The story of the Russian champion, who lost loved ones, left the sport and died at home
'18.02.2020'
Source: Lenta.ru report
Elena Romanova is a Soviet and Russian athlete, the 1992 Olympic champion in the 3000m race. She was considered one of the most talented athletes of the generation and predicted a successful coaching career. But in the early 2000s, her life went downhill. One after another, Romanova lost loved ones, and in 2007 she was found dead in her own apartment. The circumstances of her death have not yet been clarified. "Lenta.ru" recalls the vibrant life and tragic death of the champion.
On January 28, 2007, Olympic champion Elena Romanova (nee Malykhina) was found dead in her own apartment in Volgograd. Ambulance doctors diagnosed a traumatic brain injury - a clear consequence of a blunt object strike. In addition, the athlete found a deep wound on her stomach, and her mouth was full of blood. And although it seemed the least like an accident, the case was quickly closed.
All on time
As a child, Malykhina stood out among her peers with energy and sociability. She came to the athletics section at the age of ten and immediately attracted the attention of coach Gennady Naumov. In addition to her strong character, the girl had a physique suitable for long-distance running. The only thing that could prevent the future champion was flat feet. But Naumov figured out how to save the student from illness: Lena began to go barefoot to school gym classes.
“While the teacher was explaining something, she rose on her toes and stood like that. There were up to 15 minutes of such pauses per lesson, ”the coach explained. This gave a visible result.
Lena was a real favorite of Naumov. He believed that a great future awaited her, and she responded with unquestioning obedience.
“They got along well with Gennady Sergeyevich. I don’t remember that one of them, with all the fanatical attitude to the matter, expressed dissatisfaction with each other, ”later recalled Nelly Blinova, coach of the same sports school. Therefore, neither the athlete nor the specialist himself ever thought of parting: under the guidance of Naumov, the runner spent her entire career.
Having matured, Malykhina began to regularly win at regional starts and championships of the country, so the challenge to the national team was not long in coming. This happened a few years before the 1984 Olympics. At the same time, the athlete began a romantic relationship with another student of Naumov - Alexander Romanov. They played a wedding, the girl changed her name. And in 1983, the trainer was shocked by the news of Lena’s pregnancy, but it was not worth worrying: the USSR team still boycotted the Games in Los Angeles. Romanova gave birth to a son and returned to sports to come to the new Olympics.
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The main triumph
In preparation for the main start of the four-year-old, she went to the world cross-country championship. In 1987, the runner won the bronze there, and the next season she won. Before going to the Games, she was in the best shape of her life. But in Seoul it did not work out: the athlete took only fourth place. She only lost a second compatriot Tatyana Samolenko.
By that time, he and Alexander managed to divorce, although they maintained friendly relations. Romanov had long been involved in sports and suffered from alcoholism, and Elena tried her best to help him. She took him with her to the training camps, mostly in Kislovodsk, where she bought an apartment. It was rumored that this had the opposite effect, and the athlete began to drink herself. If this is true, then Romanova was able to pacify the onset of dependence for a while. She was preparing for the third Olympics in Barcelona.
The rivalry with Samolenko meanwhile became fundamental. Romanova did not succeed in getting ahead of her at her favorite distance of 3000 meters. But she became the champion of Europe at 10000 meters and two more times won the world championship in cross-country. Thanks to this, the athlete got into the Joint CIS team for a trip to Barcelona.
At the same time, the federation decided not to take Elena's coach to Spain, explaining this by insufficient funding. Then Naumov went to the Games as a tourist, at his own expense. I bought a ticket to the stadium for the final of the student’s race, and before that I gave a very important instruction. The fact is that the outcome of the competition this time was decided not by speed, but by tactics. The coach foresaw that the overall pace would be low, and taught Romanov to guess the moments for acceleration. At the last meters of the distance, she broke away from Samolenko and crossed the finish line first. And this despite the fact that the result of the winner turned out to be almost 20 seconds worse than her indicator in previous Games.
“They buried her at the trainer's feet”
Having won the coveted gold of the Olympics, the 29-year-old Romanova thought about leaving the sport. However, she was not allowed to finish her career. She stayed for another Olympic cycle, but in Atlanta-1996 she could not get on the podium. Then it became obvious that it was really time for the athlete to look for herself in something else. And Elena got a job in a military unit. I also tried to train, albeit reluctantly.
Then the inexplicable began to happen. Close athletes began to die one after another. The ex-husband died, then his father, after a long illness in January 2006, his mother, and in February, the coach. The last two losses were for the former athlete too strong a blow.
“Lena was simply killed by these tragedies. I saw her in the cemetery when Naumov was buried. She was in such a state that she could not even squeeze a word out of herself when she tried to say her farewell speech, ”- Nelly Blinova, athletics coach.
To save Romanova from depression, she was offered to coach Naumov's group. It was a powerful team, consisting of prize-winners of the Russian championship and promising young athletes. She agreed. Blinova describes that time as follows:
“It started to work out. But she never forgot to whom she owed all of this - at every opportunity she repeated: “To create such a group, it takes at least five years, and I inherited it. Gennady Sergeevich, who carried me in his arms, helps me even after his death ... ”” Then he and Romanova worked in different schools and almost never crossed paths. This is also why Blinova remembers the last meeting in detail.
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This happened in December 2006, when Romanova’s student Viktoria Ivanova became the fifth in the junior European cross-country championship. Although the trainer expected more from the girl, it was definitely a success. They discussed it with Blinova and Romanova: “And I drew attention to her beautiful appearance: thin, slender, in a beautiful denim suit, which was very to her face. I also thought to myself: who is spreading rumors that Romanova, they say, got down to the old and started drinking again? ”
And she always came sober to training, which the students later recognized. But behind the external stamina was a deep drama, which the former athlete could not survive without alcohol. She drank in the evenings, on weekends, in strange companies or alone.
“Whoever tried to guide her on the true path. And I talked to her, and they called her to the regional sports committee. She promised, but here, you know, no encodings, let alone moralizing, can help if a person himself can’t pull himself together, ”said the director of the athletics school Alexander Komarov. This went on for some time, after which Romanova left work and disappeared from all the radars. Only sometimes she got in touch with her older sister.
What happened on that fateful day, no one can say so far. It was only recorded that shortly before the death of Romanov, she rented a room in the Yuzhnaya Hotel and spent two days there in the company of unknown persons. And then this terrible death.
“They buried her at the feet of Gennady Sergeyevich. It happened so, but this, in my opinion, has some kind of symbolism. They are all there now. Lena’s parents, the coach, who became her second father, she was just a little off - the grave of her ex-husband, ”Blinova recalled.
Now the name of the athlete is forgotten. But not many domestic athletes could compare with her - alas. So, perhaps the only ones who regularly recalls her are students of physical education institutes studying the records of that very championship race of Romanova. After all, Elena’s running technique was a reference.
