• Главная
• Статьи
• Sport
• «Sky always loves and accepts us»

«Sky always loves and accepts us»

Author: Anastasia Repina

Interpreter: Aleksandra Kugach

26th of July – the day of the parachutist will take place, when professional athletes and amateurs are congratulated. Natalya Belousova, a member of the «Ё» parachute team, is a master of sports in parachute jumping in the freestyle discipline. She won a bronze medal at the Russian championship twice: in 2019 and 2020. She talked about how professional athletes live.

How did you get into parachuting?

Most people get into parachuting because friends gave a certificate or talked about their own jump. It is emotions that always grab people. I'm not an exception. Usually the first jump takes place, you light up and come to train at the airfield or in the wind tunnel. And then there are two options for the development of events. The first is that you go through training and quit, because it is long, expensive and scary. And second, you are lucky and you meet a coach who is very inspiring. I was fortunate enough to be the second example. I went through training, parachuted several times on my own, and then I met my first coach, Alexander Subbotin, who trained me in a wind tunnel, and at the same time jumped with a parachute myself. In the sky, by his personal example, he showed not only skill, but also a personal attitude to jumping. It became clear why it is cool, what it gives to a person. And I really wanted to be like him. But everyone can train in different ways. Someone is in the sky, someone is in the wind tunnel.

Is it better to train in a wind tunnel or with a parachute from the beginning?

A wind tunnel is an imitation of a free fall. You can do without it and immediately start training in the sky. But it will be longer and more difficult. In a wind tunnel, you have boundaries in the walls of the pipe and less stress, it is easier there to accustom your body to new conditions when you fall and at the same time have to perform complex tricks.

At the beginning of my sports career, there was only one wind tunnel, in Moscow. Therefore, I had to learn to jump with a parachute right away, like many others. Nowadays wind tunnels are quite popular entertainment.

This, by the way, is the reason for the increasing competition among athletes, because people who have been engaged in wind tunnels since childhood come to professional sports. And children learn faster, so they are strong competitors for the older generation.

You have the title of Master of Sports in the discipline of freestyle. How is this discipline different from the rest in parachuting?

In simple terms, freestyle refereeing is similar to figure skating or rhythmic gymnastics. Evaluate the technical and artistic components. There are other disciplines where only speed and accuracy are important. For example, group acrobatics. The point is that, falling on their stomachs, athletes collect the maximum number of figures, touching each other with their hands in a strictly defined sequence.

In freestyle, it is important not only to make elements, but also to perform beautiful transitions between them. I can just fall in the split, and then stand up straight, or I can fall in the split, fly around the operator, make a rotation and only then stand up straight. It will be much more beautiful, interesting and spectacular. And of course, self-confidence and artistry are important. The way you fly will tell you if you feel comfortable. Free fall time is about 45 seconds, you need to have time to complete all the tricks and transitions between them before opening the parachute.

What do you receive from parachuting?

I always have a lot of energy and ideas, so for me parachuting is an outlet for energy. When jumping, a lot converges at one point. Anti-crisis thinking develops in freelance and stressful situations, I recall dancing lessons, because for my discipline – freestyle – aesthetics are important. Teamwork is also important because I am jumping with the cameraman who is filming my jump. This is a tough scheduling of time to calculate the number of training sessions and have time to prepare for the competition. This is both creativity and organizational work, and, directly, sports. And this is a good way to relax and release all the stress that has accumulated during the work. At the airport you get inspired and return to your usual life.

Is it hard to combine work and sports?

Yes! During preparation for the competition, you have to sleep very little. I specifically take a vacation on Fridays so that I can go 150 km from Moscow for the weekend and train three days a week.

There are not many like me. Most professional athletes work as instructors in a wind tunnel or airfield. The rest are those who quite late «fell ill» with parachute jumps and now painfully combine «normal» life and professional sports.

Your parachute crew calls «Ё». Why did you choose this name? And who is this team?

My main job is related to PR, so you, as a journalist, will understand me. The letter «ё» is often forgotten by everyone, although it is very important and has a fantastic story. The letter «ё» gives meaning to words. Plus, we took into account the peculiarities of transliteration. In international competitions, the name will be written as «Yo» – «Йоу», that is, this is a youth short form of greeting. And this is very cool. And the team includes my operator Aleksey Perepelov and me (a performer, that is, he performs tricks).

On your Instagram blog, you often talk about your operator with admiration. Why?

Because there are very few good operators in Russia. This is a difficult and important job. Without shooting the jumps, the judges simply won't see what I'm doing in the sky. A good operator can pull off a bad performer. A bad operator will ruin even a good athlete. In my opinion, the operator is usually a higher level than the performer, because he has to control the distance between himself and the athlete, to ensure that the performer always remains in the center of the frame. For example, when I am in free fall, I do not see at all what is happening around. And the operator must see everything!

Once Alexei and I changed places. But I turned out to be an unimportant operator. I lagged behind him from the very beginning. We lost 5-10 seconds, which is a lot. I struggled to keep track of him, and when I landed, I realized that the camera was off. We haven't changed since then.

Why do skydivers become operators? Doesn't everyone want to be on screen?

I also asked this question at the beginning of my journey. Each for their own reasons. It turned out that Alexey's hobbies are photography and sports. And it is fully realized. The cameraman is a kind of director, the gray eminence on whom most of the success depends. Our current coach, Evgeny Tarakhomin, has always played the role of a performer and took third place at the World Championship. Now he wants to try to be an operator and open up from this side.

Should a performer and cameraman be good friends, like you and Alexey?

You need to understand that the parachute team is not created for one season. The training process takes a long time so that you learn to feel each other, to keep at the right distance. You will have to work together for at least 2-4 years. If you don't respect each other or agree on values, then nothing will work out. Skydiving is a sport where every failure takes a lot of time and money. Of course, I could be wrong and ruin the jump for both of us, Alexei can too. And if you have an initially bad relationship with your teammate, you will be angry with him for every misstep. And if you are friends, you will be sympathetic. I am very worried when something does not work out for me, because I substitute a friend, and it is important for me to be supported.

You already have the title of Master of Sports. What are your plans next?

This year we deliberately took a break! We do not participate in competitions and jump for fun.<br></p><p>But a soldier who does not dream of becoming a general is bad. Of course, it would be great to become an international master of sports, and for this you need to take the first three places in the World Championship. So far, we are the third in Russia. It is very difficult to get such titles in the freestyle discipline. I can't imagine how much effort, time and money you need to spend in order to grow to an international prize-winner. But we must always strive, because we are inspired by really big goals.

How do you yourself celebrate the day of the parachutist?

Congratulations to friends, we open champagne. This is quite enough. Usually we wish each other a «soft landing». Parachutists have a saying that the sky always loves and accepts us, it cannot be unkind. And all injuries occur on the ground, as a rule, upon landing. There are few such cases, among extreme sports, parachuting is considered one of the safest, but nevertheless. So a soft landing is the most important thing you can wish for a parachutist on July 26th.