At fifteen, young Gorodchka resident Nastya Zharina has already won a place in the Ukrainian national weightlifting team and is not going to stop there. Currently, the girl lifts almost twice her own weight, trains almost every day and supports her dreams of great sports with prize-winning places in competitions.
When asked how such a fragile-looking girl started doing something that wasn't exactly girlish, Nastya answers with a smile - it just happened. Two years ago, she and two friends came to the first introductory training at the local sports complex "Epicenter". Since then, the friends have stopped training, and a new, larger "Epicenter" has opened in her native Gorodok, but Nastya has only gotten in shape and increased the load. "At first, my mother was worried about my hobby," the girl says, "but everything went away after I started winning my first awards. My family understands my passion for sports and supports me in every way. I appreciate this attitude and it is extremely important to me."
The athlete is also proud of the Gorodok Jewish community, headed by Raisa Omelchenko, a social worker and volunteer of the Hesed Besht Foundation. The girl and her family have attended community events since childhood. Her grandmother, Nina Ivanovna Zharina, was in the care of the Hesed Besht Foundation as a victim of the Nazi regime. Despite her busy schedule of training and schoolwork, Nastya does not forget about community events and connections with her people. And at the end of August, she will attend a conference of the AJT (Active Jewish Teenagers) youth organization in Odessa, which is open to anyone who wants to become a leader or activist in their community in the future.
Recalling the early period of training, Anastasia says that it all started with a stick for exercises, which was not heavy at all. It was replaced by a barbell, which over time began to become heavier from the "pancakes". In order to keep herself in shape and better adapt to the loads, the girl attends training more often than the standard "Monday-Wednesday-Friday". Success would have been impossible without the competent coaching work of the athlete's mentors - Andriy Melnyk and Dmytro Kukosh.
"The best thing is the Ukrainian championship," says the athlete, not hiding her excitement. "There is a different level of difficulty there, there are many incentives for development." The first such championship for her was the Ukrainian Weightlifting Championship in Kamianets-Podilskyi, where Nastya won silver. The next was the championship on July 1-4 in Skadovsk, from which the girl brought bronze. Competing at the state level is very difficult, because everyone there is the best of the best. In order to win, you need to be even better, and for this you need more development. As the young athlete explained, everyone is given three attempts at competitions: the first is what the athlete can do, the second is a test of strength, and the third is an attempt at a personal record. In two years, the girl managed to set a record of 70 kg, but she says that she can do much more.
“I want to go into big sports,” Anastasia sums up her story. “To get to the Olympics, you first need to win the Ukrainian championship, then the European championship, and then get one of the four vacancies that are available to our country. So you have to train.” And while the Olympics are still in the plans, the girl is trying to become an international Master of Sports. And looking at the enthusiasm and stubbornness with which she does it, I personally have no doubts that she will succeed.
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Video – Program “Horodochchyna”, issue dated 6.11.2015, Horodotsky District Television and Radio Center
