Dmitry Sautin has been training since the age of 7 under the guidance of one mentor - Tatyana Aleksandrovna Starodubtseva. Only she knows how she guessed the future magnificent master in Dima. After all, Dmitry was physically strong since childhood, he could easily do pull-ups on the horizontal bar and hold a corner for a long time, but he was extremely inflexible and could not swim at all.

Dmitry Sautin's rise to the title of the best Russian diver of the 20th century began in 1991, when, having barely made it into the national team, he immediately won the European Cup on the ten-meter platform and took 2nd place at the European Championships in Athens. The young Voronezh resident was rapidly gaining points on the international stage.

In 1992 there were victories at the European Cup in Milan, 3rd place on the springboard in Olympic Barcelona. The 1993 European Championship brought Dmitry gold on the ten-meter platform and silver on the three-meter springboard.

Sautin showed everyone his fantastic character and will to win at the World Championships in Rome (1994). At that time, Chinese athletes already dominated in diving. However, some of Dmitry’s jumps were so good that coaches and spectators immediately playfully changed the Russian’s surname into the Chinese style with the emphasis on the last syllable. At this World Championship, Dmitry won on the ten-meter platform and took second place on the three-meter springboard.

In 1995, at the World Cup in Atlanta, Sautin won the first victory in the history of domestic diving on the 3-meter springboard. At the Olympic Games in Atlanta, his victory on the ten-meter platform was unconditional. After the second attempt, the gap was already 10.68. Another lap later - 30.24, then - 49.05. Such a reserve made any further resistance to Sautin pointless.

In 1997, Sautin won another gold at the World Championships, and at the 1998 World Championships he won absolute championship for the first time in his life. Dmitry's victory on the tower was especially impressive: he beat his closest rival Tian Liang by 90 points and exceeded the unofficial record of ten years ago by almost 40 points, scoring 750.99 points. During the free program, the Russian athlete received the highest mark - “ten” 11 times. And he set another unofficial record: Dmitry became the first jumper in the world who managed to score more than 100 points in one of his jumps. This triumph seemed incredible against the backdrop of a difficult hand operation, undergone immediately after the Olympics in Atlanta.

At the 1999 European Championships, Dmitry Sautin won gold on the ten-meter meter platform, and in 2000 at the European Championships in Helsinki he took 1st place in platform diving, ski jumping and synchronized platform diving, 2nd place in synchronized diving from the springboard.

Dmitry Sautin's performance at the Sydney Olympics ended with a unique achievement. Before him, not a single athlete in the world took part in all four types of the program at any competition. But Dmitry not only performed, but also won medals in all four events: a gold medal in synchronized platform diving, a silver medal in synchronized springboard diving, and two bronze medals in ski jumping and platform diving.

But Sautin did not intend to stop there. There were still many victories ahead at various tournaments. In September 2001, he won his next gold medal - in the three-meter springboard jumping at the Goodwill Games in the Australian city of Brisbon. After the Olympic Games in Sydney, Dmitry continued to perform in synchronized jumping, where he also achieved success, winning the World Championship in 2003 in tandem with Alexander Dobroskok and becoming a repeated winner of the world and European championships.

Dmitry won his next Olympic medal in Athens, where he took third place in the three-meter springboard jumping.

The 2008 Olympics in Beijing became the fifth in the biography of Dmitry Sautin. Not many athletes can boast of such an achievement. In Beijing, Sautin and Kunakov won silver in synchronized diving from the three-meter springboard.

In the spring of 2010, the International Aquatics Federation (FINA) recognized Dmitry Sautin as the best diver in the world of the first decade of the 21st century. He is rightly called the king of diving, the symbol of this sport.

Our interlocutor, Dmitry Ivanovich Sautin, was born on March 15, 1974 in Voronezh.
Graduated from the Voronezh State Institute of Physical Culture.
Twice (1998 and 2000) he was recognized as the best athlete of the year in Russia.
Recognized as the best diver in the world of the 21st century.
Currently - with the rank of lieutenant colonel, CSKA.
Participant of 5 Olympic Games - 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004,2008
Two-time Olympic champion
The only medal winner in all 4 types of modern jumping program at the Olympic Games
Five-time world champion:
12-time European champion in various disciplines (1993-2008):
Winner of the World Cup and Grand Prix competitions
Three-time winner of the Goodwill Games (1994, 1998 and 2001).
Awarded the orders: “For Services to the Fatherland” IV degree, Honor, Friendship, “Gratitude from the Land of Voronezh”
Honorary citizen of the city of Voronezh.
Chairman of the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports of the Voronezh Regional Duma of the 5th convocation.

