Dmitry Sautin (diving): biography, personal life, sporting achievements, state awards. Dmitry Sautin: biography, career, family You were a “difficult child”

Born on March 15, 1974 in Voronezh. Father - Sautin Ivan Petrovich (born 1934). Mother - Sautina Anna Mikhailovna (born 1939).

Dmitry Sautin is rightly called the king of diving, a symbol of this sport. Today he is at the age when his skill and years allow him to say that he is a true professional. Meanwhile, 20 years ago no one could have imagined that the athlete would be able to achieve such unique success.

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. Therefore, it seems paradoxical that he began his path to the top of the sport in the diving section, into which in 1981 the coach of the Voronezh sports school, Tatyana Aleksandrovna Starodubtseva, recruited children. Only she knows how she guessed the future magnificent master in the storm of the gateways, a potential “client” of the inspectorate for juvenile delinquents.

From the outside it may seem that Dmitry Sautin’s path in sports is strewn with nothing but roses. Indeed, he attracted the attention of the country's leading specialists very early on. Many were amazed at his jumping technique. Everyone especially admired his perfectly vertical entrance to the water. So much so that in those years he was given the nickname “the guy with lead in his head.” And this despite the fact that he, a short young man, was sometimes difficult to distinguish on the tower. According to the Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Olympic champion in diving, and now one of the country's leading sports journalists Elena Vaitsekhovskaya, in those years Dmitry always performed free jumps from a 10-meter platform, and compulsory jumps from a 5-meter platform. He had not yet learned to fly, but he was spinning wildly in the air. Some experts believed that such jumps would not bring him any good. However, the skill of the young athlete grew literally before our eyes, his performances became more and more stable, and soon he became head and shoulders above his peers.

It’s a paradox, but the first international competition for Dmitry Sautin ended before it even began. During the training camp of the children's team before the USSR - GDR match in Dnepropetrovsk, the coaches paid attention to him and decided to send him to the European Cup. However, he was not allowed to start: in a hurry, no one paid attention to the regulations of international competitions of this level, which determined the age limit for adult teams at 13 years old.

The young Voronezh resident was rapidly gaining points in the international orbit. 1992 was marked by victories at the European Cup in Milan, 3rd place on the springboard in Olympic Barcelona. The 1993 European Championships in the English city of Sheffield brought the athlete gold on the 10-meter platform and silver on the 3-meter springboard.

However, Dmitry Sautin truly showed his fantastic character and will to win to everyone at the World Championships in Rome in 1994. At that time, no one seriously expected a Russian victory. At that time, Chinese athletes already dominated in diving. However, some of Dmitry’s jumps were so good, and in terms of quality of execution and style so indistinguishable from the best “Chinese” versions, that coaches and spectators immediately playfully changed the Russian’s surname in the Chinese manner with an emphasis on the last syllable: Xiau-ting. Sautin's second place on the 3-meter springboard, where he lost almost 10 points to the Chinese Yu Zhuochen, was greeted almost with jubilation: the day before, Dmitry was eliminated from the finalists on the one-meter apparatus. The Chinese Sun Shuei reigned on the tower, defeating his compatriot Xiong Ni, who in turn competed on equal terms with four-time Olympic champion Gregory Louganis. The leader of the Russian team might not even make it to the finals in this type of competition. After the third of five free jumps, he was in only 22nd place (!), while to reach the final he needed to be among the twelve. However, at the last moment he pulled himself together, completed the remaining two jumps perfectly, made it to the finals, and even in the final jumps he was able to beat Song Shuei on the latter’s crowning platform by 4 points.

Best of the day

The next year, 1995, the Russian athlete became first at the European Championships in Vienna (Austria).

After the World Championships, Dmitry Sautin began to have problems with his hand. No one has ever been able to protect themselves from such injuries while diving from a tower. The constant load on the hands when entering the water invariably leads to sprained ligaments - so common that you simply don’t pay attention to the pain. You cannot bandage the entire hand to secure it: the cleanliness of the entrance to the water is compromised. If a more serious injury occurs, every jump becomes torture. Dmitry's wrist joint became so inflamed that a fistula formed on his wrist. It was painful to jump headfirst even from the side. The examination showed that severe inflammation of the tendons had begun in the joint due to pinched nerve endings.

