If Khizhinkova hadn’t been there, it would have been worth it invent her. In fact, the Belarusian football, filled exclusively with men of different ages and physiques, would have been too boring and monotonous without this blonde with crazy long legs.
However, the most beautiful press secretary in the world of football (why wouldn’t the Belarusians pretend to be nominated in this category?) is self-sufficient and keen to talk about FC Dynamo Brest.
She not only has been successfully teaching at the National School of Beauty for a long time. Olga Khizhinkova is one of the volunteers to help hundreds of cats and dogs find a new home. She also leads a very active lifestyle, running marathons and preparing to conquer the triathlon.
But on the eve of the Defender of the Fatherland Day, of course, we will speak only about men.
If you look at it, the 23rd of this month is chosen as a man’s holiday quite randomly and even ridiculous.
It seems to me that all these gender festivals are invented solely to diversify our lives. It wasn’t much fun in the Soviet space from the very beginning, that’s why on February 23 and March 8 they were celebrated with a gulfish scope.
In my village school, for example, it was an occasion to hold another discotheque. It was a wonderful holiday for teenagers – to reveal the first feelings about the opposite sex.
In which class was the first time you were told “I love you”?
Not in any class. Even though we had 3 girls and 7 boys in our class. Because I was tall, thin and unburdened with female forms, my fate was unenviable. When girls talked about how they kissed with boys, I couldn’t support those conversations and only nodded respectfully. They said, yes, it was great.
Were you crying in your pillow at night?
No. Looking in the mirror, I was smart enough to know that my time would come. And really, having arrived to study in Vitebsk, I soon enough appeared in modelling school among similar girls in height under 180 and above.
All the children’s complexes somehow immediately escaped. And with the appearance of confidence quickly realized that the attention of the strong sex will not be left out.
And then I won the contest “Miss Belarus-2008”. Attention reached the climax…
And it was like. Fans – both secret and obvious. Both shy, sending a courier with a basket of roses, and very persistent. If you draw a parallel, it’s a kind of victory for the athletes – here you go on a pedestal and at once became very interesting to everyone. Until then, until a new champion appears.
However, it’s nice that two and a half years ago you turned out to be interesting for a new sports project – FC Dynamo Brest. Didn’t this offer surprise you?
The club’s development director knew for a long time. Vitya Radkov is a very creative person, so I was sure that it would be at least interesting to work in the project.
The old man got to the point. In a short period of time you have become the most famous spokesman in sports. I mean the number of interviews you give – for various reasons.
I don’t know. It seems to me that the same Vasya Knyazyuk from Dynamo Minsk knows much more. Or Sergei Dashkevich from BATE.
But they do not beat up so many of their own photoshoots, they are not taken in advertising stockings and healthy lifestyles.
That’s right, I don’t remember. Well, Radkov has calculated everything correctly. Even hippe at an early stage. It was logical to suppose that not all the fans will accept me on a hurrah. Everything was like everybody else, and then bam – and blonde! Yes, and even has some thoughts.
Do you mean your post of wishing BATE success in the European Cup suffering when Brest died out at an early stage?
Yes, it caused disapproval at the club fans’ forum. They say, how can it be. But it seems to me that when Belarusian clubs enter the international arena, all our internal squabbles should end automatically. We support our own – in my opinion, there’s nothing even to discuss here. Even if yesterday you were ready to break, forgive me, the face of your vis-a-vis during the national championship. But today, you will be in the same room with him, because it’s a European cup. There is our country, flag, anthem and so on.
As for the BATE, with the departure of Capsky, we have lost a personality of such a scale, the size of which has yet to be realized. Thanks to him, BATE is a beautiful story.
How many times have I wanted to quit this not really feminine job?
Many have convinced me that it is not worth going to football, and that football fans do not forgive mistakes. But everything was not so terrible. Of course, there are nervous moments, but the goal of the club is to make you think that everything is going on.
I do not know where your club goes, but you choose the noble ones. One Milevskyi is worth it.
I remember how some fans perceived the fact of its signing. Skepticism prevailed. Oh, why, but he drinks so much… Everyone for some reason remembered the stories from the yellow press, but forgot what kind of player he was. And I am pleased that Artem won his place in the team, became its leader and fan favorite.