Dmitry Ivanovich, everyone’s path to sports began differently. Some were brought by their parents, others by friends. How was it for you?

Coach Tatyana Aleksandrovna Starodubtseva chose me during a physical education lesson in first grade, back in 1981. She was recruiting for the group, and I, a bald, little guy from the Left Bank, became one of sixty children. She recently graduated from university, this was her second enrollment. So it turns out that we then grew up together, me as an athlete, she as a coach.

- How can you determine a future diver in the gym?

I can’t say for sure, someone did some stretching, someone else did something else, I was strong, I could do three pull-ups and hold the corner on the wall bars.

- How many of these sixty remain in big sports?

There are only two of us left. Me and Lyudmila Shiryaeva, who reached Master of Sports, but then she broke her leg, and I was left alone.

- Did classes interfere with your studies?

At first, no, but then, when I began to show some results, I got into the youth team, began to go to competitions and training camps throughout the Russian Federation and beyond its borders - Uzbekistan, Belarus, Ukraine, it became more difficult. I had to study there. I had training in the morning and then went to the local school. There were definitely four lessons. Then lunch, sleep and training again. This is how the training camp went.

- Were you a “difficult child”?

Well, yes, it’s not easy. And the character was not easy, in fact. But thanks to my coach, who also had a tough character, I became what I became. She was very strict with me, because my behavior was not so hot, she needed to keep an eye on me. (laughs - ed.) I started going to competitions and training camps early, my parents were already in the background, and she watched me more.

- I understand that it sounds banal, but which victory was most memorable?

This is naturally the first Olympic gold medal, in Atlanta - 1996. The hardest was in Sydney, in 2000, when I took part in four events, jumping on each of the eleven competition days. I just wanted to relax, lie down, and it seemed that I would have slept for a day, but the next day we flew away and all this quickly began to be forgotten.

- But not in sports?

These are my children. I finally got married after leaving big sport, already in adulthood... Now I have two sons. We give them all our attention, including through sports.

Is the Olympics the same competition, or is there something special about it? Have you seen the difference between the Olympics and the Goodwill Games and the World Championships?

A big difference. The Olympics is a psychological start, where if you are physically ready and mentally everything is fine, you will win, if not, then you are just a participant. No one is immune from the fact that at the peak of physical fitness, you can get psychological stress and years of preparation will go down the drain.

- So, you spent all four years preparing yourself for the Olympics?

Honestly, at least all fifteen years.

- If you knew in advance about injuries, defeats, grievances, would you go to sports?

In general, I am grateful to God that I got into sports. I started in a very difficult time, I just had to survive. It was necessary to overcome lack of money and problems in all areas of life. The fittest survived. It took a lot of work. For me, this is jumping, winning medals for the region and the country.

- And now, when the situation is clearly easier, would you advise parents to send their children to big sports?

Good and difficult question. It all depends on the parents. I would advise all parents to send their children not to professional, but to mass sports - physical education. I myself do not demand from my children that they necessarily achieve Olympic medals. The most important thing is that they train, get healthy and psychologically strengthened. My eldest will go to school this year. It seems that general training has already ended, but he himself continues to train. Why should I interfere with this? I'm just helping.

- Will he go to an elite school?

No to a regular school in the Military Town. We live there, and he will go to school there, near the house.

- Where to train? Aquatics Palace - the distant future?

For now in the old one on Dimitrova, but time will tell there. Unfortunately, the Aquatic Sports Palace today is still, indeed, a distant future.

-Are you a believer? Many athletes pray before the start, has this ever happened?

Yes, I am a believer. I go to church. I really don’t keep fasts, but I believe in God. Before the start I don’t pray, but I wear a cross. And I only take pictures when I’m “going on the water.”

