“Initially it was about amputation”: Olyunin - about a serious injury in Pyeongchang, a return to the slope and an ideal old age

Achievements occur in sports that, in the minds of a normal person, are beyond common sense.

This is exactly what Nikolai Olyunin won in gold and silver in snowboarding at the recent Spartakiad.

A man who ten years ago became vice-champion of the Games in Sochi, and four years later in the Olympic Pyeongchang received an injury that is poorly compatible with any kind of normal life.

—

On your Wikipedia page it is written: “Retired from career in 2022.”

What prompted you to continue performing, and so brightly at that?

— I just recently recalled how at the Olympics in Sochi I approached my coach Artur Zlobin after a performance and said: “Artur Olegovich, I’m done.

I’m tired, I want to develop myself in another life.”

It turns out that my “completion” has been going on for ten years.

I repeatedly tried to leave, but these, you know, were some kind of emotional impulses.

It’s not a fact that I won’t start thinking about leaving again this year.

On the other hand, if, which is unlikely, of course, the road to the 2026 Games is opened for us, I will prepare for them.

—

What is 32 years in snowboard cross?

If we leave injuries out of the equation.

- This is the prime of life.

You start driving not only with your feet, but first of all with your head.

This is what I demonstrated at the Spartakiad of the Strongest in Chelyabinsk.

I understood that the younger guys were already faster than me in terms of legs and sharpness.

But my head is still the same.

In some places I became wiser, in others I became more patient.

I think this gave me a big advantage.

In international sports, guys at 32 years old compete in World Cups and reach the podium.

I actively monitor them and see that age definitely does not create any problems.

—

In Chelyabinsk, you competed in two Olympic disciplines, became second in the individual race and won the team mixed race with Kristina Paul.

How significant are these results for you, and what efforts did you take to achieve them?

— The personal medal was definitely not free, although to a certain extent I was lucky.

I did very well in the semi-finals, reached the big final, but didn’t have a very good start there.

I was skating fourth, but the guys in front fell, and I ended up with silver.

The team race was quite simple.

Christina is by far the best of all our girls, and I, of course, relied on her.

We counted only on “gold”, in other words.

But I trained myself more for the individual race.

For me, these are more serious competitions that give me the opportunity to show only myself.

—

You and I didn’t have time to meet at the Games in Pyeongchang, and only then did I read about 17 comminuted fractures.

I was shocked, to be honest.

I understand that if you fall you can break your leg in several places, but to 17...

- Well, that’s how it happened.

When they brought me to the hospital, they cut off my pants and shoes, I, lying on the couch, caught the coach’s eye when he saw my leg.

He turned wildly pale and generally left the room for some air to come to his senses.

It was a terrible sight, to be honest.

They constantly injected me with some kind of painkillers, because, in fact, it was very painful.

I have had many different injuries before.

He broke his shoulders, his leg, and his hand.

But it was only in Korea that I really understood what pain was.

There, in addition to the fractures, the meniscus was torn, the cruciate ligaments were torn, and the Achilles was torn.

Before this, I heard that the Achilles takes a very long time to recover, that it is the heaviest ligament, the oak one.

Here I felt for myself what a huge problem this is.

-

Still?

— The leg now bends approximately 120-130°.

That is, I cannot sit down completely.

Because of this seemingly insignificant limitation, many other problems arise.

The entire musculoskeletal system suffers, the hip joints hurt.

You have to spend more time on stretching, warming up, and everything else.

Life is completely different, of course, after the injury I started.

—

How much time does training take in this life?

— How many times do I train a week?

-

Yes.

You have another life besides sports.

Own business, family, two children.

- Well, yes, it’s time to do one thing, I understand.

But I can’t give up this snowboard, I love it so much.

I really get a lot of pleasure when going to Miass or riding along our Krasnoyarsk roads.

Therefore, it is difficult to give up all this.

As luck would have it, this is the second time in a row that I have left the Russian Championship with gold.

And I train three times a week.

For myself, as they say.

After we were removed from international competitions, we lost a lot of motivation.

But that's not the point.

In our discipline, salaries are very small.

If you completely focus on training, you simply won’t survive and you won’t be able to feed your family.

“

I would say you have to be a very rich person to afford such a hobby.”

- Well, yes.

But I’m not very rich, despite the fact that I’ve been developing my own business for a long time.

—

I remember that after the Games in Sochi you invested the prize money in opening your own restaurant “Serebro” in Krasnoyarsk.

- He's been gone for a long time.

Now my wife Maria and I have other projects.

This is the Sosny Events House - a very beautiful place for corporate parties and other events.

You probably won’t find a better venue in our city for a beautiful celebration.

And two restaurants - “La Familia” and “Tirol”.

One with Italian cuisine, the other, respectively, with Austrian cuisine.

We are planning to open another restaurant with a Russian theme and call it “Buyan Island”.

My wife and I really enjoy doing all this, not to mention the fact that we live on this money.

And snowboarding has really turned into a hobby a long time ago.

Another question is that I approach this very responsibly.

I understand that any wrong movement can lead to serious injury.

Much more serious than any healthy person.

—

After you were pieced together, were you afraid to get on the board again?

— There was a long history there.

When I woke up from anesthesia in Korea, the doctor who operated on me honestly admitted that he did not know what the consequences would be.

He explained: they say that the operation was an emergency, the task was to assemble the leg in such a way as to preserve it, since initially it was about amputation.

There they told me that there were still a lot of operations to be done if I ever wanted to get back on my feet and start walking.

Therefore, I had no thoughts about snowboarding in my head at all.

I was only thinking about some life things.

Will I be able to carry children in my arms while standing on my feet, and so on.

Although Masha and I did not have children at that time.

—

Was your wife against you getting on the board again?

“She understood perfectly well from my mood, from my emotions, that I lived by this.

