No excuses: "You will be whoever you want" - an interview with parachutist Igor Annenkov

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Igor has about 30 jumps. This could be considered an average result, if not for cerebral palsy and years of struggle for their right to be in the sky. Read the story of this amazing man in our interview.

Beautiful far away

- Hi, Nastya! Thanks for the invitation.

- I am from the city of Gomel, Republic of Belarus, but up to six years old, my parents and I actually lived in Evpatoria. This is a wonderful place with a special rhythm of life (at least at the time). Despite constant treatment, childhood was wonderful. The prose of life began later, in the 1990s.

- Yes, and not only them. Grandmothers, grandfathers, uncle helped a lot.

But we must pay tribute to the wisdom and patience of mother and father. There was such a case. When the doctors realized that I could go, they just needed an incentive, my father bought a large imported car with pedals. Remember, there were such? It cost 90 rubles - a lot of money in Soviet times. He didn't pay the rent, but he bought this toy.

They left the car at one end of the room, me at the other and said: "Here's a car for you - go get it." I went. On the wall, but went.

- You cannot tell a child (whether he is healthy or not) who dreams of becoming an astronaut that this is impossible, that only a few are flying into space. He himself will understand how difficult it is. Do you want to be an astronaut? You will! Do you want to be a pilot? You will!

You will be whoever you want.

This is the principle my parents adhered to and never limited me in my desires and aspirations. And they did not indulge in weakness.

- That is, if there was ice and I told my father that I could not go somewhere, as it was slippery, he replied: “You will not fall further than the ground. If you fall, rise up and move on. Therefore, now, for example, when I take a train ticket, I do not care which shelf I have - lower or upper.

A friend of mine has the same health problems as me. But his parents, under the burden of a guilt complex, created greenhouse conditions for him: a garage next to the house, a house next to a store. This played a cruel joke with him: a person can no longer give up the comfort once created and only in this zone feels safe.

- I did not go to kindergarten, so I first encountered the system at the age of seven, when I went to school.

In 1982, there was no special education. There was a special boarding school - a building with bars on the windows, with doors closing only on one side. Before school, my mother and I were invited for a test to determine if I could attend a regular school.

For four hours I was asked various questions. I answered all but one. I was shown a picture with a pear and a beet. I knew that this is a pear, compote is made from it, it grows on a tree, and this is beets, borscht is made from it. But I did not know that a pear is a fruit and a beet is a vegetable. They just never told me about it. This was sufficient reason for the aunt-doctor to declare: "Only a special boarding school."

There was a crystal inkwell on the doctor's desk. Hearing her "verdict", my mother said: "I will rub this inkwell on your head now, and you will go there yourself." Under pressure from the prospect of getting hit on the head with an inkwell, the doctor aunt immediately signed a referral to a regular school.

- By my first education, I am a dentist, but it did not work out with dentistry. After the death of my father, his friends invited me to work in a jewelry production. I had to master one more specialty.

This is a very capacious profession that requires angelic patience and a high degree of responsibility. This is both a locksmith and an artist. She taught me a lot. Before jewelry, for example, I did not know that I could be left-handed. But man is such a universal monkey: he will learn everything if he wants.:)

- Anything!

Champion Helmet

- This is an old story. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the so-called rocking basements were popular. I lacked physical strength, I really wanted to go to the gym. But for this, help was needed. I understood that not a single neuropathologist in any polyclinic would give it to me. Then I went for a trick - I brought a certificate with a veterinary seal.

Of course, the forgery was immediately revealed - they laughed for a long time. But the coach said, "Either you run away in three days, or you get everything you want." I stayed.

One fine day, as always, I was in physical education (there was no admission to classes) and watched as my classmates painfully pass the test in pull-ups. For the top five, it was necessary to beat the crossbar 5-7 times. He sat, sat, and then asked the teacher: "May I?" He allowed. I pulled myself up 25 times. There was a deathly silence in the gym. Nobody expected this from me. The teacher said, "Can you repeat it?" I replied, "Yes, just let me rest for a few minutes." The next day, all the boys from my class were at the threshold of the "basement" where I went.:)

From this incident, my friendship with the physical education teacher Nikolai Nikolaevich Usov began. He was completely different from your typical physical education teacher. It turned out that he came to our school after the collapse of the Gomel flying club. Nikolai Nikolaevich was the master of sports of the USSR. The Usovs have the whole family "parachute": Nikolai Nikolaevich's father is an honored trainer of the Republic of Belarus, his brothers also jumped.

Having learned his biography, naturally, I came to him with the question: "Can I jump?" He replied that if certain rules and guidelines are followed, this is possible. At the same time, he immediately said that a round landing parachute is not for me, but a sporty one is quite. Moreover, it is more beautiful, more manageable and less traumatic.

