adeline’s future sports biography.

“At the age of four, my parents took me to the Penguins skating rink, which was located not far from our house in Biryulyovo. Of course, I don’t remember my first time on the ice, but they told me that I got on my skates and walked around. The coach was very surprised that the child fell, got up and continued to move on, and said that he needed to practice. I really liked it there.”

After 3 years, Sotnikova began studying at the CSKA school with Irina Goncharenko. Strength of character and the desire to win forced Adeline to train hard; she dutifully followed all the instructions of her mentor, diligently performed new elements, and successfully demonstrated the most difficult of them, successfully performing in various competitions.

“I was four years old when my mother took me to the regional skating rink, to the regular section. My first coach, Anna Evgenievna Patrikeeva, seeing me fall but get up and try to skate, told my mother: “We must continue to practice! You have a fearless girl." A couple of years later, Inna Germanovna Goncharenko, a coach at the CSKA sports school, noticed me. “Why are you sitting in Biryulyovo? – she was surprised. - Come to us". I, still little, burst into tears and said that I wanted to stay in my group. Mom didn’t press, she suggested just trying.

I agreed and after a while I got to see the famous trainer Elena Germanovna Buyanova. She asked me to do a snipe - a jump that I desperately failed at. I go out to the skating rink. I slow down. I'm incredibly worried. I jump - and... I leave! First! I completed a couple more jumps cleanly, and Buyanova assigned me to the same Inna Germanovna Goncharenko. And a year later I began to train with Buyanova herself. "

“It so happened that I went to the same kindergarten with the child of the CSKA coach, who was friends with my mother. She once saw me skating and recommended taking me to a more serious sports school. And that’s how she lured us over to her place. I studied with her for a year, and then I came to my coach Vodorezova-Buyanova. Elena Germanovna liked me, she took me into her group. In the first years, I didn’t set high goals for myself, but I always tried to please her. She was hooked by my tenacity. She saw that I always did everything I was told and never argued.”

In 2004, Elena Buyanova began working with Sotnikova. Buyanova herself became the champion of Russia in figure skating among juniors at the age of 12, and Adelina repeated her success. In 2008, she won gold at the Russian Championship - it was a real success, which became the beginning of the path to an Olympic medal in Sochi.

“When I first won the Russian championship, I also didn’t believe in victory. I didn’t yet understand what I wanted. But in 2010, when the girls were selected for the Olympics, I realized that I also wanted to go to the Games. It was a dream to get here, and to win is absolutely fantastic.”

“I won’t say that we don’t have a childhood. It exists, but we spend it with those children who, like us, play sports. During the breaks between training sessions, we went crazy, played tag, catch-up, Cossack robbers, and jumped with the girls in rubber bands. If you fall and break, that’s your problem.”

“Until I was fourteen, my mom and dad took me to training. The whole family was involved in my sports life. My parents dedicated their entire lives to me and my younger sister Masha. She is disabled since childhood, in medical language her disease is called “Treacher Collins syndrome”... A terrible disease! Tatyana Anatolyevna Tarasova helped us. If it weren’t for her, we probably wouldn’t have decided to take radical steps. Tatyana Anatolyevna contacted Chulpan Khamatova, and thanks to this actress, we were given money for treatment. "

“I entered my first serious competition in 2009. It was the Russian Championship among adults. I skated the free program to Swan Lake, and the short program to tango. In general, at that time people were admitted to this championship from the age of 15. I was 13, but after I skated two programs cleanly at the Russian Cup stage and became first among adults, I was allowed to participate in the Russian Championship. I took second place at the Youth Olympic Games.”

Adeline’s first successes at international junior competitions will come only after 2 seasons, when she wins 2 stages, the Grand Prix final and the Junior World Championships. A year later, she was unable to repeat her success: at the Junior World Championships she lost to Lipnitskaya and Gracie Gold, and at the Youth Olympics to Tuktamysheva. However, by the beginning of 2012, Adeline was already a three-time Russian champion.

“Talent comes from perseverance. If a person is stubborn, he will move mountains. I just know from myself: if I want, I’ll do anything. When I won the adult Russian championship at the age of twelve, I felt that I wanted something more. If I hadn’t won in Kazan then, maybe I would have left the sport.”

However, like all athletes, Adelina began a transitional age - falls in training were followed by falls in competitions and, it would seem, the dream of the Olympics remains somewhere very far away and already seems like something unrealistic.

“As a child, they often said: child prodigy, child prodigy, and when I stopped succeeding, they immediately began to “leave”, saying: “That’s it, the girl is blown away.” It was insulting and painful. And then I found a way for myself not to be upset - I just stopped reading the Internet and listening to these conversations.”

But, despite some setbacks, such a long-awaited victory for the whole country awaited Adeline. Sotnikova became the Olympic champion in Sochi 2014.

After the short program, she was second, behind Kim Young Ah by 0.28 points, and in the free program she became first and won the Olympics. The total score for the sum of the short and free programs is 224.59 points, the significance of the gold medal received by Sotnikova is all the more high since before it, in the entire history of the Olympic Games, representatives of the USSR or Russia had never received the highest award in women's single skating.

Therefore, Adeline is rightfully first and forever!

Thank you for everything, Adeline!

Black line

Adelina Sotnikova was 17 years old when she won gold at the Sochi Olympics. Before that, at the adult level, she had two silver medals at the European Championships. But such a bright rise was followed by a rapid decline. She missed the entire next season due to a leg injury. She returned to professional sports in the 2015/16 season, notching third place at the Russian Grand Prix stage. Since 2021, Sotnikova has not competed, having missed a significant part of the time due to health reasons, including due to serious back problems. In her public statements, Adelina emphasized that her career was suspended, not completed, and did not rule out that she would return to big-time sports.

Sotnikov

Adelina Sotnikova (Russia), who won the gold medal in the women's singles figure skating competition, during the medal ceremony of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi

Photo: RIA Novosti/Vladimir Sergeev

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“In my opinion, the career of this wonderful Russian athlete really ended immediately after the Olympic Games in Sochi,” singles coach Alexei Mishin shared with Izvestia. “The fact that she formulated this now is a formality.” The trigger was her illness. I think she would hardly return to the sport. After Sochi 2014, Adelina’s career progressed at a sluggish pace. But she is definitely a wonderful athlete who has made an epoch-making contribution to Russian figure skating.

According to Valentin Piseev, if not for health problems, Sotnikova could still fight for medals.

“Adeline could further improve her skills,” the specialist noted. — I remember her program with a triple Lutz and a triple loop. This is a cascade that, in general, today is one of the serious indicators of skill, and even five or six years ago it was something outstanding. Therefore, I have no doubt that if injuries had not happened, Sotnikova would have remained among the best to this day.