#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Lena Burmenskaya came to the Norilsk basin at least three times since she was six, but she began to train only after entering school. According to her father, the honored trainer of the RSFSR Yury Burmensky, regular – six times a week – training did not bring results until 1968. And in1970, the schoolgirl received the title of Master of Sports of the USSR and successfully performed in Czechoslovakia as a member of the RSFSR national team.
In the spring of 1971, the Norilsk girl won three freestyle distances in the match between the youth teams of the GDR and the USSR and soon became an international master of sports. At the age of 15, Burmenskaya was the champion of the USSR and Canada, the record holder of her country. For seven Norilsk years (before leaving for Leningrad), she set nine records in freestyle, backstroke and complex swimming.
Elena Burmenskaya was the brightest, but not the only star of the Norilsk competitive swimming. In the fifth year of the pool’s existence, 14-year-old Natasha Fomina became the champion of the republic and master of sports of the USSR.
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Text: Varvara Sosnovskaya, Photo: Nornickel polar division archive