In 1995, at the World Cup in Atlanta, Sautin won the first victory in the history of Russian and domestic diving on the 3-meter springboard. However, in the platform diving, due to a sore hand, he could not stand up normally, but still jumped and took 7th place. In the time that remained before the Olympic Games, long-term treatment was out of the question: the operation would have put Dmitry out of action for at least several months, which would have cast doubt on his participation in the Olympics. Some even advised me to stop jumping from the tower. However, this was unacceptable to Sautin. There in Atlanta, he was approached by a professor at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA) Semyon Slabunov (in Soviet times he was a psychologist for the USSR diving team, and after moving to the USA he began working in the field of psychology and sports medicine) with a proposal to conduct at the expense of the American side, a special monthly course of treatment. Dmitry agreed, and it yielded results. He was able not only to continue training, but also later performed quite successfully in platform jumping. Subsequently, when asked why the Americans needed such diligent treatment, and even at their own expense, essentially a competitor to their own jumper Mark Lenzi, the answer was: “Soutin does not belong to one country, it belongs to the planet.”

The most amazing thing: despite the injury, no one was able to get closer to Sautin in the 1996 Olympic season. Before the Games in Atlanta, the USA Today newspaper published an article “Russian Robot,” implying the world champion’s deliberate indestructibility. It was more convenient for American journalists to think this way: in this case, the defeat of their athletes did not look so offensive. The reaction to the “robot” from US jumpers was stormy: in their circles, Sautin had for several years already had another, respectful, nickname - “The Man”.

In Atlanta, after the first final jump, Sautin won back the 4 points he lost in the compulsory program from the Chinese Tian Liang, and took the lead by 0.12. 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. The Olympic champion hardly spoke at the press conference. He felt nothing - neither joy from victory, nor fatigue. Only pain...

In 1997, Dmitry Sautin won another gold at the World Championships in Seville, Spain, and at the 1998 World Championships in Perth, Australia, he won absolute championship for the first time in his life. His victory on the tower was especially impressive: Dmitry beat his closest rival Tian Liang by 90 points and exceeded the unofficial record of ten years ago, set by the American Louganis, 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: he became the first jumper in the world who managed to score more than 100 points in one of his jumps. And this was after a very difficult operation on the hand, which he underwent immediately after returning from Atlanta.

At the 1999 European Championships in Istanbul, Dmitry Sautin won gold in the 10-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 ski jumping.

The result exceeded all expectations: Sautin won medals on 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.

Many predicted the athlete to win in the 3-meter springboard. Indeed, Dmitry was the leader in this type of program until the very last jump. However, it was the last, super-difficult jump that he mastered shortly before the competition that let him down. The whole trick and trouble was that according to the rules it was impossible to change the pre-approved program: it would be possible to simplify the jump, as is done, for example, in figure skating. But no one assumed that Sautin would be in the lead, and therefore no request was made to simplify the jumping program.

One way or another, his performance at the Sydney Olympics is a real record in world diving. And the uniqueness of this achievement is further reinforced by the fact that Dmitry had two different partners in synchronized platform and springboard diving!

Before the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Dmitry Sautin further strengthened his program. Moreover, if before the Olympics he had to be convinced that he needed to jump from four apparatuses, now the coaches convinced him of the opposite: to concentrate only on the two least traumatic - individual and synchronized springboard jumps. As a result, Dmitry performed brilliantly from the 3-meter springboard and added another world champion gold medal to his unique collection of awards.

In 1996 he graduated from the Voronezh State Institute of Physical Culture. However, he is not yet planning to leave big sport: he is not bored with winning and is still ready to prove that he is the strongest. So, in September 2001, he won his next gold medal - in the 3-meter springboard at the Goodwill Games in the Australian city of Brisbon. (Before this, he had already won the Goodwill Games twice - in 1994 in St. Petersburg and in 1998 in New York.)