- “The main thing is not victory, but participation,” is this about you?

No. Even in sports, I always came to win medals, not just to take part, relax and see the sights, as some people do. In 2012, at the Russian Championship, I still tried to qualify for the Olympics, but probably I was no longer the same age, and the young people had grown up well. A replacement was prepared. But simply traveling is not my thing.

- So, when you went into politics, you were sure that everything would work out for you, or, as if from a tower, you were upside down?

Politics is completely different. This is not a sport. Here you need to use your head, or rather your brain. I achieved a lot thanks to the participation of Alexey Vasilyevich Gordeev. I probably wouldn’t have pulled it myself. And I wouldn’t have gone into politics myself, I would have thought that I didn’t have enough brains. We met in a “family” atmosphere, he proposed... My sports career was just ending, and I agreed. For which special thanks to him. That's how it all began, five years have already passed.

- But sport has given you the mentality of a winner?

Well, I fight as best I can, I try to be useful to people.

- What is more difficult, on the tower or on the podium in front of the audience?

For me, it’s probably still a platform. Because, having devoted 30 years to the sport, it’s easier for me on the tower. Now, even in the middle of the night, wake me up and say: “ten meters - jump”, of course I will jump without difficulty. But as for laws or amendments to laws, for me it is much more difficult.

- Was it difficult to transform from a great athlete into an ordinary deputy?

Very hard. Leaving sports and moving to a completely different atmosphere, let’s call it that, is extremely difficult. And to be honest, no matter who I am, I will still be known as an Olympic champion and all my current and future deeds will be compared to my past merits. This is for life, and I am grateful to God that my life turned out this way. That they remember me, know me, shake hands, take pictures when they meet me.

- What worked and didn’t work in politics?

The main thing that has been done personally is that the issue of lifelong pensions for our Olympians and Paralympians has been resolved. This was the case in other regions, but we did not have it. I achieved it, I did it - the guys are grateful.
Regarding the second question, everyone understands perfectly well that I wanted to do something more, not for myself, for people, but for now there is a question mark.

You are the chairman of the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, a member of the Committee on Education and Youth Policy of the Regional Duma, what has been done?

There are many current issues and bills. The reception of citizens has just ended. I'll try to help everyone.

- Today there were five people at the reception. Usually the same number and what questions?

The questions are mainly related to the provision of financial assistance and the solution of utility problems. Everything that interests people in everyday life. And the quantity is sometimes more, sometimes less. I accept everyone, I try to help everyone if it is in my power.

- You helped one of my friends get her child into kindergarten.

We solve such problems as well. Sometimes it's harder than jumping from a ten-meter tower. (laughs - ed.)

- Were there any conflicts?

Yes, they are constantly conflicts. This is politics. (laughs - ed.)

- Would you like to talk about your family?

With pleasure. I met my wife, as usual, in the center of Voronezh. I arrived after the European Championships, my friend and I met some girls and invited them to a picnic the next day. That's how we became friends...

- Now your whole life is a picnic?

We support this tradition. We live next to the forest, sometimes we go out into the forest with a barbecue. Now with children too.

- Parents?

My parents have not been with me for seven years. Now my wife’s parents take their place for me. They always help, support, take you on business trips, and meet you.

- Do you have two children?

Two sons. Ivan is seven years old. Back to school this year. Matvey is four. I hope that from September both will be actively involved in diving. There is also a family member - a cocker spaniel, Gray. He has already lived for nine years. The eldest son (laughs - ed.). I have all the boys.

- You are an officer of the armed forces, lieutenant colonel. What is your service?

I am a lieutenant colonel of CSKA. The club is very strong, may God grant it prosperity. But all titles were won, of course, through sporting achievements. I was drafted into the sports company and took the oath. I even spent the night in the barracks for one day, and that was about it. I was a “pilot” in Samara, then I was transferred further. All athletes serve this way. Here are our youth - Zakharov and Kuznetsov are now serving in the FSO. But mostly they are drafted to CSKA. I attended the fall and spring conscription. The Minister of Defense decided to have young athletes take the oath in Sochi, on the alley where Olympic medals were awarded, in the presence of the Minister of Defense, Olympic champions, and parents. Very motivating. Lately my services have been mainly representative activities. I am already a pensioner, a veteran. There is a length of service and this is already good (laughs - ed.). Now there is an opportunity to do other things. I may have to leave the army for a while, but I’m still a CSK member in life.

