Three Olympians for the Motherland

Preparing a participant in the Olympic Games is the dream of any coach, goal for any club, pride of any region. Surgut, "Gazprom-Ugra", Rafael Khabibullin commemorates three of their Olympians on the eve of the Tokyo Olympics.

Stanislav Dineikin

Andrey Egorchev (left) and Dineykin in 2004 year / Photo: vcdynamo.ru

Stas has never played for Gazprom-Yugra, but in the column "first coach" he has "Rafael Khabibullin". And this is not a formality - Rafael Talgatovich literally made this player. Found him in the fifth grade of high school and led him until his adult volleyball life. What was not there: long conversations with parents, teachers, Stas himself, transition to sports class, individual training, trips to the alma mater - near Moscow Malakhovka ... As a result - participation in two Olympics (1996, 2004), "Bronze" of Athens, title of honored master of sports.

Konstantin Baku

Bakun came to Gazprom-Yugra as an established player, strong, but without obvious prospects of getting into the national team. For two years in Surgut, Konstantin became not only the leading player of the team, but also the top scorer of the national championship, fully revealed his talent already in adulthood. Better two years in his career opened the way for Bakun to the Olympic team of the sample 2016 of the year, where in Rio de Janeiro the team did not reach the "bronze" by quite a bit.

Igor Kobzar

Photo: volleyball.world

"Our child" - so Khabibullin said and continues to talk about him. Kobzar grew up in Gazprom-Yugra, already in 17 years going to Super League matches. He was trusted with a place on the site, despite mistakes and miscalculations - the young talent had to play as much as possible, gain experience, bump. Igor got a unique opportunity in the form of a coaching carte blanche at such a young age and took full advantage of his chance. Today he is the champion of the country as part of Zenit Kazan, "Belogorya" and "Kuzbass", participant of the Olympic Games 2016 years and a member of the Olympic team at the Tokyo Games. And if Kobzar went to Rio with the rank of "co-pilot", then it goes to Tokyo as the first number, starter player.

Artificial production

Olympians are a piece "commodity". There were guys in Surgut, stopped a step away from the Olympics. You can also remember Alexei Rodichev, and Alexander Gutsalyuk, and Roman Martynyuk, and others. for example, at Anton Semyshev, uncoupled from Tokyo 2020 at the last moment, excellent prospects remain for the next Olympic cycle. But Semyshev, anyway, laid the foundations for further growth in Surgut.

who is next?

On this one Rafael Khabibullin, neither Gazprom-Yugra is going to stop. maybe, already in the new season we will see future Olympians in the team - why not? The club always sets the highest bar, young talents are revealed here, players with experience gain a second youth. 25 years for the benefit of Ugra and Russia - everything is just beginning!