For outstanding sporting achievements, Dmitry Sautin was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2001) and the Order of Honor (1995). At home, he was awarded the title of honorary citizen of the city of Voronezh.

According to the reviews of everyone who happened to know Dmitry, he is a very modest, sociable and at the same time an enthusiastic, cheerful, cheerful person. He prefers to spend his leisure time in nature, likes to go to the forest for barbecue or take a steam bath. In addition to water sports, he enjoys freestyle, gymnastics, trampoline, hockey, and figure skating. He loves music and enjoys watching good domestic and foreign films, especially comedies and action films. His favorite actors are Evgeny Leonov, Anatoly Papanov, Andrei Mironov.

namesakes or relatives
wev888 26.09.2010 02:12:22

My name is Sautina Olga Vyacheslavovna. I live in Sarapul, Udmurtia. My parents claim that Dmitry is a relative on our father’s side and they explained everything in detail about who is with whom, when and where. Best regards, Olga.

Dmitry Sautin is a Russian diver who became an Olympic champion twice. He became the only winner of eight Olympic medals in diving history. In 2000, he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of Russia. He is also a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Armed Forces and played for CSKA Voronezh.

Currently, Dmitry Sautin is the vice-president of the All-Russian Diving Federation. And you can invite Dmitry Sautin to perform at your event. He is rightly called the king of diving. And his lightning-fast career is simply amazing. In Russia he became a real legendary figure.

Biography of Dmitry Sautin

According to the official website of Dmitry Sautin, he was born in Voronezh in 1974. He graduated from the State Institute of Physical Culture in his hometown. He started training at the age of seven, he had one mentor - Tatyana Aleksandrovna Starodubtseva. His specialization is 3-meter ski jumping and 10-meter platform diving. He performs both individually and in concert with other athletes.

He achieved his first success at the age of seventeen, playing for the USSR national team. Then at the European Championships in Athens he won a silver medal. Dmitry performs despite injuries and pain - and he has achieved truly outstanding results. In 2000, at the Olympics, which took place in Sydney, he was able to win medals in all numbers of the men's diving program.

Today you can invite Dmitry Sautin with a master class. This is the best diver of the 20th century. He is one of the few athletes who fought against athletes from China. He became the first athlete to receive the highest score for his jump - 100 points. In 1998 and 2000, Dmitry was recognized as the best athlete in Russia.

For his truly greatest achievements in sports, Dmitry Sautin received many awards. And his hometown of Voronezh considers him its honorary citizen.

Today Dmitry Ivanovich is a deputy in the Voronezh Regional Duma. He takes an active part in the public life of our country. In 2013, Sautin took part in the 2013 Universiade Pose program, and in 2015 he was the Ambassador of the Championship. The athlete tries to attract the widest possible public attention to sports, a healthy lifestyle and tourism, and supports outdoor sports. And in 2017, he became the official ambassador of the third Winter Military World Games.

Today, many often order Dmitry Sautin to give lectures and master classes. He takes part in business events as a speaker. His success story is interesting and unique in many ways. He knows firsthand what it means to overcome oneself, how to reach a goal and not break down. Not only future athletes, young people listen to the story of the development of his sports career with great pleasure. But at events for partners, he also always made an indelible impression.

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Dmitry Sautin

Born on March 15, 1974 in Voronezh. Height 172 cm. Weight 73 kg!

Graduated from the Voronezh State Institute of Physical Culture.
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).

Since 1995, Dmitry has been constantly tormented by chronic injuries to his hand and back, but despite them he has 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 over 100 points per jump in diving.
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 holding the rank of lieutenant colonel of CSKA.