What would you like to wish to children going into sports, accomplished athletes, and current politicians?

For children to engage in more mass sports. Everyone needs sport, both children and pensioners.

To accomplished athletes - health, good luck and victories. First of all, at the World Aquatics Championships in Kazan. So that more people from our region are selected for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and first of all this concerns the students who study at my school.
(The Russian diving team won nine medals at the European Games in Baku - 3 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze. At the Universiade in Gwangju - 2 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze, including German Stroev and Diana Chaplieva - pupils of the Voronezh Sports School named after Dmitry Sautin, received silver and bronze medals - ed.)

Well, for politicians - worthy decisions and new laws that people would like and so that people would agree with them. This is how I will answer (laughs - ed.).

Dmitry Sautin is one of the most titled divers in history, and for Russia a truly legendary personality. While the power of domestic sports was declining, the Voronezh athlete invariably maintained the highest bar that he had set back in Soviet times.

Sautin Dmitry Ivanovich

Born 03/15/1974

Achievements:

• Two-time Olympic champion (Atlanta 1996 - 10 m platform, Sydney 2000 - synchronized platform).
• Two-time silver medalist of the Olympic Games (Sydney 2000 - 3 m springboard synchronized, Beijing 2008 - 3 m springboard synchronized).
• Four-time Olympic bronze medalist (Barcelona 1992 - 3 m springboard, Sydney 2000 - 3 m springboard, 10 m platform, Athens 2004 - 3 m springboard).
• Five-time world champion (Rome 1994 - 10 m platform, Perth 1998 - 3 m springboard, 10 m platform, Fukuoka 2001 - 3 m springboard, Barcelona 2003 - 3 m springboard synchronized).
• Silver medalist at the 1994 World Championships in Rome – 3 m springboard.
• Three-time bronze medalist of the world championships (Fukuoka 2001 - 3 m synchronized springboard, Barcelona 2003 - 3 m springboard, Melbourne 2007 - 1 m springboard).
• 11-time European champion.

Against all odds

But Sautin’s career in the pool did not begin as smoothly as he himself liked to get into the water. The boy was completely different from the future champion - he did not have the necessary flexibility and did not even know how to swim. Nevertheless, Tatyana Aleksandrovna Starodubtseva saw the necessary qualities in Dmitry. Sautin started playing sports at the age of seven.

The student tolerated the load well and pleased his coach. At first, Dima was, one might say, having fun in the pool, but, having mastered the technique of jumping, he began to compete. However, despite his professional career having already begun, Sautin almost left the pool, and the reason for this was simple fear. After one of the unsuccessful entries into the water, Dmitry became afraid to jump, and only Starodubtseva was able to restore her student’s confidence in his abilities.

Having overcome difficulties, Sautin continues to develop his skills and gets into the USSR junior team. A series of successful performances - and Dmitry knocks on the door of the country’s adult team, for which he manages to make his debut before the collapse of the great empire.

A meteoric rise

In 1991, he won the European Cup and took second place in the European championship on the ten-meter springboard. The young athlete is gaining momentum, but a tragedy befalls him - Sautin is attacked in Voronezh. The stab wound not only threatens his athletic career, but also his life.

Fortunately, the young athletic body copes, and after the operation, Dmitry begins recovery and is selected for the first Olympics in his life. Competing under the flag of the United Team, Sautin became a bronze medalist on the three-meter springboard.

By the early 90s, Chinese athletes became the leaders in world diving. All the more unexpected was the appearance of a young Russian among the favorites. Experts immediately drew attention to Sautin’s technique and the complexity of his program. Dmitry confirmed the non-accidentality of his Barcelona success at the 1993 European Championships. And a year later, at the world championship in Rome, he shocked the public in a good way by winning gold on the platform and silver on the three-meter springboard.

