Irina Viner

Viner was born in Samarkand, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union. Her father, Alexander, was a People's Painter of Uzbekistan. Her mother, Zoya, was a doctor. Viner is Jewish,[4] and in an interview she gave to Russian magazine Hello! at her home, she has said that she reads about Kabbalah, though she doesn't speak Hebrew.[5] Among her many state awards, she was given the "Living Legend" prize by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia in 2007.[6]

Viner is currently married to Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov, who was also born in Soviet Uzbekistan, and is a Muslim.[7] She and Usmanov originally met in their youth at a sports hall in Tashkent, where he was involved in fencing; they reconnected many years later in Moscow.[2] She has a son from her first marriage, Anton, who was born in 1973 and later adopted by Usmanov.[8] Anton is a real estate investor.[9]

(L-R) Viner with rhythmic gymnasts Yana Lukonina, Daria Dmitrieva, Evgenia Kanaeva, former President Dmitri Medvedev, Daria Kondakova and RG coach Anna Shumilova

As a young girl Viner wanted to take ballet but was discouraged, so she took up gymnastics at the age of 11.[2] Viner was a three-time champion of the Uzbek SSR and graduated from the Uzbek State Institute of Physical Culture. She worked as coach of the national team in rhythmic gymnastics in Tashkent, and under her tutelage, Venera Zaripova became her first successful gymnast. In 1990, Viner briefly moved to Great Britain to coach the British national team.[10]

After Barcelona Irina moved to Moscow and began working for the Moscow City Sports Association (MCSA). Since 1992 Irina Viner-Usmanova was the head coach of the Olympic Training Center. She became the head coach of the Russian National Team in 2001 and the president of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation in 2008.[11]

In 2015, Viner was awarded the Olympic Order in recognition of her outstanding achievements in global sports, making Viner the first gymnastics coach to receive the award. Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee personally handed the necklace to her and presented the award.[1][12]

Viner featured in the 2017 documentary Over the Limit, which covered her training of Margarita Mamun in the run-up to the 2016 Olympics. The film depicts her controversial training methods including sustained verbal abuse, with statements and insults directed at Mamun such as "You're going to die bitch" and "Go f*** yourself with your shaking".[13][14]

In an interview she gave to Russia's Hello! magazine at her home, she has said that her pupils venerate myrrh-pouring icons before every competition.[15] Since she has talked about reading Kabbalah in the same interview, some gymnastics sites translating the article into English assumed she was referring to Kabbalah icons,[16] but this is most likely a mistaken assumption, as myrrh-pouring icons have long been associated with Eastern Orthodox Christianity,[17] while Kabbalah is a form of Jewish mysticism, and Judaism forbids the use of icons altogether.

After Israeli gymnast Linoy Ashram defeated Russia's Dina Averina at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the all-around individual competition, Viner attacked Ashram, the judges, as well as the wider gymnastics community, accusing them of bias against Russia and saying that "Dina is the real champion".[18][19][20] In the following all-around group competition at the same Olympics, the Russian team lost to the Bulgarian team, and Viner in response once more insinuated an anti-Russian conspiracy in the judging, saying, "everyone understood perfectly well that this was meant to happen, that Russia’s hegemony had to be stopped." Three months later, it was announced that Viner has signed the coach of the Israeli rhythmic gymnastics team at Tokyo, Ira Vigdorchik, to become the new coach of Russia's rhythmic gymnastic team.[21][22][23]

In 2023, Viner proposed establishing an alternative Olympics Games and invite BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation countries to participate in it, following the news that Western nations oppose Russia's involvement in the 2024 Summer Olympics due to its invasion of Ukraine.[24]

Viner was sanctioned by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) on 6 March 2023 for her behavior and statements at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The disciplinary commission ruled that Viner would be prohibited from attending international competitions for the next two years.[25]

Viner with President Vladimir Putin in May 2015

Viner has trained many Russian Olympic/World/European/World Cup medal winners,[3] including:

• In the 2020 edition of the national sports award Pride of Russia, in the nomination Coach of the Year[39]

• Irina Viner-Usmanova Gymnastics Palace
• List of Jews in sports (non-players)