8 medals

Olympic Games

Two-time Olympic champion:

1996 - 10-meter tower,

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

Silver medalist 2000 in synchronized diving from a 3-meter springboard (with Alexander Dobroskok)

Silver medalist 2008 in synchronized diving from the 3-meter springboard (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 of 5 Olympic Games - 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004,2008

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

9 medals

World Aquatics Championships

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 at the World Championships (2001, 2003 and 2007)

Others

competitions

12-time European champion in various disciplines (1993-2008):

1993 - 1 time
1995 - 1
1997 - 1
1999 - 1
2000 - 3
2002 - 2
2006 - 1
2008 - 2
4-time silver medalist of the European Championships (1991, 1993, 2000 and 2006)
Bronze medalist of the European Championship 1995
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 his great contribution to the development of physical culture and sports,
high sporting achievements at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in 2000
Sydney.
Order of Honor (November 2, 1995) for high sports
achievements at the first Military World Games in 1995.
Order of Friendship (August 2, 2009) for great contribution to development
physical culture and sports, high sporting achievements at the Games
XXIX Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing
Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 1st class (18
February 2006) for his great contribution to the development of physical culture and
sports and high sporting achievements.
Insignia "For services to the Moscow region" (1
September 2008).
Honorary citizen of the city of Voronezh.
Order of the Government of the Voronezh Region “Gratitude from
land of Voronezh"

Path

In sports

Five-time world champion:

Dmitry Sautin is rightly called the king
diving, a symbol of this sport. Today he is in that
the age when his skill and years allow him to say that he is a true
professional. Meanwhile, 20 years ago no one could have imagined that
the athlete will be able to achieve such a unique success.

Dmitry Sautin's steep ascent up the sports ladder began in 1991, when, having barely made it into the national team, he immediately won the European Cup on the 10-meter platform and took 2nd place at the European Championships in Athens. The young Voronezh resident was rapidly gaining points in the international orbit. In the same year, after a tragedy on the street of his hometown, the life of the young athlete literally hung by a thread - after a severe stab wound, Dmitry’s close friend rushed the already bleeding athlete to the hospital in time. He was lucky with the doctor, who skillfully performed the operation, and Sautin quickly recovered. Here it is necessary to note Dmitry Sautin’s high ability to self-heal; there will still be many scars and injuries in his life. 1992 was marked by victories at the European Cup in Milan, 3rd place on the springboard in Olympic Barcelona. The 1993 European Championships in the English city of Sheffield brought the athlete gold on the 10-meter platform and silver on the 3-meter springboard.

However, Dmitry Sautin truly showed his fantastic character and will to win to everyone at the World Championships in Rome in 1994. At that time, no one seriously expected a Russian victory. At that time, Chinese athletes already dominated in diving. However, some of Dmitry’s jumps were so good, and in terms of quality of execution and style so indistinguishable from the best “Chinese” versions, that coaches and spectators immediately playfully changed the Russian’s surname in the Chinese manner with an emphasis on the last syllable: Sautin. Sautin's second place on the 3-meter springboard, where he lost almost 10 points to the Chinese Yu. Zhuochen, was greeted almost with jubilation: the day before, Dmitry was eliminated from the finalists on the one-meter apparatus. The Chinese Sun Shuei reigned on the tower, defeating his compatriot Xiong Ni, who in turn competed on equal terms with four-time Olympic champion Gregory Louganis. The leader of the Russian team might not even make it to the finals in this type of competition. After the third of five free jumps, he was in only 22nd place, while to reach the final he needed to be among the twelve. However, at the last moment he pulled himself together, completed the remaining two jumps perfectly, made it to the finals, and even in the final jumps he was able to beat Song Shuei on the latter’s crowning platform by 4 points.

The following year, 1995, the Russian athlete became first at the European Championships in Vienna. After the World Championships, Dmitry Sautin began to have problems with his hand. No one has ever been able to protect themselves from such injuries while diving from a tower. The constant load on the hands when entering the water invariably leads to sprained ligaments - so common that you simply don’t pay attention to the pain. You cannot bandage the entire hand to secure it: the cleanliness of the entrance to the water is compromised. If a more serious injury occurs, every jump becomes torture. Dmitry's wrist joint became so inflamed that a fistula formed on his wrist. It was painful to jump headfirst even from the side. The examination showed that severe inflammation of the tendons had begun in the joint due to pinched nerve endings.

