Champions: Faster. Above. Stronger

The film consists of three short stories based on real facts from the lives of three Russian athletes - wrestler Alexander Karelin , gymnast Svetlana Khorkina and swimmer Alexander Popov . These are stories about how Khorkina, Popov and Karelin came to the Olympic gold medals and became legendary athletes ^[3] .

Svetlana Khorkina

Sveta Khorkina, the youngest in the gymnastics group, receives an invitation to the national team. However, Moscow is completely different from the province - here its leaders. Quiet and homely Light is not easy. High for gymnastics, Khorkina initially arouses doubts among coaches. But it is precisely the fragile and inconspicuous girl from Belgorod who will subsequently become the Queen of the Bars and the Olympic champion of Sydney 2000 .

Alexander Popov

By the age of 25, Alexander Popov had already become a two-time Olympic champion and repeated champion of the world and Europe, for which he received the nickname "Russian torpedo". The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta obeys Alexander, and he already plans to perform at the next Olympics - in Sydney 2000. But the hooligan attack and stab wounds threaten not only Popov’s sports career, but his health and life in general.

Alexander Karelin

“Asphalt paver” - that's what the fighter Alexander Karelin was called in sports circles. Three-time Olympic champion, multiple champion of the world and Europe, who lost only two fights in his career and won 888 fights, is distinguished by extreme honesty, as well as intelligence and patriotism: Alexander still lives not in Moscow, but in his native Novosibirsk. A casual acquaintance with the Latvian journalist Janis, who is experiencing a difficult period in his life, once again demonstrates the best qualities of Karelin - determination, integrity and sincerity.

• Shooting the film “Champions: Faster. Above. Stronger ”began in April 2015. It was originally planned that the picture would consist of four stories: about wrestler Alexander Karelin , pole vaulter Elena Isinbayeva , swimmer Alexander Popov and gymnast Alexei Nemov ^[4] , but later it became known that instead of two short stories about Isinbayeva and Nemov there would be one short story about gymnast Svetlana Khorkina ^[5] .
• The first was a short story about Alexander Karelin. In October 2014, the filmmakers came to Novosibirsk ^[6] , according to scriptwriter Emil Nikoghosyan , “ to learn more about Alexander Karelin, the city in which he was born, grew up and lives ” ^[7] . Several candidates were considered for the role of Karelin, but in the end Sergey Bondarchuk Jr. was selected ^{[8] [9]} .
• In August 2015, filming of the short story about Svetlana Khorkina began. Her role was played by Christina Asmus ^[10] . According to producer Georgy Malkov, the choice was so due to the fact that “the actress even looks like her, moreover, she is in excellent physical shape ” ^[11] . Asmus refused the stunt double, having decided to perform all the exercises on the bars herself ^{[12] [13]} . But on the air of Sport FM radio station on the day of the premiere, the actress said that she performed only stunts before the Olympics. The remaining programs were performed by five gymnasts. The entire filming process of the novel about Khorkina was controlled by the champion herself ^{[14] [15] [16]} .
• The athletes themselves agreed to the adaptation of their stories ^[17] , claimed the actors to their roles, helped them in the preparation ^[14] and took part in writing the script ^[7] .
• In November 2015, the first teaser of the film ^{[18] was released} , and in December the first trailer ^[19] .

• Facebook official page
• Official group on VK