Elena Panchenko - a young and talented skier. Repeated winner of all-Union and international competitions, her life has lived a very bright, albeit short-lived.
Elena Nikolaevna Panchenko was born in Mezhdurechensk in 1963, November 11. The girl studied well, at the same time received additional education in the piano class of a music school.
Road to big sport
At seven, Lena became interested in skiing. Her father, a ski enthusiast, brought her daughter to Mount Yugus. Since that time, the girl visited the Caucasus, Sayan Mountains, mastered the tracks in the Urals, then in the Balkans, the Alps.
In 1971, Lena decided to engage in her favorite sport at a ski school. Her first coach was Valentina Tikhonovna Zakharchenko. She was in no hurry to overload the new student. Throughout the winter, Panchenko mastered the basics of skiing in a playful way that was easy and accessible to the child.
The coach chose the right tactic. Valentina Tikhonovna gradually increased the load. The girl developed harmoniously. Two years later, Panchenko was transferred to another coach, Valery Dmitrievich Zakharchenko.
Thanks to his work, the young skier revealed her talent. The mentor made a considerable contribution to the development of mobility, flexibility and speed of reaction with the endurance of the student. He noticed that the student had all the qualities invaluable to the athlete and helped to improve them.
Panchenko for a very long time successfully combined musical creativity and sport. In the end, she had to face a choice. Elena chose the skis. Difficult work began.
In the life of a girl, training was replaced by training, trips to competitions. On the hard road to victories, the coach always told the student that she needed to fight, and not give in to difficulties.
Swift start
The young skier from many of her peers was distinguished by perseverance and amazing determination. At the competition in Tashtagol, an eleven-year-old athlete decided to argue for victories with Alla Askarova, one of the country's strongest skiers.
After losing, the girl strongly stated that the next time she would definitely win. Since 1974, the girl took part in republican and union competitions, became the winner in the championship of the country's trade unions among girls.
Elena received at thirteen a candidate title in the master of sports of the USSR, and from fourteen she was already a master of sports. In the new status, Panchenko won in 1978 at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR among girls. Since then, Elena has become a full member of the national team.
A real sporting triumph for her was the drawing of the Cup of Socialist States, held in Bulgaria. The young skier from Mezhdurechensk happened in Sofia three times to climb to the very top of the podium. It is in her honor that the flag of the country was raised several times, a hymn sounded.
Lena brought home three gold medals and as many cups. According to the participants of the national team, Panchenko had maximum chances to become a world leader. Everyone in the team loved the sincere and responsive girl. Not when and for no reason did the girl miss a workout.
Once at home, in a short time Panchenko was in a hurry to tell about new impressions, successes, failures to friends and relatives. Often, she wrote letters to them from training camps and competitions.
Eternity leap
A good-natured and open classmate was very much loved at school. She attracted people, charging them with positive and cheerfulness. The girl always showed initiative, but she did not impose her own ideas either during training or on vacation. In the rapid biography of the inter-river student-athlete, many victories.
She received diplomas, ribbons of champions, honorary cups, medals, commemorative badges. However, the burden of fame did not force the girl to bend and catch star disease. The life of a talented athlete tragically ended in a car accident. In 1980, Soviet skiers and Austrian slalom skiers trained together.
After the conference, on October 3, everyone returned to the hotel. The translator who got into Elena’s bus suggested a place next to her. A few minutes later, a tram crashed into a minibus with athletes at the intersection. Both the translator and the athlete died on the spot.
The remaining participants received varying degrees of injury, but survived. The details of the tragedy were not widely known. Newspapers published a short obituary. The best monument to Panchenko was the ski native Mezhdurechensk.
Elena has done a lot for the development of her favorite sport. One of the rays of fame was the sporting life of a skier.
