Who and why Arnold Schwarzenegger was looking for in Moscow in 1988: Soviet idol of a famous bodybuilder

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Weightlifter Yuri Vlasov broke all world records at the 1960 Olympics, took silver at the next Games in 1964, and won four world championships. The strongest man on Earth believed that true strength is not in the body, but in the spirit, and it must be carried by word. For a long time, the Olympic champion from the USSR inspired the then rising star of Arnold Schwarzenegger with his achievements. As soon as he got to the shooting in Moscow, the first thing Arnie asked about was to meet his constant idol.

Moscow meeting

In 1988, Arnold, already well-known, came to the USSR to act in Red Heat. He asked his accompanying people to organize a meeting with the highly respected Vlasov, who once long ago gave him faith in himself, infected him with a love for iron and actually wrote out a pass to Hollywood. Schwarzenegger remembers all his life how he got to Vienna for the World Cup as a teenager. Among the performing weightlifters, his attention was drawn to the Russian hero Yuri Vlasov, who seemed to be an alien giant.

Arnold was struck by the fact that the most powerful man had the manners of an intellectual, wore glasses and was very different from other athletes. The future Hollywood star then managed to throw a couple of phrases with the Soviet champion, and from that moment he knew exactly who he wanted to be like. The second time they met in the unsightly Moscow gym of the House of Pioneers. Having talked warmly, old acquaintances had fun with arm wrestling. And it should be noted that the already gray-haired Vlasov, even at that moment, slightly lost hands to the legendary guest in the fortress. Several joint photos remained from that meeting in the USSR, and when saying goodbye, Schwarzenegger left his signature on the picture: "To my idol Yuri Vlasov."

The strongest man in the world of the 50s

Yuri Vlasov is from Donbass Makeevka. The future champion grew up in the family of a colonel of the GRU and the head of the library. It was my mother's work that instilled in the boy a craving for reading for the rest of his life. As his comrades would later tell, he carried as many books as he did iron. In 1953, Yuri Vlasov graduated with an excellent student from the Suvorov Military School, deciding to continue his studies at the Air Force Academy. Comprehending science, Yuri worked hard on his physical data. His regular training in several sports has earned him the ranks of skating, skiing and athletics. Vlasov was seriously fond of freestyle wrestling.

Weightlifting came to the guy at the Moscow academy. The university had a high-level training hall, and Vlasov began to progress rapidly. In 1957, in the rank of master of sports, he already set records at the level of the USSR, a year later he became the third in the allied championship, then he won the Spartakiad of the Soviet peoples and secured a place in the main team. In 1959, Yuri Vlasov made his triumphant debut at the international level, breaking into the elite ranks of world weightlifters. Now he was seen as the main favorite to participate in the 1960 Olympics.

The bitterness of defeat after an unprecedented take-off

The XVII Roman Games turned into a triumph for Vlasov. That Olympiad was called the “Vlasov Olympics”. The struggle of the Soviet hero with two Americans stood out for a lifetime. From 9 pm to 3 am, Yuri stubbornly and extremely enduringly proved his superiority to the world. The 25-year-old citizen of the USSR, contrary to all sports logic, prevailed. The lean athlete was inferior to his rivals in body weight, each time winning in the taken weight. By his own example, he showed that the point is not in the overall weight of the body, but only in the proportion of muscle mass capable of concentrating efforts. On that day, Yuri Vlasov became the idol of young weightlifters from all over the world. He was idolized, admired.

All the more painful was the silver given to him after 4 years, when at the last moment he lost to his fellow countryman Zhabotinsky. At the Sports Palace, he still somehow held on, but already in the Olympic Village he gave vent to his feelings. On the way back home, Vlasov became completely ill and, lagging behind the team, he traveled to Moscow alone on the checkpoints. Then the champion's wife was seriously scared, deciding that he was missing. This tremendous shock led Vlasov to return home to the hospital with a nervous breakdown. The unfortunate loss deprived Yuri Vlasov of further incentives and crippled his faith in himself. The athlete began to prepare for retirement from the big sport.

Life Without Sports: Politics, Writing

Financial difficulties did not allow one to say goodbye to the barbell in one fell swoop. In 1967, Vlasov set another world record, finally leaving the platform the next year.

After leaving the sport, Yuri Vlasov did not relax and started looking for a new self. Taking up writing, he published several books. But his philosophical views ran counter to the ideology of the late Soviet Union, which did not allow the author to develop especially in this field. In the 80s, Yuri Vlasov headed the weightlifting federation, and as soon as the Soviet sports apparatus recognized bodybuilding as a type, he began to preside over the newly-minted federation. At the same time, the champion actively opposed the use of doping, urging athletes to pure achievements and victories.

The next stage of self-knowledge was the course towards politics. In fact, the anti-communist Vlasov could not afford to join the existing political forces. Conflicting with the ruling party, he did not come to a consensus with the democrats, accusing them of pro-Western orientations. In search of a niche close to him, he put forward his candidacy in the presidential elections after the collapse of the Union in 1996. But without gaining even 1 percent of the vote, he lost faith in politics and admitted the futility of his own efforts. Vlasov, in his own words, tried to find a unique way of development for Russia. True, skeptical views of Vlasov as a politician of colleagues and comrades tended to believe that the practical implementation of his intentions simply did not exist in nature. And lost outside his main sporting vocation, Yuri Petrovich spent himself on utopias and chimeras.

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