World leader

From now on, Sautin is one of the main favorites in all competitions. Dmitry gained experience and approached the 1996 Olympics in excellent condition, even despite a serious injury to his hand. Enduring pain, he trained, competed, won the World Cup in Atlanta, and finally decided to have surgery. Again, as before Barcelona, ​​Sautin shows miracles of recovery and flies to the Olympics in full combat readiness. In the USA, Sautin makes a real splash, convincingly winning the tower and confirming his status.

Dmitry Sautin - 1996 Olympic champion

Dmitry reached his peak, winning one start after another and becoming the absolute world champion in 1998, celebrating triumph in both types of programs and strengthening his popularity throughout the world. Less than two years remained before the Sydney Olympics, when Sautin went under the knife again - it was no longer possible to endure the pain in his spine. Many years of jumping from the tower have done their dirty work; nevertheless, Dmitry does not refuse them.

Moreover, Sautin surprises the world again when he competes in all four disciplines in Sydney. A year and a half before the Australian start, synchronized jumping is included in the Olympic Games program, and coaches are wondering who to pair with Dmitry. As a result, Sautin was entered into all types of jumping programs, and Dmitry became the owner of a unique record and four medals: gold in the synchronized platform, silver in the three-meter synchronized and two bronzes in individual jumps.

Sydney finally confirms Sautin as a legend and a true multi-machine operator. Dmitry doesn’t care where or with whom he competes - everywhere he fights for the highest awards, while at the same time giving his teammates a chance for a medal. So, Igor Lukashin became the Olympic champion with him, and Alexander Dobroskok became the silver medalist.

Legend

Together with Alexander, Dmitry wins bronze at the 2001 World Championships and gold in Barcelona two years later. Sautin celebrates his victory in single jumps in Fukuoka, and at the 2003 World Championships he becomes a bronze medalist. The duo could have won a medal at the Athens Olympics, but Sautin fails one of the jumps, clinging to the side and getting injured.

Numerous injuries make themselves felt, and after Sydney Dmitry gives up diving from the platform, focusing on the three-meter springboard. This decision prolongs his sporting longevity, and in Greece Sautin wins bronze. At the fourth Olympics in a row, he becomes a medalist - an outstanding result!

Sautin is thirty years old, but he does not retire from jumping, although at that age it is almost impossible to be a leader in aquatic sports. In this regard, Dmitry is similar to his fellow swimmer, but, unlike him, he does not leave the Olympics without awards.

Sautin risked his reputation by remaining in the sport, but Dmitry was confident in himself. At the 2007 World Championships he becomes a bronze medalist, at the European championships the number of victories exceeds a dozen, and Sautin is approaching his fifth Olympics and does the almost impossible in Beijing - together with Yuri Kunakov he takes second place. Five Olympics - and at each Dmitry becomes a medalist; Such an achievement can safely be called fantastic!

Dmitry Sautin and Yuri Kunakov - silver medalists of the 2008 Olympics

But even after such a triumph, Sautin continues to perform, delaying the end of his career. As if savoring the storm of applause that will accompany his announcement of retirement from the sport, Dmitry is waiting for recognition by the International Aquatics Federation, which declares him the best diver of the first decade of the new century.

FINA's decision is difficult to dispute; Sautin is a legendary figure. Despite many injuries, Dmitry always found strength and returned to the pool. He is the only diver to win medals at five Olympics, and the only one to win medals in all four events at one Olympics. In addition, Sautin was the first in history to receive more than 100 points for a jump.

Dmitry Ivanovich Sautin(March 15, 1974, Voronezh, RSFSR, USSR) - Soviet and Russian diver, two-time Olympic champion, the only winner in history of 8 Olympic awards in diving. Honored Master of Sports of Russia (2000). Plays for CSKA (Voronezh).

Biography
She has been training since the age of 7 under the guidance of one mentor - Tatyana Aleksandrovna Starodubtseva. Specializes in 3 m springboard diving (individual and synchronized diving) and 10 m platform diving (individual and synchronized diving). Graduate of the Voronezh State Institute of Physical Culture. He achieved his first success at the age of 17 as a member of the USSR national team, winning a silver medal at the European Championships in Athens (1991).

Despite numerous injuries, Dmitry achieved outstanding success in his sport. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he won medals in all numbers of the men's diving program.

