Leonid Tyagachev is an official whose life and state career are inextricably linked with sports. He rose from a champion alpine skier of the USSR to the president of the Russian Olympic Committee. After resigning from this post in 2010, he focused on legislative activity in the Federation Council.
Biography
Tyagachev Leonid Vasilyevich was born on October 10, 1946 in the small village of Dedenevo, which is located in the Dmitrovsky district of the Moscow region. These regions have always been famous for their hills, which the locals loved to conquer on skis. Tyagachev's parents first put their son on skis at the age of 4. He started skiing at the age of 7, took part in international competitions.
In 1962 Tyagachev was included in the USSR national team, won the title of USSR champion. In addition to alpine skiing, he was fond of football, participated in amateur tournaments. Has the title of Master of Sports of the USSR in football.
Leonid Vasilyevich began his career as a worker at an electromechanical plant in Dmitrov. However, he soon again focused on sports. In 1966 he became an instructor at a ski base, a little later - a senior coach at the Moscow council of the Trud sports society.
In 1971, Tyagachev was appointed the head coach of the Moscow region in alpine skiing. In 1973 he graduated from the Moscow Regional Pedagogical Institute named after Krupskaya, graduating from the Faculty of Physical Education. He honed his coaching skills at a ski school in Austria, where he studied from 1971 to 1975.
Career in sports and politics
In 1975 Tyagachev headed the coaching staff of the USSR national alpine skiing team. He brought up and directed many talented athletes to victory - prize-winners of the World Cup, World Championship, Olympic Games. Under his leadership in 1981, Soviet skiers for the first time in history won five stages of the World Cup. Then Tyagachev was recognized as the best coach of the year in his sport.
In 1983-1985, he worked with the Uzbek national team in alpine skiing, served as an adviser on sports and tourism to the government of the Uzbek SSR.
1985 - returned to the USSR national team, which later became the Russian national team, where he worked until 1996. From 1994 to 2006 he served as President of the Russian Federation of Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding.
Tyagachev became a sports official in 1995, taking the post of Minister of Sports and Tourism of the Russian Federation. Then he heads the State Committee for Physical Culture and Tourism (1996-1999). In 1997-2001, he served as vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
On July 18, 2001, during the Olympic meeting, Leonid Tyagachev was elected to the post of President of the ROC. He held this position until March 4, 2010, successfully re-elected in 2005 and 2009. Tyagachev's activities have been repeatedly criticized in connection with the weak performance of Russian athletes at the Olympics. Among sports officials, his ardent opponent was the head of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports Vyacheslav Fetisov. The head of the Olympic Committee was accused of excessive spending in organizing various events, senseless expenses for the maintenance of officials. After the failure of the Russian team at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, President Dmitry Medvedev blamed the failure on sports officials and demanded their resignation. Soon Leonid Tyagachev voluntarily left the post of head of the ROC.
He continued his political career in the Federation Council (SF), where he was elected in July 2007 from the Rostov region. His term of office was extended in September 2013. Senator Leonid Tyagachev is a member of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs.
Hobbies and merits
- The athlete and the official did a lot to popularize winter sports. Under his leadership, sports complexes were opened in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Moscow Region, the Republic of Adygea, Kamchatka, and Uzbekistan. In his small homeland in the village of Dedenevo, Tyagachev built a sports center named after himself. It includes ski slopes, a cable car, a hotel, a snowboard track, an indoor soccer field, tennis courts and many recreational facilities. Special mention should be made of the Children's Ski School of Leonid Tyagachev, where young athletes live and study.
- In his free time, an official does not forget about sports. In addition to downhill skiing, he prefers swimming and tennis. Often gathers friends. Rumor has it that Tyagachev owes his brilliant career to his friendship with President Putin, whom he taught to ski.
- He is fond of fishing, hunting geese, ducks, wild boars, deer. Together with his wife, he does a lot of charity work, helping in the repair of churches, healthcare and education institutions.
Personal life
Since December 17, 1966, he has been married to Svetlana Nikolaevna Tyagacheva (1948). The future spouses studied at the same school, there are two years of difference between them. Svetlana Tyagacheva has been the head of the urban settlement of Dedenevo since 2001. She has a musical and legal education.
The couple raised two daughters. The eldest Elena (1969) received a medical education, gave her parents two granddaughters. The youngest Alexandra (1974) studied at the Music College and the Academy of Finance, has a daughter.
In 2009, one scandalous newspaper reported that Leonid Tyagachev had an illegitimate son. His mother is a socialite and businesswoman Maria Stroganova. The child was born in 2004. Svetlana Tyagacheva, in an interview with a journalist, admitted that her husband regretted what had happened and always wanted to save the family. In turn, she forgave him for betrayal and even declared her readiness to raise the boy if his mother abandoned him. “Maria would have found out about our family first, before giving birth. Lenya and I are mothers, two daughters, my husband's sister, two sons-in-law, three granddaughters - this is a family, a family with traditions. It cannot be destroyed. Of course, I myself created an idol for myself, Leonid Vasilyevich is an idol in the family. And he will remain with them, no matter what they accused him of,”Svetlana Tyagacheva put an end to the scandal.
Awards:
- Order of Friendship of Peoples (1994);
- Order of Honor (1999);
- Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III and IV degrees (2005 and 2001);
- Silver Olympic Order (2006);
- Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation (2007).
