Nailya Gilyazova: I pitied the Olympic Bear Cub 02.08.2010
On August 3, 1980 the XXII Summer Olympic Games closing ceremony took place. One of the participants of the sporting event from Tatarstan was Nailya Gilyazova, the Best Tatarstan Athlete of the XX Century title holder
Nailya Fayzrakhmanovna is the 1976 Olympics champion, silver winner of the 1980 Olympics, seven-time world champion and five-time European champion. Our oustanding fencer has the 1979 Summer Universiade champion title in her collection as well that Nailya Gilyazova even doesn’t mention.
- That Universiade was held in Mexico City, Mexico. I was a student of Kazan State Pedagogical Institute. I arrived in Mexico straight after the world championship and to tell the truth I was a bit weary. I was late for singles events so I jumped right into team competitions that our USSR national team won soon after. It could not have been otherwise as there were Valentina Sidorova from Moscow (we took gold at the Montreal Olympics) and Marina Tsagareva from Vladikavkaz (Valentina, Marina and I won silver medals of the Moscow Olympics) in the team. In short the Univesiade team completely coincided with the national team.
- Was it because there were no rivals of your level at the Universiade?
- Most likely you are right. But it doesn’t mean that the Universiade final was an easy win. There was a serious competition inside the Soviet national team itself, it took a lot to win a slot in it. And we were trying to overcome this competitiveness. We used to argue and took offence at each other but it was inside the team. As soon as we were on the platform our competitiveness was replaced by team spirit.
- I’ve got kind of a loaded question: were you frustrated that 30 years ago the Moscow Olympic Games were held in the USSR? It’s no secret that at that time a trip abroad was a rare thing for Soviet citizens. And if you visited Canada during the Montreal Olympics and Mexico during the Mexico City Universiade, the Moscow Olympic Games could hardly make an impression on you.
- You know I will tell you something that only people who are close to me believe in. Others who don’t know me do not believe when I say that I love my city. You can’t even imagine how much I love it. It has been beautiful before but now with all the new buildings it is fantastically beautiful. I’m a couch potato and sometimes I even didn’t want to go to international championships as I didn’t want to leave Kazan.
You’re not going to believe this.
Speaking about the Olympic cultural programs Montreal was best remembered for my participation in the Olympic Parade. At the stadium’s main entrance we were told that we needed to march to drumbeat. So when walking into the stadium I asked myself, “What am I doing here? Why am I here for?” and I answered myself, “I’m here to win! Otherwise they won’t let me be back.” I exaggerate of course but at that moment it came to my mind. As for the Moscow Olympics I remember that I was starving during the singles. Then my father-in-law brought me a sandwich. And later on as far as I recall during a match someone cheered me from the stands, “Nelya, fire ahead!” I managed to turn the game around and won the match. Only 20 years later I learned that it had been director of the Kazan School of Olympic Reserve Mansur Miftakhov who had shouted out words of support to me. Can you imagine that for 20 years he had confessed that it had been him who had cheered me at the Olympic Games in Moscow! By the way a casual remark may be more useful than a whole lecture. As far as I recall at a world championship I was losing 4-7 and there were only 15 seconds left. Great fencer and coach Eduard Vinokurov happened to be nearby and he told me three magic words, “Nelya, take a risk!” and left away. I thought that I had nothing to lose and took a risk. And I won! Can you imagine that later on when I thanked him for those words he couldn’t recall saying something like that?
- I read in an interview that you had melt into tears when you had seen the Bear Cub, the Moscow Olympics mascot, flying into the sky at the closing ceremony.
- Not exactly. After we finished as runner-ups at the Moscow Olympics I secretly bought a train ticket to Kazan and after returning home I got enfolded in silence. I was analyzing where I made a mistake. And as for the closing ceremony I saw it a few years later in Yury Ozerov’s outstanding film “O, sport – you are the world!” When we were at training in Sukhumi I saw the bear cub flying into the sky. Memories filled my mind and I burst into tears. Even now when I tell to you about it I get shivers up my spine.
