What happened to the children of the legendary hockey player Kharlamov after he and his wife died in a car accident

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

Almost 40 years ago, a tragedy struck that will forever remain a black day in the history of the entire world sport: the legendary Soviet hockey player Valery Kharlamov and his wife Irina died in a terrible car accident. So, the athlete's children, son Sasha and daughter Begonita, instantly became complete orphans, having lost both parents. How their fate developed, who took over the upbringing of the boy and girl and helped them, read about this in our material.

And they died in one day

Valery Kharlamov might not have become a hockey player, because in childhood he had a terrible sore throat, after which complications developed. Doctors pronounced a verdict: no sport. And he was even advised not to attend physical education lessons. However, the father of the future champion thought differently and brought the heir to hockey. What came of it, everyone knows.

Valery met his future wife Irina when he was already a famous athlete. By the way, the hockey player for a long time lived only by his favorite game, so almost nothing is known about his personal life before marriage (if there were novels, then, as a rule, they were fleeting).

And the fateful meeting happened like this. In 1974 Kharlamov and his friends decided to celebrate something at the Rossiya restaurant. The champion immediately liked the pretty girl at the next table, who came at the invitation of a friend to celebrate his birthday. However, the guy was so embarrassed that for the whole evening he only watched Irina from the side (and it was she), not daring to come up to meet. And only closer to the closure of the institution, the young man plucked up the courage to invite the girl to a slow dance. But she was not at all interested in sports, and therefore did not even know that before her was a famous athlete, whose talent the whole world admires. The boyfriend conquered her by being modest and gallant.

The couple's relationship developed rapidly. Young people were not embarrassed by the age difference, which was nine years. The girl fell in love so much that she completely forgot about her studies, so she was soon expelled from the energy institute. And a little later it turned out that Kharlamov's chosen one was expecting a child, after which the couple decided to start living together. But by that time, the hockey player had managed to acquire only a one-room apartment, so the young people decided to move to the girl's parents.

However, the lovers got married only after their son Alexander was born. And they did not arrange that magnificent celebration, but signed quietly and without unnecessary hype. And soon a girl was born, whom it was decided to name Begonita in honor of the hockey player's mother. After this event, Kharlamov was allocated a three-room apartment in Moscow.

However, fate did not measure out so much time for the happiness of the newly-made family. Moreover, the harbingers of a future tragedy made themselves known long before it. A little less than two weeks after the wedding, Valery almost lost his life: he wanted to overtake a truck, but ran into a taxi in the oncoming lane. It took him a lot of strength to recover and return to sports form.

A few years later, the inevitable happened. At the end of August, Kharlamov and his family were resting at the dacha, and in the morning he was supposed to be in Moscow. Irina and Valery left early in the morning. At first, the husband got behind the wheel, but then changed with his wife. Together with them, the woman's cousin was in the car.

It rained that morning, so the road was slippery. And Irina's driving experience was short. At some point, she lost control of the Volga, after which she was thrown into the oncoming lane, right under the ZIL loaded to capacity. Passengers of the car had no chance of surviving.

What happened to Kharlamov's children?

Sasha, who was then 5 years old, and Begonita, who was two years younger than her brother, were left without parents. Nina Vasilievna - Irina's mother - took over the upbringing of her grandchildren. The rest of the relatives also helped the woman, and Kharlamov's friends-hockey players did not stand aside.

Kharlamov's mother was also very upset by the tragedy. Before her, she was a woman in full bloom and did not complain about her health, but the loss of her son greatly affected her health. And five years after the car accident, Sasha and Begonita lost their grandmother, who never managed to recover from their grief.

Close friends and colleagues from CSKA Kharlamov Vyacheslav Fetisov, Alexey Kasatonov and Vladimir Krutov decided to take patronage over Alexander. They also supported the desire of his son Valery to follow in his father's footsteps and arranged for him in the CSKA children's and youth school. A few years later, Sasha was invited to play in the USA: the young man lived in a foreign country for six years, but did not achieve much sporting success, so he decided to return to his native country.

In Russia, Kharlamov Jr. played for the capital "Dynamo" and CSKA and Novokuznetsk "Metallurg". After completing his sports career, he headed the Vetra club in Vilnius and the Vityaz club in Chekhov. Now Alexander is the general director of the Torpedo team.

The personal life of the son of a famous hockey player was successful. He had known his wife since his youth, but for a long time they were just friends. However, after a while, feelings arose between the young people, and then the lovers got married.

When his son was born, Alexander did not even think about how to name the heir: this is how another Valery appeared in the family. True, he did not follow in the footsteps of his eminent grandfather and devoted himself to music.

Kharlamov's daughter Begonita was very sick in childhood, so her relatives decided to give her to figure skating. But due to frequent colds, the girl was unable to practice on the ice. However, the grandmother did not give up the hope of raising a champion from her granddaughter and took her to the rhythmic gymnastics section. Begonita liked it here, and she even achieved some success, becoming a master of sports.

With her brother, the girl maintained good relations and even often flew to him in America. But she did not dare to stay overseas forever. After receiving the Begonita certificate, she entered a sports university and became a coach. But the girl did not succeed in raising champions: she soon got married, gave birth to two daughters and decided to devote herself entirely to the family.