My idol is an athlete

was a Russian and former Soviet equestrian who won three medals, of which one gold and two silver in dressage during the Summer Olympics.

YELENA PETUSHKOVA

father - the First Deputy Minister of the Interior of the USSR, Vladimir Petushkov (1910-1974). As a child, Elena studied music, read adventure literature, visited a drama club, loved school subjects from biology and chemistry, was fond of animals.

THE BEGINNING OF THE WAY

her mother, came to Sokolniki, where horses were hired. For the first time in his life, sitting on a horse - a dark brown horse - Excess - Elena held confidently and aroused the surprise of the coach watching her, not believing that there was no experience of riding a girl before. A year after the classes in Sokolniki, Petushkova complied with the third-rate standard for jumping.

FIRST EXPERIENCE OF RIDING.

under the guidance of coach Vladimir Afanasievich, in 1960 for the first time became a participant in the USSR championship. In January 1964, she entered postgraduate study at the Scientific Research Institute of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy of the Academy of Medical Sciences and in the same year was invited to the USSR team. The head coach of the national team Grigory Anastasiev gave Elena a promising black tractor named "Ashes". In May 1964, a training camp began to prepare for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Elena Petushkova and Ashes worked separately from the team - a lengthy collection was incompatible with the writing of the dessert. Shortly before the start of the USSR championship in 1964, Elena Petushkova fell ill with quinsy, and Ashes was unattended in the stables of the Moscow racecourse and was exhausted by the start of the national championship. Having taken only the sixth place, they did not get to the Olympics.

PREPARATION FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN TOKYO

European Championships, held in Denmark. Two years later, almost immediately after the defense of the thesis, in the same tournament in Aachen took 6th place and 1st among women. In 1968, Petushkova joined the Soviet Olympic team to participate in the Games in Mexico City. In personal competitions Elena Petushkova took 6th place. In 1970 in Aachen Elena Petushkova became the world champion in the personal and team championship. Before the move in the individual competition, she was much inferior to the German Lizelotte Lenzenhof and was calm, the thought of a possible victory on her did not press. Despite the fact that it was necessary to perform in the rain, Petushkova and Ashes were flawless.

FIRST INTERNATIONAL SUCCESSES

Petushkova - Soviet horsemen performed at the Olympic Games in Munich. Like at the World Championships, the main rival in the struggle for gold medals were the athletes of West Germany. On the first day of the competition in the team dressage, Ivan Kizimov and Ivan Kalita scored 3348 points, while in the asset of the female duo Liselotte Lenzenhof and Karin Schluter was 3377. The lag in 29 points was to be eliminated by Elena Petushkova and Pepl, and with its task they coped magnificently, gaining 1747 points. To the gold medal in the team dressage Elena Petushkova added "silver" in personal competitions.

GAMES IN MUNICH