TCHACHINA Irina Russia Discipline: Rhythmic			Last update: 05/09/2011
Status:	Retired
Licence No.:	00002499
Date of birth:	24/04/1982	Age:	31
Gender:	Female
Height:	166 cm/5.4 ft	Weight:	45 kg/99.2 lb
Place of birth:	OMSK ()
Hometown:	OMSK (RUS)
Marital status:	Single
Children:	0 boys 0 girls
Occupation:	Gymnast
Languages Spoken:	R
Start Discipline (year):	1987
First Int. Competition (year):
National Team Since (year):	1994
Current Club:	M.C.S.A
Location:
Head coach:	Irina Viner (RUS)
Assistant coach:	Vera Shtelbaums (RUS)
Choreographer:	Elena Arais (RUS)
Music Selections Discipline Type Title Author Intepreter
Personal website / fan page:		Facebook page:
Twitter account:		Other Social media account:
Creation date:	2000-03-15
More about TCHACHINA Irina:
She is Uzbeko-Russian and the oldest in a family of three children (Irina has a younger brother and sister). At the age of 5 y.o., she took up gymnastics in her hometown Omsk, (also native place of Galima Shugurova, the 1973 World and the first ever European Champion in 1978). Her first coach was Yelena Arais. Now she is more at home in Moscow, where she lives and trains. Tchachina is one of the most elegant rhythmic gymnasts ever. Tall and gracious, she reflects the classic style in Rhythmic Gymnastics, which today is somewhat out of fashion in a world where spectacular tricks are favoured. Her favourite gymnasts are Vitrichenko and Batyrshina. An accomplished competitor like her was a wonderful asset for Russia’ s team victories at the World Championships in Osaka 1999 and at the European Championships in Saragossa, 2000. She went on with a superb "grand chelem", which means 4 victories at the 2001 World Games in Akita (rope, hoop, ball, clubs). She came back at the 2003 World Championships in Budapest with another team victory, a silver medal on clubs and two bronze at the all around and the hoop. Finally, she earned the silver medal at the Olympic All Around in 2004. In Athens, like in the majority of the competitions, Irina remains in the shade of her team-mates Alina Kabaeva and Yulia Barsoukova. The irony is, she was already on her way to"conquer" the world, when one year younger Kabaeva burst onto the scene and forged quickly the status of a star. Then unexpectedly Barsoukova became Olympic Champion in Sydney. Nevertheless, the challenge in the Russian team remains open-next time it might be Irina who will offer the surprise. FIG - November 04