Nikolai Nikolaevich told me a lot about parachuting. For example, that with the help of training in a wind tunnel, simulating the speed of a stream in the sky, you can achieve a lot. But, unfortunately, he did not have time to bring me to the airfield.

- Once I came to him, he opened the door, but did not invite me into the house. I asked to wait for him on the stairs: "I have a present for you."

He brought me his champion helmet and said: “I probably won't have time to help you. But promise me that you will reach the edge of the plane and take this helmet with you on the first jump.” I didn't understand anything, but I promised.

Three months later, I learned that Nikolai Nikolayevich had died: he had cancer. After his death, I did not know if I would ever be able to jump … But one day I went down to the basement, looked through children's books, and the DOSAAF magazine fell at my feet. I opened it, and there is a photograph of Nikolai Nikolaevich. I realized that this is a sign from above.

- I remember everything!:) None of the jumps are similar to the previous one. Conditions are always changing, and each of the stages of the jump takes place in its own way. It's never monotonous, never boring.

My first jump was in tandem at the Novo-Pashkovo airfield in Mogilev. Height - about 4,000 meters, standard for a tandem.

As promised, I arrived at the airfield with Nikolai Nikolayevich's helmet. I stood with him on the parade ground. Suddenly, the commander of the parachute training unit, Yuri Vladimirovich Rakovich, approached me and asked: "Where did you get this helmet from?" I replied that it was not mine, it was Nikolai Usov's helmet. He said: "I know whose helmet it is, I ask, where did you get it from?" I told. Yuri Vladimirovich listened and called his wife: "Galya, he knows Kolya!" (Galina Rakovich is an international master of sports, two-time world champion in the team competition, the absolute champion of the USSR, the head coach of the Belarusian national parachuting team. - Author's note.)

They invited me to their office. Yuri Vladimirovich opened the locker, and there was a Soviet uniform and two exactly the same helmets. They jumped in the same team.

- It's scary every time. What is skydiving in the mind of an ordinary person? Whim and nonsense! There is nothing difficult - took it and jumped. In fact, this is a pretty serious physical activity.

Plus, it's always scary - it doesn't matter whether the first jump or the one hundred and first jump.

With experience, fear, of course, is leveled, but I have not yet seen a single fearless parachutist.

System of restrictions

- If! This was followed by another jump in tandem, and then I wrote letters to various authorities for a year, seeking the opportunity to learn jumps according to the AFF accelerated training system, in order to jump independently in the future.

I don’t like to cite other countries as an example (it’s ugly to nod at others), but if you take the same Germany, you’ll be surprised with what violations you can jump with a parachute there. In America, there is a parachutist without both legs and one arm (instead of a prosthesis).

Our countries are seriously lagging behind Western countries in ensuring the rights of people with disabilities. We strive to catch up with Europe in the area of a barrier-free environment, but, in my opinion, this is not the starting point. The problem is the prohibitive nature of the legal system. EVERYTHING is a priori prohibited in our country. To do something, be it work, sports or hobbies, you need to get an individual permit.

If you only knew how many times I heard: "You bring me a certificate, and then at least into space!" At the same time, I am legally capable and capable of acting: I can vote, sign documents, carry out financial transactions. But de facto I cannot freely decide what to do.

When they say "a person with disabilities", you need to think about who and what he is limited by? The bitter paradox is that the state and society, which stand up for their rights, limit the possibilities of people with disabilities. Often people do not want to do anything just because they know how many circles of bureaucratic hell they have to go through to get their way. And then white collars in government offices wonder why infantilism and opportunism come from among disabled people?

- I met the famous athlete Lena Avdeeva, and she, in turn, introduced me to the entire parachute brotherhood of Russia. Lena wrote about my problem on the parachute portal. The guys were inspired and began to think about how to help me. In the end, thanks to the efforts of Mansur Mustafin and the paratroopers, I ended up in Aerograd Kolomna. This is the leading parachute club in Russia, employing highly qualified personnel (handlers, instructors, pilots). There I began to learn to jump myself, or rather, accompanied by instructors.

- This is a general parachute rule: all beginners jump accompanied. Despite the fact that all possible emergency situations are worked out on the ground, anything can happen in the air. Instructors accompany beginners from boarding the plane to landing, right up to the fact that the laces are tied.:)

- There is a team, it is developing on the basis of the Strizh ASTC at the Kirzhach airfield. Every disability skydiver has a difficult path to the sky, many of them are Afghan warriors, so the team gathered not to compete with someone, but to overcome themselves. There are no international competitions today, but looking at the jumps of our guys, foreigners are surprised: "Are all Russians like that?" We answer: "Everything!"

- About self-realization, and not only in sports. I want to try myself in public organizations, to help people break the “system of restrictions”.

Living life idly is boring. Find your meaning and have no excuse to achieve it. If you don't know what it is, just take a step forward. Moving forward, you will find it.

- You're welcome!:)