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| Born | 11 March 1937 Moscow, Russia |
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| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Fencing | ||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Alexándra Zabélina (Born on 11 March 1937 in Moscow) is a former Soviet Olympic fencer. She won gold in the women's team foil at the 1960, 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics.[1][2]
She was the World Champion in 1957 and 1967.[3] She won the Silver Prize winner of 1961 and 1966 World Championships in the individual championship. The World Champion in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1971. The Silver Prize winner of 1959, 1962, 1967 and 1969 World Championships in team championship.
Zabélina was the first Soviet World Champion, the winner of three Olympic gold medals, and a twenty three-time USSR Champion.
Her career started back in the far 1950s. Many years ago she occasionally came to the Dynamo club salle. Earlier in her childhood she was enthusiastically going in for gymnastics and even achieved the first success, but had to quit due to a trauma. Then a neighbour took her to his coach, R. I. Chernysheva, the Honoured Master of Sports in the fencing section of Dynamo sports club. Already at the third training session Raisa Ivanovna said: "Shurochka, you will be the World Champion." Later Zabelina joined the group led by Ivan Ilyich Manayenko, where she trained together with her team-partners and friends, the future stars of national fencing G. Gorohova, V. Rastvorova, J. Rylsky, L. Romanov.
Zabelina attended the World Championship in Paris in 1957. At the time fencing was held on a pool system with no knock-outs, and those who reached the final competitions had to have up to 40 bouts per day. The foiler’s bouts were over after midnight, when only few spectators stayed in the fencing salle. Zabelina, an unknown Soviet fencer, won the competition. The next day, the journalists and fans were looking for Zabelina in the fencing salle.
Zabelina participated in the Olympics for the first time in 1960, in Rome. This was followed by the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, and the 1972 Olympics in Munich. She missed the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, when she was expecting her son. Three times she became an Olympic Champion in team competitions.
"If all three my Olympic Games are compared, the latter ones were the most difficult," Zabelina recalls. "Before Munich, I had faced a global challenge to win the USSR championship. Only the gold medal at the Championship could open me the way to the Olympics. Hence, with the young athletes at my heels, I had to prove that I am stronger again and again. At the Olympics, there was a fascinating start and a tragic outcome. The events were very well organized, widely publicized and it looked nothing could go wrong in that perfect mechanism. However, everything was ruined by Palestinian terrorists, who captured the team of Israel. Unfortunately, the majority of hostages were killed in the counter-terrorist operation. A military regime was introduced in the Olympic Village. The women-athletes were relocated to the men’s hostel, there were tanks standing nearby, the streets of the villages were patrolled by militants. The Olympics were on the verge of collapse. We were waiting, and the competitions were postponed from day to day. I should say, our nerves were at the limit. That is why the victory at the Olympics in Munich is of a special value."