How do you like the last program with his participation?
Alive. The man was liberated. It is felt that he knows the authors not by hearsay, I think he spent a lot of time in various interesting places in Kiev.
Are you being ironic?
Not at all. Love for bohemian life is part of Artem. He likes to communicate, he loves to be the soul of the company. But we have to understand the main thing, he, by the way, said it in the program. Everyone thinks that Milevsky likes to drink, but in fact, he likes football most of all in his life. This is what he does best, and without the game there would be nothing else – money, “ferrari” and the rich geography of his friends.
And, by the way, I don’t think he’s such a big fan of alcoholic beverages as many people think he is. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have played until he was 34. I think he even likes to evaporate the audience with his photos. They say, guys, I’m on vacation, I’m fine, I’ll be back soon.
And indeed, soon he showed up again in Brest. Having completed, I must confess, an amazing cambecue. Did it make you happy?
As a man and a fan – of course. Life will not be the same anymore. The mile has returned. Well, as a press attaché, I have questions for him. If he doesn`t want to do something, that`s all. He will also rely on no one. But let’s consider it a manifestation of the Belarusian character.
And there are simpler guys in the team, but such that they are reliable as steel. Oleg Veretilo. He has the right concepts. Perhaps, because he is already a family man. If some charity is planned, the first one responds. And he himself can offer some right things. Pasha Nekhaichik is a captain and is able to build internal relations in the team as it should be. I like the right people in general, because young guys always have a lot of temptations and drafts in their heads. It is necessary to have someone other than a coach who knows how to set priorities.
You’ve become your own member of the team?
I don’t know what I need to be. I want the players to stay on their own while talking to the press, not to close down and not to dream of diving somewhere just to get rid of reporters. Well, we didn’t talk about trivialities, we were different from each other. That the team had its own face – pleasant and interesting. After all, in everyday communication these are funny and uncomplexed guys.
Western athletes approach the press differently. They can even invite a journalist to their home and tell a million interesting things. But this is only possible if there is absolute trust: the journalist and the athlete should be on an equal footing and perceive each other as comrades. Example? Kolya Khodasevich. Everyone in the football community knows him, he is his own for everyone. As a certified journalist, I will say that the success of the interview depends on the interviewer by 90%. And if a journalist has a seal of fatigue and boredom on his face, and he asks questions that the player had to answer a hundred times, then I’m the first one to run away.
Can you single out someone else from the sports journalists?
In fact, there are many of them: enthusiastic, brave and interesting. There are just people who undoubtedly stand out against the general background. For example, Vasily Sarychev. But he is another extreme. Too smart. Once I sent you questions that I would like to ask Milevsky and plunged him into a great confusion. Kievan friends, I am sure, never posed such global questions to him. Volodymyr Zhuravel also constantly complained to me about Vasyl, saying he was digging too deep at press conferences. And I think it’s great – Vasyl has his own style, his face and his materials I read with pleasure.
There is one more question that Artem did not answer to his Kiev friends. He has not yet decided who he likes the most among the candidates for the presidency of Ukraine – Tymoshenko or Zelensky.
I like Zelenskyi. We have already seen Tymoshenko and everyone else in power, and I am curious what someone new could do in this place. Especially since Vladimir
Zelensky is quite smart, successful and undoubtedly charismatic. Although, of course, politics is a thing where the president does not belong to himself and can turn into a completely different person over time. But let’s see, I wonder what happens with Zelensky if he wins.
What do you think Artem’s gonna do after football?
Two terms of Zelenskyi will pass quickly, and by that time Artem will have finished. So the Ukrainian people, I think, will once again make the right choice :). Listen, will you print all this?
Undoubtedly. By your photo shoot you need some text support. By the way, why did you do it?
Eh, here’s Vasily – a subtle connoisseur of women’s souls would understand me 🙂 Why do girls like to shoot? Because the mood is good, because soon spring, and people will smile just for no reason. Because then summer will come. And in general. It is not necessary to look for reasons in everything. You just have to live and rejoice at every day that you give us.