Diving from the springboard brought Uralochka Kristina Ilinykh only 15th place at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The weather in hot Brazil suddenly turned bad and let the athlete down. The 21-year-old jumper was in 9th place, but the second jump was a little unsuccessful.
– The weather let down a little: only 18 degrees and a cold wind beating in the back, – Kristina’s mother Ekaterina Ilinykh told Woman’s Day. – The day before, my daughter got a little cold because of the cool weather – the girls are waiting for their jump in wet swimsuits. But for the final jumps, she was treated. Despite the 15th place, Christina and coach Oleg Zaitsev are pleased with their performance – at her first Olympics, my daughter did everything she could! But the diving final, alas, will already take place without us …
– Christina was a leader since childhood: she got upset when she lost, tried to be the first in everything, – Ekaterina Ilinykh continues. – She was an artistic child – she knew a lot of poems and songs. In the family circle, she constantly sang, read poetry, staged toy performances. At 3,5 years old, my daughter began to dance in the studio. Polichkina, performed on stage at the Youth Palace in Yekaterinburg. She loved going out to the public, and I think that now these classes are useful.
At the same time, my daughter began to go to the pool, learn to swim – that was her desire. Christina very quickly learned to lower her head under the water and was one of the first to swim. We went there for one academic year, and at the age of five, Christina had already taken up diving. And the interest in jumping woke up like this: she loved to jump on a trampoline in the park, so we decided to give her to the trampoline jumping section. Coincidentally, children who were engaged in diving were training on trampolines in the same place. Their coach Natalia Lvovna saw Christina dashingly jumping, literally grabbed her in her arms and began to persuade her to engage in diving: after all, both her hobbies are combined here – trampoline and swimming! Moreover, Christina was already prepared: she is stretched and flexible.
So she began to go to training every day. And at the same time, grandmother Nelya enrolled Christina in the circus studio “Arlekino”. My daughter even took part in the 2003 circus arts festival. So, for three years she trained both in the circus and in the diving section – our coach did not even suspect anything about Christina’s other hobby. But since sports training is very intense, she had to choose one thing, and Christina devoted herself entirely to sports – she dreamed of getting to the Olympics! Therefore, at the age of 11, she has already completed the master of sports program.
But Christina did not forget about school either – she tried to study perfectly well. She loved physics and English, drawing, work. She always did needlework, drew, sculpted, made crafts, sewed toys. She always learned everything herself, I can only interest her. She even learned to jump rope, ride a two-wheeled bicycle at 6,5 years old without anyone’s help!
Now she is fond of puzzles – collects huge paintings, beautifully embroiders with a cross, and recently learned to knit. She has a lot of friends: everyone loves her, respects and cheers for her with all their hearts!