A student of the renowned fencing coaches Alexander Sergeevich and Vitaly Alexandrovich Kislyunin, the epee player Olga Kochneva trained long and hard before receiving the title of Honored Master of Sports of Russia and winning the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
This victory was a team victory, but Olga made a significant contribution to it.
Biography
Olga Kochneva was born in 1988 in the town of Dzerzhinsk, Gorky Region. As a child, she showed very versatile interests, but the beauty of fencing conquered the future athlete, and she chose the epee as her professional weapon.
From the very beginning, Olga took sports seriously: she studied at a sports school, then received the education of a sports organization manager. And she trained selflessly and willingly. Olga's first mentor in Dzerzhinsk was Elena Nikolaevna Futina - it was she who gave her student a ticket to big sports and taught her first sword skills.
Olga herself also put a lot of effort into moving from a small town to the capital and becoming noticeable among the many fencers who dream of conquering the heights of professional sports.
Epee fencer career
At first Olga played for the Yunost Moskvy club, and then she was invited to Dynamo Moscow. She plays for this club now.
Since 2009, Kochneva has repeatedly become the champion of Russia as part of the epee team. Twice her team won the silver medal. As for personal success, she won two bronze medals at the Russian championship.
Olga Kochneva's most notable achievement to date is her victory at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. This year was significant for her: she became a member of the Russian national team and began to seriously prepare for the Olympics. Moreover, she had serious difficulties: she interrupted training due to pregnancy and childbirth, but was able to pull herself together and continue preparing for an important sporting event.
It was “hot” at the Olympics: the gap in points with the rivals was very small, and at any moment they could regain the advantage and win. It was Kochneva who, having entered the court, increased this gap in points, and the team captain further strengthened the success. As a result - bronze, which can be considered an excellent result in the conditions of this Olympics.
For this victory Olga Kochneva received the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree. The athlete plans to prepare for the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Olga has other hobbies besides sports: she loves to study art history. This interest appeared in her as a child, and over the years it did not pass. On the contrary, as a person accustomed to doing any business seriously, Olga decided to study art professionally, so she entered the Institute of Culture to study this interesting discipline. And who knows what occupation she will choose in the future when she has to leave professional sports: training young athletes or art history?
Personal life
Olga Kochneva is one of those women who considers her acquaintance with her future husband the happiest event in her life. Husband and son are two of the most important people in her life. She tries to spend as much time with them as possible, and attracts them to her interests, both sports and cultural and educational.
Their friendly family now lives in St. Petersburg.