Considered the best Russian diver of the 20th century. He is one of the few athletes who have successfully competed against Chinese divers. He became the first athlete to score above 100 points in diving.

Twice (1998 and 2000) he was recognized as the best athlete of the year in Russia.

Since 2010 - Vice-President of the All-Russian Diving Federation.

Deputy of the Voronezh Regional Duma.

In 2010, according to a survey by the International Aquatics Federation (FINA), he was recognized as the best diving athlete for the years 2000-2009. In the poll, Sautin received 29.60 percent of the vote, beating China's Liang Tian by 1.8 percent.

Lieutenant Colonel of the Russian Armed Forces.

Sports achivments
Olympic Games (8 medals)

Two-time Olympic champion:

1996 - 10-meter tower,
2000 - 10-meter platform (synchronized jumps) (with Igor Lukashin)

Two-time Olympic vice-champion:

2000 - 3-meter springboard (synchronized jumping) (with Alexander Dobroskok),
2008 - 3-meter springboard (synchronized jumping) (with Yuri Kunakov)

4-time Olympic bronze medalist:

1992 - 3-meter springboard,
2000 - 3-meter springboard and 10-meter platform
2004 - 3-meter springboard

Participant and medalist of 5 Olympic Games in a row - 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008.

The only medal winner in all 4 types of modern jumping program at the Olympic Games

World Aquatics Championships (9 medals)

Five-time world champion:
Rome-1994 - 10-meter tower,
Perth 1998 - 10 meter tower,
Perth 1998 - 3 meter springboard,
Fukuoka 2001 - 3 meter springboard,
Barcelona 2003 - 3-meter springboard (synchronized diving) (with Alexander Dobroskok)
- Silver medalist at the 1994 World Championships in ski jumping
- Three-time bronze medalist of the world championships (2001, 2003 and 2007)

Other competitions

11-time European champion in various disciplines (1993-2008):
1993 - 1 time
1995 - 1
1997 - 1
1999 - 1
2000 - 2
2002 - 2
2006 - 1
2008 - 2
4-time silver medalist of the European Championships (1991, 1993, 2000 and 2006)
2-time bronze medalist of the European Championship (1995 and 2010)
Multiple winner and prize-winner of Russian championships
Winner of the World Cup and Grand Prix competitions
Three-time winner of the Goodwill Games (1994, 1998 and 2001).

State awards

Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (April 19, 2001) - for great contribution to the development of physical culture and sports, high sporting achievements at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad 2000 in Sydney

Order of Honor (November 2, 1995) - for high sporting achievements at the first Military World Games in 1995

Order of Friendship (August 2, 2009) - for great contribution to the development of physical culture and sports, high sporting achievements at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad 2008 in Beijing

Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st degree (February 18, 2006) - for great contribution to the development of physical culture and sports and high sporting achievements

Honorary citizen of the city of Voronezh

Order of the Government of the Voronezh Region “Gratitude from the Land of Voronezh”

Took part in the project HEROES WITHOUT WAR in January 2013

Diving is one of the most technically difficult and traumatic sports. It is rare that an athlete can maintain a high level here for more than ten years. All the more admirable are the sporting achievements of Dmitry Sautin, who began participating in international competitions as a member of the USSR national team and ended his active career only in 2012, after the death of his first and only coach. For twenty years he became a multiple Olympic champion, winner of the world and European championships.

The lucky accident of the boy from the left bank

Dmitry Ivanovich Sautin was born back in 1973 in Voronezh. He was a short, stocky boy, could not swim at all and seemed very angular and inflexible. At the same time, Dima did great pull-ups on the horizontal bar and was well developed physically. The combination of these contradictory qualities led him to the diving section.

He got into sports thanks to the system of selection into sports schools that existed at that time. Young coaches, who had just graduated from college, often went through all the schools and selected the most promising guys for their sections. Tatyana Starodubtseva, a diving coach, also recently received a diploma in sports coaching and was conducting her second selection. Dmitry Sautin also got into this group, being among the sixty lucky ones.

Subsequently, besides him, only one student of Starodubtseva grew up to big sports - Lyudmila Shiryaeva. However, after breaking her leg, she ended her career.