The most amazing thing: despite the injury, no one was able to get closer to Sautin in the 1996 Olympic season. Before the Games in Atlanta, the USA Today newspaper published an article “Russian Robot”, implying the deliberate indestructibility of the world champion. It was more convenient for American journalists to think this way: in this case, the defeat of their athletes did not look so offensive. The reaction to the “robot” from US jumpers was stormy: in their circles, Sautin had for several years already had another, respectful, nickname - “The Man” (Man).

In 1998, a year and a half before Sydney, Dmitry Sautin underwent back surgery. To drown out the pain that appeared in the spine due to many years of jumping from a ten-meter height, it was necessary to make a blockade. In order for the athlete to start training faster, the doctors sewed up his back with the letter “Z” and Dmitry began jumping again. But during the operation an infection developed, suppuration began, and I had to endure daily knife cleaning for a month. Only four years later it was discovered that during the operation the surgeons had forgotten a piece of the bandage in the Olympic champion’s back, with which he had been jumping all this time.

A year and a half before the Olympic Games, synchronized jumping was included in the program of the Olympic tournament for the first time. In Sautin's coaching staff (A.G. Evangulov and T.A. Starodubtseva), the question immediately arose: could Dmitry take part in this type of competition? There was a well-founded opinion that his style was so unique that finding a partner for him would not be so easy. However, they decided to take a risk, which created a hitherto unprecedented precedent in diving: before Sautin, not a single athlete in the world had taken part in all four types of the program at any competition. The result exceeded all expectations: Sautin won medals on all four apparatuses: gold - in synchronized platform diving, a silver medal in synchronized diving and two bronze medals in ski jumping and platform diving. Many predicted the athlete to win in the 3-meter springboard. Indeed, Dmitry was the leader in this type of program until the very last jump. However, it was the last, super-difficult jump that he mastered shortly before the competition that let him down. The whole trick and trouble was that according to the rules it was impossible to change the pre-approved program: it would be possible to simplify the jump, as is done, for example, in figure skating. But no one assumed that Sautin would be in the lead, and therefore no request was made to simplify the jumping program.

Before the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Dmitry Sautin further strengthened his program. Moreover, if before the Olympics he had to be convinced that he needed to jump from four apparatuses, now the coaches convinced him of the opposite: to concentrate only on the two least traumatic ones - individual and synchronized springboard jumps. As a result, Dmitry performed brilliantly from the 3-meter springboard and added another world champion gold medal to his unique collection of awards.

In 1996 he graduated from the Voronezh State Institute of Physical Culture.

In the same year, Dmitry tried on his first highest medal at the Olympics in Atlanta, where he won the 10-meter platform diving, enduring the incredible pain that his injury caused him. Upon returning from the Games, he underwent a difficult operation. But Dmitry was very quickly able to reach the previous level, confirming this with victories at tournaments at various levels: “gold” at the European Championships in Seville (1997) and Istanbul (1999), “golden double” at the World Championships in Perth (1998).

The third was approaching for Dmitry Sautin
Olympics in Sydney (2000), and for the first time in the Olympic program
synchronized jumping was included. The coaching staff was faced with a question:
“Will Dmitry be able to perform in a new discipline? Does he have enough strength?
to perform in all the men's diving programs?
As it turned out, the right solution was found, and the result surpassed everything
expectations. Sautin won medals on all four events. Moreover, in
synchronized jumping with two different partners: “gold” in the 10-meter
platform paired with Igor Lukashin and “silver” from the 3-meter springboard
With .
In single jumps he won 2 bronze medals.

