August 17, the brilliant figure skater and woman Oksana Domnina, who saved Roman Kostomarov with love, turned 39 years old. tells the story of the bronze medalist of the 2010 Olympics.
Oksana Domnina's mother, even four years after Domnina/Shabalina's Olympic award, said in an interview, «I could not imagine that my daughter would achieve such success in sports.» This, of course, is not disbelief or depreciation. Just a rational motherly look. The Domnins had an ordinary family, without a history of great athletes and championship genes in their blood.
How many six-year-olds at some point in their lives find themselves on the skating rink? Millions of them! Little Oksana was one of them. Open ice, severe winter Kirov and she is a tall girl with thin legs. «Thin, staggers on the ice, the wind blows — it blows,» — this is how the family recalled the first experiments on the rink. However, a year later, one of the group was called to train in earnest. They considered something: graceful proportions or a strong character. , do not give up, do not pay attention to troubles, think that they will pass and everything will be fine tomorrow!» More than once in her life, this installation will help her cope with trials.Domnina got into ice dancing exceptionally early — at the age of 8. There has always been a strong junior dance school in Kirov, so, having found herself in a competitive environment with experienced trainers, Oksana began to progress. Before moving to Moscow, she managed to ride with two partners. With the last one, Ivan Lobanov, Domnina took eighth place in the adult championship of Russia, although she was only sixteen.
After that, the young textured figure skater was no longer allowed to return to Kirov. Coach Alexei Gorshkov invited Oksana to his skating rink in Odintsovo and picked up a partner, Maxim Bolotin. They skated together for the whole season, reaching the prizes at the Russian championship. Then, as the athletes recalled, mutual understanding disappeared in the pair. And then Maxim Shabalin appeared.
Oksana spent the next 10 years hand in hand with him and achieved the highest results: three golds at the Russian Championships, two triumphs at the European Championships, a world title and bronze medals at the Olympic Games .
Often, duets on ice become couples in life. But this is not the case of Domnina/Shabalin. They interacted well as athletes, not reaching conflicts and a violent showdown in work, but outside the rink they were always apart. Different lives, different interests. And even a trip to America in 2008 to coaches Natalya Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov in order to prepare for the 2010 Olympics did not bring them closer. Oksana was homesick away from her family and familiar environment. But she endured for the sake of a great goal. And in Moscow, she was also missed. Oksana's young man remained in Russia — Olympic champion Roman Kostomarov. They have been together since about 2005, having begun to communicate closely on the tour of Ilya Averbukh.
It is now that people apart can communicate at least every 15 minutes by voice or video call, as they like. Then it was difficult and expensive to call, and therefore they did not do it so often. But when it worked out, Oksana heard the touching «Why did I let you go?» This question, on the one hand, broke my heart, and on the other hand, it urged me to train even harder so that everything was not in vain.
Their love story is a very uneven curve. Roman is a famous heartthrob, Oksana is a cold beauty, so both of them always had an abundance of attention. Perhaps this influenced the couple or the misunderstanding affected, but in 2013 they broke up. Having managed to give birth to a daughter, Anastasia, but never had time to get married. The novel was in no hurry to make an offer and generally somehow moved away, and Oksana began an affair with her Ice Age partner Vladimir Yaglych. >Whether it was a cunning move on the part of the skater, so that Roman realized what he was losing, history is silent. Nevertheless, the hook worked. After parting, Kostomarov again burned with fire to his beloved and immediately called her in marriage.
Since then, everything has been going well in their lives. Their youngest son was born, both were in great demand in ice shows — both theatrical and television. They looked fantastically good together and retained the tenderness and attentiveness characteristic of the heyday of love.
The main test, which the whole world learned about, happened in January 2023. Roman ended up in the hospital with pneumonia and for more than six months he fought not for health, but for life. Because of the beginning of sepsis, he had to amputate both feet, shins, hand, fingers on the other hand. He went through all the circles of hell, survived and returned home. and believe in the best.
On Roman's birthday in February (then his condition was critical) Oksana wrote on social networks:
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«Happy Birthday , my hero… my strong… my beloved… my champion in everything!!! I am proud of you, your courage, your strength, your zeal to win as soon as possible in these difficult moments!!! Exactly a year ago, we could not even imagine in the very a terrible dream that such a revolution in life can happen … but now it is so … and we will overcome everything, we will cope with everything, I believe!!! Only LIVE».
Her faith and love helped husband to return home alive. They are now helping to go through all the difficulties of rehabilitation. One can only guess what kind words Roman will choose for Oksana on her birthday — now they seem to have one birthday for two.