Thus began the formation of the legendary Voronezh athlete, which coincided in time with the coaching activities of Tatyana Starodubtseva.

First victories

The Voronezh athlete progressed rapidly, all specialists were amazed by Dmitry Sautin’s jumps. Even as a young man, he did not really know how to fly, but he rotated at incredible speed and entered the water almost perfectly. For this he was even nicknamed “the guy with lead in his head.”

In the biography of Dmitry Sautin there is an interesting fact about how he was included in the adult national team. A junior from Voronezh, who attended a children's match between the USSR and the GDR, made such an impression on the coaches that they included him in the main team's entry for the European Cup. Without bothering to carefully read the tournament regulations, the mentors lost sight of the point of the rules, according to which the age limit was set at thirteen years for competition participants.

Nevertheless, Dmitry Sautin’s first victories were not long in coming. Already in 1991, a seventeen-year-old schoolboy won the European Cup, having perfectly performed his jumps from a ten-meter platform. Soon he competes at the continental championships in Sheffield, from where he takes away a silver medal.

However, in the same year, Dmitry Sautin becomes a victim of the difficult criminal situation of the early nineties. On the street he gets stabbed, and only timely help provided to him thanks to a friend helped save him for big-time sports.

Barcelona 1992

At the age of 18, Dmitry Sautin was an ironclad candidate for a trip to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. By this time, he had already decided on his priorities in diving and showed the best results on the three-meter springboard.

In those years, Chinese jumpers were rapidly progressing, but Dmitry Sautin was able to wedge himself into the fight for awards and took his first Olympic medal, which became bronze.

Here an incident occurred with the athlete, which at a high level could only happen in the strange CIS team, which already consisted of athletes from different countries and was controlled by practically no one.

At the finals of the Olympic diving program, it was discovered that Dmitry Sautin did not have swimming trunks, which he either forgot or were stolen from him. Counting on the solidarity of his fellow craftsmen, the native of Voronezh asked the Mexican Fernando Platas for help.

The Latin American did not abandon his Russian rival in trouble and lent him his spare swimming trunks. In Mexican attire, Dmitry Sautin performed brilliantly for a debutant and took third place. Then he tried to return the equipment to Platas, but he allowed the Russian athlete to keep the triumphal swimming trunks.

Trials for the world champion

The knife injury that Dmitry received was not the last test for the Russian athlete. The most successful period in his sports career coincided for Sautin with difficulties associated with physical injuries. For divers, problems with the hands become an unpleasant injury. The native of Voronezh did not escape this either.

However, first there was a successful World Championship in Rome in 1994. By that time, Chinese divers occupied the top positions of this sport and dictated their terms to the whole world. Therefore, Dmitry Sautin's second place on the three-meter springboard was perceived by his fans as equal to victory, because it seemed that it was simply impossible to surpass the Chinese.

However, in the next type of program, the Russian did the almost impossible. On the ten-meter platform, the main fight was supposed to take place between the Chinese Seng Shuei and Xiong Ni, with whom four-time Olympian Gregory Louganis was trying to fight.

Dmitry Sautin was in 22nd place before the final jumps. However, he did the impossible and managed to show decent results in his last attempts and reach the finals. Here the Russian, who had caught the courage, had no equal and took his first gold at the World Championship.

iron Man

After the World Championships in Rome, Dmitry suffered an unpleasant hand injury. All the doctors vying with each other advised him to have an urgent operation, but this meant a serious disruption in preparation for the Olympic Games in Atlanta. The courageous army man decided to risk his health for the sake of his second Olympics and bravely endured the aching pain in his hands.

A simple sprain of the ligaments has developed into inflammation of the tendons, and again his direct competitors come to Dmitry’s aid. At the pre-Olympic competitions in Atlanta, medical treatment at the expense of the American side is offered to Sautin by Semyon Slabunov. Previously, he worked as a sports psychologist for the USSR national team. Later he emigrated to the USA and became a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

A month-long recovery course helped Sautin a lot and allowed him to forget about the debilitating pain in his hands. After treatment, the athlete performed powerfully in all the pre-Olympic competitions and secured a place in the elite of diving.

