I waited for the «genius» from prison. Beautiful love story of Viner and Usmanov

After 30 years of marriage and almost 50 years of marriage, billionaire Alisher Usmanov filed for divorce from the legendary coach of the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team, Irina Viner. They also specified that Usmanov is the plaintiff in this civil case, and Viner is the defendant. Thus, the beautiful love story of two famous people is probably coming to an end. But this is no reason not to talk about one of the most influential couples in Russian sports. Childhood and first success in sports Irina Viner was born in Samarkand in an intelligent Jewish family. Mom was a doctor, and dad was an artist. When the family moved to Tashkent, Irina became very interested in rhythmic gymnastics. She had an obvious talent, which quickly translated into high results in competitions. Viner repeatedly won the championship of Uzbekistan, while not forgetting about her studies. She graduated from school with a silver medal and entered the Institute of Physical Education in Tashkent, and after that she began to build a coaching career. Alisher Usmanov also grew up in Uzbekistan. His father was a prosecutor and was considered an influential person in the city. Mom was more involved in housekeeping and raising children. Little Alisher in childhood adored the novel «The Three Musketeers», from which a passion for fencing grew. He played for the youth team of the country, then for the all-Union team, and in the end he received the title of master of sports of the USSR. Then there was admission to MGIMO at the prestigious Faculty of International Law. This education opened many doors. Usmanov was hired by the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, and then he was given the post of one of the leaders of the Foreign Economic Association of the Soviet Peace Committee.

The Usmanovs (right) at the William Turner exhibition An amazing story of acquaintance Usmanov first saw Wiener in training. They practiced not far from each other, so Alisher decided to stay and watch the gymnasts. He was five years younger than Wiener and was just finishing school then. Irina has already started her coaching career. Usmanov immediately drew attention to the beauty, who dressed incredibly fashionably and stood out from all the others. Nevertheless, he did not dare to approach her, fearing that something would go wrong. Their paths diverged for a long time. Usmanov studied in Moscow, and Viner worked in Uzbekistan, where she married and gave birth to a son, Anton. Irina Alexandrovna flatly refused to talk about her first spouse, and information about him could not be found in publicly available sources. Usmanov adopted the boy, fully provided for him, and then helped in business. After that incident, at training, Viner and Usmanova met by chance in Moscow and agreed to go on a date. Everything spun very quickly, love flared up and was not going to fade away. But there was a problem. Alisher did not know how to tell his parents that he was going to start a family with a girl of Jewish origin who is five years older than him and who has a child from his first marriage. Usmanov's parents were strongly opposed at first, but then they put up with the choice of their son, and later even approved him.