Irina Kalinina

Irina Vladimirovna Kalinina (Ирина Владимировна Калинина; born February 8, 1959) is a former Soviet diver and olympic champion. She competed at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, where she won the gold medal in Women's 3 metre springboard.

Sports career
At 1976 Montreal Olympics, she was fourth on the platform and seventh on the 3m springboard. At 1980 Olympics in Moscow she became the champion on the springboard.

She was a three-time world champion, won 5 medals at the European Championships. She was a 20-time prize-winner of the USSR championships.

In 1980 she graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education Penza State University. She worked as an athlete-coach of the USSR national team in diving in 1972-84. From 1984 she worked as a teaching coach at Specialized Children and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Reserve.

In 1984 she left the big sport. In 1984, the documentary “And all over again, every time” (directed by T. Chubakova) about the end of her career and the beginning of coaching was shot at CSDF.

Coaching career
On completing her career, she works as a coach in Penza. She is an Honoured Coach of Russia.

Her husband Valery Bazhin is a former diver, World-Class Master of Sports of the USSR, Honoured Coach of Russia.

Her daughter Nadezhda Bazhina is a diver, World-Class Master of Sports of Russia, European champion, participant of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

In honour of Irina Kalinina, since 1988 an annual diving competition has been held in Penza.