Without a snowboard, without training, I’m starting to not only throw myself at people, but I need extreme sports in my life, I can’t live without it.

I throw out all the internal tension, all the stress at competitions.

Thanks to this, I am very comfortable in everyday life, I am a full-fledged person.

And fear... I would rather talk here about discomfort.

When I’m getting ready for the gathering, packing my things, I understand that I’ll have to live in rather difficult conditions.

For example, at the Russian Cup in Salekhard we had a toilet for ten people.

It becomes difficult to leave your usual comfort zone as you age.

On the slope I still feel good.

Confident in yourself, confident in your feet.

—

Do your wife and children ride too?

- Masha - yes.

I periodically try to put the children on skis, I explain: toes together, heels apart, right, left, but they still don’t understand what needs to be done.

They are still small for me - Eva is three, Masha has just turned five.

Why did I ask to delay the interview a little? I carried the table home, covered it with a tablecloth, and helped my wife organize a children’s party.

—

Where, by the way, did you and your wife get the idea for restaurants?

It seemed more logical to me when people leave your sport for a related activity.

- Well, yes, sell mittens, snowboards, or become an instructor on the slope.

It just so happened that in my family my parents were always involved in business.

Mom was once a mathematics teacher, she taught at school.

Then, when hard times began, I left with my father to earn money.

Probably all this was somehow absorbed into my subcortex.

For some reason, I also saw myself only in entrepreneurship.

-

You weren’t even 12 years old when your father died.

How did mom put it all together?

— I worked from morning to evening.

She just worked stupidly - that’s all.

At that time, there were three of us children in the family.

Nastya is the older sister and Zakhar is the youngest.

I always went hunting with my dad, he took me with him.

He was a healthy man, kind, good, he always patted me on the shoulder, helped me in everything, gave me advice, and never raised his hand.

And then, suddenly, there lies a funeral... It was, of course, very difficult.

I have already experienced this, but I still sometimes think: how did my mother bear it all?

Don't know.

—

Why did you choose catering as the main direction in your business?

- It happened that way.

I went to the Games in Sochi, won a silver medal, earned my first big money - five or six million.

—

And they derailed them on such a grand scale?

- Well, yes.

It seemed to me that this was a very interesting, and, most importantly, profitable story.

And very simple, moreover: find a room, buy tables, chairs, find a cook... I wasn’t even embarrassed by the fact that the room was in a residential area.

I was sure that people would follow my name.

I’m so famous, with an Olympic medal.

I went to a furniture store, bought the most expensive furniture, round Italian tables, and made the most expensive decorative plaster.

The result is such a vinaigrette... If anyone reads this interview, think a hundred times before taking up business in this direction.

—

So you don’t need to start with Italian tables?

- Absolutely not.

It is necessary for each structure to work economically correctly.

There are a lot of aspects - marketing and all that.

I myself came to this when the restaurant closed and began to reflect and work on mistakes.

Then I met my wife, we got married and continued the business together.

And everything worked out.

—

When in 2018 you found yourself completely helpless in a wheelchair, did the example of the same Ira Skvortsova, who was killed in 2009, help in any way, or was there nothing at all in your head besides your pains, problems, and sorrows?

“I won’t lie, I didn’t think about it.”

Later, when I got out, I thought more than once that I was very lucky.

Much more than the same Ira or Masha Komissarova, who were injured at the Games in Sochi.

We trained together at one time, so it’s still difficult for me to remember all this.

But when I crashed myself, I looked more not at those who were in a similar situation, but at healthy people who live full lives.

And he did everything possible to become the same again.

Another question is that desire alone is not enough here.

I was lucky with the surgeons who operated on me four times and never made a mistake.

In general, all the stars need to align.

—

How do you imagine your own old age?

A fireplace, grandchildren to whom you tell about your life or share recipes.

By the way, do you know how to cook yourself?

- Oh, of course, I often cook for my family.

I really love this business.

I have a signature scrambled egg, and in the summer I like to grill kebabs on the grill.

And about old age... You've probably heard about two sisters, Erica and Mirra Andreev, tennis players who competed at Roland Garros and the Australian Open.

Very young girls from Krasnoyarsk.

At one time, I trained with them in the athletics arena with my coach, Olga Viktorovna Atylina.

They ran up to my knees, so small.

They didn’t know how to hold rackets yet.

And right before our eyes they grew to a very high level.

At every tournament I watch how these girls play, how they fight with the best tennis players in the world.

I’m just sure that we will hear Andreeva’s name many times again in tennis.

-

What does your old age have to do with it?

- Despite the fact that I also have two daughters.

If it suddenly turns out that they will be involved in big sports, it would be very interesting for me to always be there, suggest something, travel to different competitions, around cities, around the world.

It would be a cool old age.

—

I recognize the gambling Olyunin.

I can confess to you that the most vivid impression that is associated with you for me remains not sports, but one of the sports competitions that were once popular on TV “Big Races”, where you, together with Svetlana Feofanova, defeated all your rivals.

- Ooo!

I still sometimes remember how I balanced on this platform on the water.

It vibrates under my feet, I have to keep my balance, and Sveta throws heavy books on my head every 20 seconds.

I thought only about one thing: when she’s finished with these books, she won’t have any strength to hold on anymore.

—

If you and your wife want to spend a completely unforgettable evening in your own restaurant, what will be on the table?

— We would order dry-aged meat, aged for a month.

This is expensive tasty meat.

And roasted asparagus on the side.

-

From this place, please, in more detail, I have asparagus defrosting in my kitchen.

How to fry it deliciously?

- There is one secret.

—

I’m listening to you very carefully.

— You need to put the asparagus back in the refrigerator, buy a ticket to Krasnoyarsk and fly to us.

The table will be set, I promise.