Sovetsky Sport. March 24, 1990. Lyubov Miromanova returned to Minsk from the Olympics happy and animated, with a bunch of gifts for family and friends. And two days later she decided to do something terrible, irreparable. She, voluntarily, without any apparent reason, ended her life...
But why? What secret, irresistible force, what unexplained fatal arrangement of planets pushed a woman in the prime of her life to the fatal point? Who knows... And it's hardly posible to explain the mystery of leaving. She remains in a person's soul. Let's remember her better, listen to people who knew her well.
Journalist. With the wide backs of the athletes hunched, four men, slowly moving their legs along the wooden platform, carried disassembled gymnastics equipment from one end of the gym to the other. The severity was clearly serious, although from the outside it looked funny. But no one seemed about to laugh, when suddenly a mocking female voice commented in the manner of a famous march: "Pam-pam-pa-bam, pam-pam-pa-paba-pabam..." Those present laughed. The 'commentator,' Lyubov Maksimovna Miromanova, also smiled, pleased with the unexpected effect of her 'musical accompaniment'...
Witty, ironic, and smart, she easily became the center of any company. Few people could cheer, encourage, simply talk 'about life,' to find the only true words of consolation like she could. But she herself perferred not to relax, as buttoning herself tightly.
At one time, Lyuba Miromanova, a thin and graceful gymnast, was a member of the Belarusian national team. However, she never played first violin. But leaving the platform, she didn't hesitate in her choice. She became a coach.
Not right away, but things got better. Capable students appeared. One of them, Ludmila Savina, joined the USSR national team in the early 1970s. And Lyubov Maksimovna's lessons, in sports and in life, bore fruit.
L. Savina, Master of Sports International Class: Lyubov Maksimovna was very determined. How we girls idolized her! We spent more time with her than with our own families. At training, before, and after. She was the first person we ran to for advice and consolation. She was like a mother. And if I have anything good in my character now, I thank Lyubov Maksimovna for it.
Journalist: To create her own school by uniting like-minded people was the goal of Lyubov Miromanova. But she only managed to lay the foundation of her cherished building. This foundation turned out to be strong. Having become a coach, it was Ludmila Savina who later 'discovered' Svetlana Boginskaya, the future two-time Olympic champion, and world and European champion. Another student of Miromanova, Ludmila Popkovich, by the will of fate, became her successor and brought the 'goddess,' as Svetlana was lovingly called by Lyubov Maksimovna, to the heights of gymnastics.
I know from the stories of Savina, Popkovich, and Miromanova herself, how this gymnast, who did not look like a future champion at first, was found during the recruitment process. But Miromanova immediately noticed something about her that only leaders have.
A nugget, no matter how you look at it, needs careful polishing; you need a skillful jeweler-coach. And how important it is that now gymnastics star of the first magnitude Svetlana Boginskaya, proud and inaccessible, does not forget about this. She remembered how she was brought up in the Miromanova family, becoming the third, most spoiled daughter.
Then one day the moment came when the coach decided to show her child to the head of the country's youth team, Anatoly Kozeev.
A. Kozeev: I met Miromanova at the beginning of 1980. She helped the then senior coach, Lidia Ivanova. A little later, when I replaced Lidia Gavrilovna in this post, Miromanova once brought Svetlana Boginskaya to a training camp 'under her arm,' simply put, illegally. She didn't look very good outwardly, but she was attractive because of her mobility and efficiency. We began to cooperate with Lyubov Maksimovna. What struck me about her afterwards was her extraordinary desire for self-improvement.
Journalist: This is how their partnership began and grew stronger.
Meanwhile, Boginskaya grew and matured. Only the Almighty knows how much strength and nerves it took Miromanova to pick up the key to the heart of an ethereal girl with a difficult fate and character.
At the Olympic Games in Seoul, Miromanova was the floor coach. At the same Olympic tournament, few people believed that our girls would be able to defeat the Romanian gymnasts. Oh, how everyone needed this victory - the coaches, the athletes themselves, and us, the spectators. It's hard to imagine what a weight fell on Lyubov Maksimovna's fragile shoulders!
She worked flawlessly on the platform. She took care of the girls like a mother, fussed over them, calmed them down with just her appearance, unobtrusively extinguishing unnecessary emotions. And in her soul there were swirling passions and storms!
The result of her work was three gold medals - team, all-around, and vault. Moreover, her dear Svetochka Boginskaya, whom she raised, won the vault and also took third place in the overall championship. Miromanova was happy. And suddenly something terrible happened...
T. Perskaya, Merited Coach of the USSR: Lyubov Maksimovna, of course, was an extraordinary person. Direct, sincere, purposeful, with some amazing strength of character. She was accustomed not to bow to difficulties, not to step aside from conflicts if she felt that the truth was on her side. Therefore, some people, including the authorities, looked at her askance: the truth is, you know, it stings the eyes. She also had a hard time in life, but Lyuba never lost heart. We were simply amazed: where did so much strength come from? She literally worked her butt off, not sparing herself.
Lately, before the Olympics, it seemed like her whole life was a bare nerve. All that nervousness and exhausting work away from home and family left scars. But in Seoul, Miromanova held herself just fine, supporting the girls, smiling, joking, and only when we went backstage did she repeat: "How can I withstand all this? Oh, Tanya, don't ask!"
A. Meretsky, Merited Coach of the USSR: Everyone who came to the youth team, and we met there, fell under her unobtrusive tutelage. There are people who warm. And at the same time, she never avoided sharp corners and openly said everything she thought. Except this was never elevated to the rank of personal relationships. She was an exceptionally subtle, delicate person.
S. Boginskaya, Merited Master of Sports: Lyubov Maksimovna was like a mother to me. Having lost her, I probably lost the brightest thing I had in my life.
E. Sevrukh, Choreographer: Lyubov Maksimovna passionately loved literature and poetry, especially Marina Tsvetaeva. She used to bring good books from abroad and rejoice like a child: she had a good trip. Once we were together in Moscow. We found a few hours and made our way to the exhibition of the artist Vasiliev - remember, the one who died. We came out shocked. I write a little poetry. Now, in my old age, I rarely do, only when I want to say something in a fancy style. And I dedicated a poem to Miromanova, during her lifetime. I don't remember everything, but there were lines like: "The armor is sparkling. With the visor raised... At the edge of the abyss... There is a cheeky smile in the mouth... Your horse worries and touches the thin ford of the bridge with a golden horseshoe..." I imagined her as a horsewoman, a warrior: she always went into battle for justice with her visor open.
We loved her madly. Knowing that she was somewhere at the end of the earth, we waited for her like a red sun. When she arrives, it's a celebration.
All her life she worked, toiled, did not hide behind other people's backs. I don't remember when she took a vacation. After giving birth, almost the next day she was back in the gym. She, you know, said herself that she would not live long, and added: "Remember me well."
There are people - like stars, the memory of them - light a light in the night.
"Indeed, my friend is not dead. He just stops being around."
V. PISAREV