Natalia Ishchenko

Natalia Ishchenko was born in Smolensk, Russia, on April 8, 1986. Her family relocated to Kaliningrad shortly after her birth. At the age of five, she commenced training in both rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming. She subsequently chose to concentrate on synchronized swimming. For nearly ten years, Ishchenko trained under Svetlana Ustyugova, Lada Stepanovich, and Lyudmila Mizina, who were prominent synchronized swimming instructors in Kaliningrad. Initially, her talent for synchronized swimming was not immediately apparent, but Stepanovich recognized her potential and provided her with an opportunity to develop. At 14, Ishchenko moved to Moscow to train at the Olympic Water Sports Center, where she began working with Olympic athlete and coach Tatyana Danchenko.

Ishchenko’s international career began to flourish at the 2006 European Championships in Budapest, where she secured three European Championship titles within 24 hours. The following year, at the 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, she earned five medals, including four gold and one silver. Her first Olympic gold medal was achieved at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as part of the Russian team. She continued her success at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, winning three gold medals in solo, duet, and team events. In 2011, at the World Championships in Shanghai, Ishchenko demonstrated an exceptional level of performance, securing gold medals in six of the seven synchronized swimming events.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Ishchenko won two more gold medals: one in the duet competition with her partner, Svetlana Romashina, and another in the team event, making her a three-time Olympic champion. Following her success in London, she took a break from the sport in 2013 to give birth to her son, consequently missing the 2013 World Championships. She returned to competition in 2015, participating in the World Championships held in Kazan. Here, she won gold in the solo, duet free, and duet technical events. Ishchenko qualified for her third Olympic team, competing in Rio as a mother, and added two more gold medals to her collection in the duet event, again with Svetlana Romashina, and in the team event. She announced her retirement from sports in April 2017. Since November 2017, she has held the position of Minister of Sports of Kaliningrad Oblast. Ishchenko is married to Sergei Anikin, a European Championships silver medalist diver, and they have two sons, Semyon and Fedor. She graduated from the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University and the Russian International Olympic University. She holds 19 World Championship titles and 12 European Championship titles.