Atlanta

At the 1996 Olympics, Dmitry concentrated on the ten-meter springboard, where he was opposed by the Chinese Tian Liang. After the mandatory exercises, the Russian athlete was four points behind, but in the first final attempt he eliminated the Asian athlete’s advantage.

Then the Voronezh diver increased his superiority until he brought it to 40 points in the last attempt.

After his triumphant return from Atlanta, Dmitry Sautin decided to take charge of his health and agreed to undergo surgery on his carpal tendons. After recovery, he took up work again and for several years had no equal in diving.

Sydney records

The next four-year cycle for Olympic champion Dmitry Sautin turned out to be especially successful. He broke one record after another, cementing his status as a sports legend. At the 1998 World Championships, the athlete beat his main rival, Chinese Tian Liang, by 90 points, breaking the unofficial record of the American athlete.

Here the Russian became the first diver to score 100 points in one jump. The experts were most impressed by his series of 11 maximum scores during the free program.

In general, Dmitry Sautin approached the Olympic Games in Sydney with the status of a superstar and a favorite in several types of programs at once.

Here he took part in single and synchronized diving from the platform and springboard.

The Chinese, preparing for the future home Olympics, approached the main competitions of the four-year period as mobilized as possible. In the individual events they managed to get ahead of the previously invincible Dmitry Sautin. However, he managed to earn bronze on both the platform and the springboard.

His experiment in synchronized events was more successful. The coaches did not fully believe that any athlete would be able to adapt to Dmitry’s unique style. However, together with Gleb Galperin, he became the Olympic champion in platform diving, and then took silver with another partner, performing the most difficult springboard jumps.

Athens

Having won medals in all four types of the Olympic program, Dmitry Sautin became the first athlete in history to reach this peak.

By 2004, the legendary athlete was over thirty years old, which was considered a critical age for diving. The sport that Dmitry Sautin practices does not provide for such longevity. Athletes lose flexibility and sharpness, the body is worn out by constant overloads and injuries.

However, the native of Voronezh did not obey the usual laws of nature and won another medal at the Games in Athens. At his fourth Olympics, Dmitry Ivanovich Sautin became a bronze medalist in ski jumping. And before the main tournament of the four-year cycle, he repeatedly achieved success at the world's largest forums.

Recent years in big sport

The tireless Sautin did not age and qualified to participate in the 2008 Olympics, which was his fifth. Before this, such a unique achievement was achieved by only a few. There were even fewer athletes who left with medals after each tournament.

This time his partner in synchronized diving from a three-meter platform was young Yuri Kunakov. Despite being late for the training camp due to the birth of his son, Dmitry Sautin confirmed his special status and approached the Games in China in fighting shape.

Against the backdrop of the undivided dominion of local athletes, the performance of the Russian and his young partner, who managed to win silver on the three-meter springboard, was especially impressive.

The iron athlete was not going to stop, in 2012 he tried to qualify for the Olympics in London, however, exhausted by countless injuries, he was unable to surpass the young and greedy young competitors at the national selection.

The final impetus for ending his career was the untimely death of Tatyana Starodubtseva, the coach with whom Sautin spent thirty years in big-time sports.

Social activity

The legendary athlete had unquestioned authority in his native Voronezh, unspoiled by the abundance of Olympic champions. Returning to his small homeland, Dmitry Sautin plunged headlong into social activities and became a deputy of the city parliament.

Sautin’s activities are not limited to the functions of an official. He oversees a charitable foundation and organizes work at his own diving school.

Playing for CSKA for many years, he also rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, becoming the highest-ranking military athlete.

State awards of Dmitry Sautin

The Order of Honor, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, the Order of Friendship, as well as numerous regional awards are evidence of the state’s recognition of Dmitry Sautin for his services to the country.

However, the status of the best diver of the 21st century, officially assigned to him by the International Aquatics Federation in 2010, can be considered especially prestigious. Here, according to the voting results, he beat the no less legendary Chinese Tian Liang.

Family

The modest, hardworking athlete met his wife only towards the end of his long career. The personal life of Dmitry Sautin has always been hidden from outsiders, only after the birth of his son Ivan in 2008 did the public learn that the iron athlete is a person like everyone else.