The Legend of Russian Basketball Elena Baranova

The real stars of basketball are born once in a hundred years. So claimed the great coach Alexander Gomelsky. For the life of one of them, Russians are watching at the turn of the century. The unique sportswoman played equally well both in the end of XX century, and in the beginning of XXI, becoming the most titled basketball player of the world. Unusually feminine and coordinated with a height of 192 cm, an excellent wife and mother of two children, with all the sporting excitement struggling with injustice and fearlessly criticizing the state of affairs in modern basketball - this appears before the fans the legend of the national basketball Elena Baranova.

Biography of the sportswoman: the beginning

In 1972, in the family of Tatyana Alexandrovna and Viktor Stepanovich in Frunze (modern Bishkek) daughter Elena was born. Few people know that she grew up a weak girl. And in her five years suffered Botkin's disease. Since then, a strict diet is her constant companion in life. Perhaps this is what made it unusually organized in the future. The first coach in basketball was Elena Russkih, who noticed the girl showed early talent for the game and six months later exposed her against rivals of the older age group.

Speaking in the first league of the USSR championship, the local team "Stroitel" became the first professional club of Elena, where she was accepted at the age of 16. Her confident throws in the basket ensured participation in the main games, in which the athlete brought the team 7 points per match. She was thin and complex and jumping. In training, she laid the volleyball in the basket on top. She was watched by coaches on high jump, but Baranova Elena remained true to her favorite game. By the way, in the professional career of the sportswoman there will be no shots from above, which is connected with a serious trauma. Otherwise, this element of basketball could be observed in women in the XX century.

Star hour

From the age of 17, the sportswoman was involved in the main national team. And Elena accepted the invitation of the Moscow "Dynamo" to stay permanently in the capital. The first coach, who played a huge role in professional development, was Eugene Gomelsky, who believed in her talent. He is still considered the number one professional in women's basketball, under whose leadership the team reached the main peak - the gold medals of the Olympics in 1992. Awards of this level are no longer her asset. In the semifinals, the girls defeated the USA (79:73), leaving in the fourth from the second place. Success in the final against China with a score of 76:66 became a grandiose for the entire Russian basketball.

Elena by that time was already entrenched in the main team, a year earlier celebrating the victory in the European Championships, which indicates the non-accidental nature of the triumph in Barcelona. In the final game of the European Championship against Yugoslavia 10 points brought the team a young nineteen-year-old basketball player. Baranova Elena already in 1992 received the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR.

The main team in the career

For 22 seasons in big sports, an outstanding basketball player will replace many clubs. But six years spent in CSKA will make this team the main one in Baranova's career. After the Olympics Gomelsky is invited to the Israeli "Epicur". And Baranova Elena rushes for the coach, becoming with the team champion of Israel. At the end of the contract, their paths diverged. He began to train the Dynamo, and Elena continued her career in CSKA.

She, an eminent basketball player, did not immediately prove her right to play in the top five, but subsequently admitted that all the stunts, including the game with her back to the ring, were taught by the then coach of CSKA Anatoly Myshkin. Here, it has acquired the necessary versatility that will allow it to continue to play equally well in the place of any player, and not only in its main position - the center one. She turned into a real professional with a unique mindset and vision of the site, which enabled her to become the most valuable player in the 1998 World Cup and enter the symbolic team of the world in 2002.

WNBA: the first of Russians

Baranova Elena, basketball for which will become a professional matter of life, will forever go down in history as the first Russian athlete to fall into the overseas league. This happened in January 1997, when she signed a contract with "Utah Stars". Although the team was not strong, Elena managed to demonstrate her individuality, becoming the best in the league championship on block shots and setting in one of the matches a record for the hammered three-point shots (7 of 9).

In total, she spent seven seasons in different years across the ocean. It was operated after the injury received in the game for the Turkish team "Fenerbahce", which made it impossible for her to participate in the 2000 Olympics. After the operation, she returned to the big sport, taking the first steps in the "Miami Sol", becoming the best in the league on free throws and receiving an invitation to the match of all the stars. This right was not sought by any other athlete from Russia.

Similar to the operation of Elena in his time moved and the great footballer Ronaldo. This completed his triumphant career. The girl remained in the sport, continuing to play for more than ten years, just across the ocean repeatedly becoming a finalist and semi-finalist of the Eastern Conference of the league.

Baranova Elena: interesting facts about biography

In 1998, after the break, the women's basketball team was again headed by Eugene Gomelsky, with whom the team takes the second place at the World Cup, and Baranova is recognized as the best player in Europe. But in the CSKA business did not work out. Therefore, the athlete, forced to look for a new club, decided to play for the men's team "Bison" (Mytischi), with which she trained last year. In order not to lose the sports form and realize your main dream - to compare the level of male and female basketball. In the role of light striker in 1999 for men, she played four matches in the official tournament of the Moscow region, already in the first fight after 15 minutes of playing time and gaining five points. This is a unique case in the history of basketball.

Baranova Elena has a difficult character, not hesitating to express her opinion to anyone. In her professional biography there is a fact of the trial, where she defended her right to terminate the contract and not speak for the UMMC team. In it, she trained since November 2001. Becoming a part of the national team under the leadership of Vadim Kapranov silver medalist of European and world championships, the athlete was not satisfied with the state of affairs within the Russian team. Her players had a conflict with the chief manager - Shabtai Kalmanovich, as a result of which several people completed their sports career. Baranov did not want to finish it. Therefore, I got the right to play for another team, having won the court.

Completion of sports career

Time does not dominate the athlete: in the 21st century her career with the WNBA continued, and from 2002 to 2004 she was the captain of the Russian team. Three times became the champion of the country (only six titles) in the UMMC. The birth of children in 2006 just a year and a half suspended her career in big sports, although she began training four months after the birth. In her life, there was another coach, to whom she is infinitely grateful - Boris Sokolovsky. But in 2008, she was no longer invited to the national team for a trip to the Beijing Olympics, where the national team took third place, considering that its time has passed.

Elena Baranova finished her career in the team of Vologda-Chevakata in 2012, before this she spoke for Nadezhda (Orenburg), which helped her to get out of the middle places to the third place in Russia. On the eve of the 2012 Olympics, as a result of Maria Stepanova 's injury, the team was without a major center player. Baranova offered her services, but her coach Boris Sokolovsky did not use it. Who knows, maybe the participation of an outstanding athlete could change the situation and raise the team higher than its fourth place.

The Legend of Russian Basketball

Baranova Elena - the most titled sportswoman in the history of the development of basketball. In her house a real museum was created, where all her rewards are kept. In addition to the Olympic medal, which she especially appreciates and cherishes. Especially after the story of the theft of the award from Vitaly Fridzon. She does not hide that the other medals do not represent value for her, the titles she wears are more important. The most bitter award is the silver medal of the 1998 World Cup, when the team stopped a step away from the victory. The athlete, in addition to the Olympic, is proud of the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, received in 2007, and the letter of thanks of President Putin, which testifies to the important role played by sport in the life of society.

Personal life

So long existed in professional sports Helen helped the mother, who after the birth of children actively participated in their upbringing. The basketball player in 2006 had twins Masha and Misha, with their father, Gulyaev Borislav Aleksandrovich, they registered the relationship on the eve of childbirth. Prior to this, the couple had been living in a civil marriage for eight years. The spouse has a professional attitude to the sport and in parallel is engaged in business in the field of real estate.

Having received higher education, Elena Baranova, photo of the pupils of which can be seen in the article, directs the basketball department at the Olympic Reserve School named after. Alexander Gomelsky. Her life is an example of a true service to her beloved cause, which brought her worldwide fame.