But Dmitry did not even think of stopping there. There were still many victories ahead at various tournaments. In September 2001, he won his next gold medal - in the 3-meter springboard at the Goodwill Games in the Australian city of Brisbon. (Before this, he had already won the Goodwill Games twice - in 1994 in St. Petersburg and in 1998 in New York). After the Games in Australia, Sautin continued to perform in synchronized jumping, where he also achieved enormous success, in addition to the Olympic medal, winning the World Championship in 2003 in tandem with Alexander Dobroskok and becoming a multiple winner of the planetary and European championships.

Dmitry won his next Olympic medal in Athens, where he took third place in the 3-meter springboard. But even this was not enough for the “king of jumps”. He made many talk about his immortality with victories and prizes at the European and World Championships. Not to mention competitions on a smaller scale, where Dmitry had no equal at all.

Before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing Dmitry
Sautin, as usual, was included in the Russian national team. July 1st
Dmitry's son Ivan was born. This is precisely what accounts for Sautin’s delay in
Voronezh, where he and his partner
continued training before the Olympics separately from the rest of the national team
jumping into the water. Beijing is his fifth Olympics. A similar achievement can
Not many athletes can boast about it. Among them is also a volleyball player
, saber fencer,
cyclist,
rower Ekaterina Karsten. In Beijing in synchronized jumping with
three-meter springboard Sautin and Kunakov took silver.

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. In February 2011, Dmitry’s second son, Matvey, was born. Now Dmitry continues to train in Voronezh together with Yuri Kunakov. Every morning and evening, Dmitry comes to the same pool where coach Tatyana Starodubtseva took him as a seven-year-old boy. In 2011, they will celebrate another anniversary - thirty years together. Together for a dream, through pain and difficulties for the honor and glory of our Motherland! “During these thirty years in the water,” says Dmitry, “I learned a lot, the most important thing is to move forward through pain and fear and start all over again more than once, but I would not be the same as I am now without these injuries, scars and falls, they helped me move on and become a “Sautin”.

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.

In 1974, on March 15, the world famous Dmitry Sautin was born. His biography began in the city of Voronezh, where there is no person who has not heard this name. But he is popular not only in his homeland, because the whole world knows Dmitry Sautin, who has become a symbol of diving.

Childhood and youth

Dmitry was born into the family of Ivan Petrovich and Anna Mikhailovna Sautin. The child was gifted with excellent physical properties, but was not at all flexible. The future champion entered the section for the first time at the age of 7, by the age of ten he was already competing in diving competitions, and at the age of seventeen he was included in the USSR national team. And having barely gained a foothold in the main squad, Dmitry Sautin won gold at the European Cup. Diving eventually brought the young athlete the title of king of this sport.

Honored coach of the USSR Tatyana Aleksandrovna Starodubtseva recognized the future champion in the strong boy. An interesting fact is that from the first days to the end, Tatyana Aleksandrovna was Dmitry’s only coach.

Path to glory

Dmitry Sautin burst into big sport with lightning speed, like a diving board jumper entering the water. The young athlete immediately attracted the attention of many professionals. His jumping technique amazed the country's leading experts. The national team coaches were so impressed by the successes of the young Voronezh resident that they sent the young man to his first international competitions, without paying any attention to Then the European Cup ended for Dmitry before it began, because he was too young for these competitions, and the organizers simply did not allow him .

Steep climb

In 1991, Dmitry Sautin joined the national team. During the same period, at the European Cup, the young athlete won gold in the 10-meter platform diving. Then at the European Championships in Athens he became a silver medalist.

