Oleksandr Bondar: Russian athlete Ukrainian origin

Alexander Bondar - diver, master of sports of international class, changing the team of Ukraine in the Russian national team, in the process almost ended his career, but is now actively preparing for the forthcoming Olympic Games in 2020 in Tokyo.

Ukrainian life

Alexander was born October 25, 1993 in the Ukrainian city of Lugansk. He began training at age 5 and became the first coach to mom, candidate for master of sports in swimming. The idols of little Sasha chose Greg Louganis - one of the most legendary in the history of diving athlete, four-time Olympic champion, five-time world champion, 47-times champion of the United States! It was from him Sasha learned that strength and discipline - are the two pillars that help you succeed.

And it did: in the 17 years he performed "silver double" on the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore!

But all was not so rosy: Sasha childhood was chronic sinusitis, and in 2010 he set a terrible diver for diagnosis - "chronic sinusitis". This did not prevent him to train and win! In 2011, in tandem with Alexander Gorshkovozovym Alexander won the bronze medal in synchronized diving from a ten-meter tower at the World Championships in Shanghai, and in the 2012 Olympics took place in the final and took the 8th place.

The disease is constantly made itself felt - in the words of an athlete, he was training a month, and then sat on antibiotics, and so the circle, but himself he sacrificed his passion - diving. Alexander Bondar, being a versatile athlete, became a two-time European champion 2013 - in the mixed doubles and individuals on the tower. In 2014, all went wrong: at the European Championships in Berlin, Alexander managed to take the bronze medal in synchronized diving, but the disease tormented him, and he decided to urgently and radically solve the problem - on the morning after his return from Germany he underwent surgery on the maxillary sinus. After a six-week recovery, he tried to return to training, but the pain returned, and Alexander made an important and bold decision: retire and move to live in Moscow.

Life without sport

In Russia, Alexander Bondar decided to start a whole new life. Arriving at the end of 2014, in January 2015, he married Catherine Fedorchenko (now - Cooper), whom he met in the 5 years before when they played together in the junior competitions and have been competing teams (it is - Ukraine, and she - Russia ).

Not planning to continue their professional career, Alexander worked with his parents (they moved to Moscow a little earlier), and in the evenings moonlighting as a coach in the children's section. After a while he started to train with fans, and at some point I realized that he was ready to return to professional sport.

The big sport in Russian

Return to the sport helped Alexander Bondar president of the Russian Federation of jumping into the water Alexey Vlasenko, who later became a friend of the family. Despite intensive training, Alexander did not have time to prepare for the Olympics in 2016. He made his debut in the Russian team took place at the World Championships in Budapest in 2017 he won the silver medal in the ten-rig a pair of Viktor Minibaeva.

The individuals at the same projectile Sasha stopped one step short of a medal. Head coach of Russia in diving Svetlana Moses noted that these competitions "revived," one of the best teams in the world - the Russians took 5 awards overall lost only team in China! Not without injury. Alexander did not act for 2017 European Championship in Kiev due to a hand injury and legs: the first he had received in the Russian championship, and second, playing football. Since traumatic game - strictly taboo!

Today Alexander Bondar trains to 6 pm Monday through Friday and 3:00 on Saturday under the supervision of a personal trainer Olga Feoktistov, the master of sports of international class, prepares for the Olympic Games in 2020 in Tokyo!