in 1992, gold at the European Cup in Milan;
in 1993, gold on the 10-meter platform and silver on the 3-meter springboard at the European Championships in Sheffield;
in 1994, silver on the 3-meter springboard at the World Championships in Rome, as they said then, had a golden tint, because no one expected that the Russians would be able to impose a fight on the Chinese “kings” of diving. And then a real sensation occurred when, having barely made it to the final of the 10-meter jump, Dmitry defeated Sunn Shuey, who “reigned” on the tower at that time;
in 1995, gold at the European Championship in Austria. In the same year, for the first time in the history of domestic jumping, Dmitry Sautin became the winner in the 3-meter springboard competition at the World Cup in Atlanta;
in 1996, gold at the Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA);
in 1997, gold at the World Championships in Spain;
In 1998, the overall championship was won at the World Championships in Australia. Sautin beat his closest pursuer by as much as 90 points and then became the first jumper in the world to score more than a hundred points in one jump;
in 1999, gold at the World Championships in Turkey;
in 2000, the Olympics were held, which made Dmitry a prize-winner in absolutely all disciplines of men's diving. He became first together with his partner Igor Lukashin in platform diving, second with Alexander Dobroskok in ski jumping, and earned bronze medals in individual platform and springboard diving;
in 2001, gold at the World Championships in Japan;
in 2002, gold at the European Championship;
in 2003, gold at the World Championships in synchronized diving from 3 meters;
in 2004, Olympic bronze in Athens;
in 2006, Sautin again became European champion;
in 2007 at the World Championships Dmitry won 3;
in 2008, the hero of our story earned Olympic silver in Beijing together with Yuri Kunakov.

Other achievements, titles and awards

In 1995, he was awarded the Order of Honor for his high sporting achievements.
In 2001, Dmitry Sautin was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree.
In 2006, he received the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class.
In 2008, Dmitry received the insignia “For Services to Moscow”
In 2009, the athlete was awarded the Order of Friendship.
Dmitry Sautin is an honorary citizen of the city of Voronezh.
The athlete has the Order of the Government of the Voronezh Region “Gratitude from the Land of Voronezh”.
Dmitry is the best Russian jumper of the twentieth century.
Another informal achievement is the fact that he was the first in the history of diving to score more than 100 points for a jump.
Sautin is also a deputy of the Voronezh Regional Duma.

Through hardship to the stars

Not everything went smoothly for Dmitry Sautin, as it might seem at first glance. With his build, the future champion looked more like a thunderstorm in the gateways, and only Tatyana Aleksandrovna Starodubtseva knows how she guessed the diving star in this stocky guy.

Many admired his technique and manner of performing jumps, his furious spin in the air. But there were also skeptics, convinced that nothing good would come of a boy with such jumps.

In 1995, the athlete developed problems with his hand. This is a typical injury for all professional jumpers, caused by constant stress on the hands when entering the water. And this illness happened on the eve of the Olympic Games. Dmitry simply could not afford the operation and subsequent months-long rehabilitation at that moment. He continued to train and prepare, despite the fact that every jump and entry into the water turned into real torture. Then a Soviet doctor who emigrated to America, Semyon Stebunov, came to the rescue. Dmitry was offered to undergo a month-long course of treatment. This allowed the jumper to compete at the Olympics and win with a colossal advantage. But the pain did not allow me to enjoy such an important victory.

In 2000, synchronized jumping was included in the Olympic Games program for the first time. Then a completely reasonable question arose about whether Sautin would be able to take part in this type of program. After all, the Voronezh athlete’s style of performing jumps was unique, and fears arose that it would be unrealistic to find a partner for him. However, the coaches took a chance and made the right decision. That year, Sautin won medals wherever possible, and he jumped synchronously from the platform and from the springboard with two different partners. There in Sydney, Dmitry lost the individual gold because of his desire to perform a super difficult jump, but this did not stop him from becoming a sensation in those games.

Family and personal life

One day, while walking around Voronezh, Dmitry met Ekaterina Bakhmetyeva, who had no idea that the bald guy, reminiscent of Bruce Willis, was an Olympic champion and a world-famous athlete. Five years later, the young people got married. In the same 2008, Dmitry Sautin became a happy father. The athlete's family grew even larger three years later. Then the couple had a second son.

Dmitry Sautin, whose personal life is very eventful, is a loving father and husband, and, according to friends and acquaintances, he is a very sociable and cheerful person who loves outdoor recreation. And in addition to water sports, the hero of our story is interested in trampoline, freestyle, and hockey. He also loves music and Soviet films.

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