Table of contents:
- War, famine and tuberculosis
- Ice starts and the Finnish sensation
- Incredible records and fatal love
- Unhappy marriage and death by the hand of her husband
Video: Why the Soviet Ice Queen was not allowed abroad: Swedish love, a criminal husband and tragic vicissitudes in the fate of Inga Artamonova
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The name of the skater Inga Artamonova is hardly heard by today's sports fans. Perhaps only sports historians will remember the outstanding speed skater, whose record has not yet been broken. She became world champion four times, but she never made it to the Olympics. At the age of 29, she was killed by her own husband, stabbing her in the heart.
War, famine and tuberculosis
Inga grew up as an ordinary war child - her childhood was hard and hungry. The war came when the girl was not even five. In difficult living conditions, Inga was constantly ill, and the next visit of the doctor became a bolt from the blue - the girl was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The doctor prepared the family for the worst: in wartime circumstances, it was unlikely to cure such an ailment. Fortunately, Inga's illness rarely worsened, and with the end of the war, it completely receded. Life has become more comfortable. Mom worked on a steamer for good money, however, the upbringing had to be entrusted to the grandmother. Inga was a beloved granddaughter, so she was not deprived of attention.
The windows of the Artamonovs' house overlooked the Dynamo sports stadium, where Inga loved to disappear at the rink. But when the question arose about choosing a sport for serious training, the relatives settled on rowing. It was this physical activity that developed the girl's chest, helping in the fight against tuberculosis. And the results were not long in coming. By the time she came of age, Inga not only said goodbye to her illness, fulfilled the standards of a master of sports, but also became one of the contenders for the USSR national team. However, Artamonova never really got attached to rowing - her craving for figure skating turned out to be stronger.
Ice starts and the Finnish sensation
Having finally decided that rowing was not hers, Inga came to the rowing coach to say goodbye. He began to convince her that she had no future in speed skating due to her tall stature. But Artamonova was persistent. At first, there were no big successes on the ice. At the all-Union championship in 1955, the athlete got only 21st place, but later diligent training did its job. In the next season, she became the absolute champion of the USSR, setting a new world record. The competition in the national team of the Union was huge, and Inga did not get into the team.
They really became interested in her only in 1957. At the very first world championship in Imatra, Artamonova won the winner's laurel wreath. She captivated the audience so much that after the end of the competition, they picked her up in their arms, and dismantled the champion wreath for souvenirs. A year later, in the Swedish city of Kristinehamn at the ice forum, Inga again won the champion title.
Incredible records and fatal love
And the champion brought from Sweden the first serious feeling of falling in love, which later became fatal for her. At the away tournament, Inga met a successful young Swede Bengt from the organizing committee. In the city of Borlange, where he lived, the Soviet national team took part in demonstration performances after the championship. Then a bright romance began between the young people. One evening on the eve of his return to Moscow, Inga was missed during an organized visit to the cinema. She returned to the hotel only in the morning, confessing that her boyfriend had rolled her around the city all night. This behavior was not considered acceptable in the 1950s.
At home, the athlete was in for an unpleasant trial. Only the worldwide fame achieved by that time, the unprecedented popularity in the country and the world champion titles helped her stay in the sports ranks. But the punishment in the form of a ban on traveling abroad for two years still followed. For this reason, Artamonova was unable to participate in the Winter Olympics-60. Her monthly salary was cut three times, and inspections by the KGB began. The athlete was under surveillance and was strongly advised to cut off any contact with Bengt. The start of the new Olympic cycle was also not easy - due to long-standing problems with her lungs, the athlete performed with a stretch on high-mountain skating rinks. But due to her fighting nature, Artamonova did not retreat in front of difficulties. Already in 1962, Inga won the title of absolute world champion for the third time, updating a number of established world records. In 1963, Artamonova was hospitalized with a stomach ulcer.
Sports analysts decided they could give up on it. But it was not there. At the World Championship in 1964, Inga took silver, and in the USSR Championship she won against the then invincible Lydia Skoblikova. A year later, Artamonova was already unattainable for all rivals in the world. In Oulu, Finland, she brilliantly beat the Dutch woman, the Korean woman and her friend Valentina Stenina, shaking the sports world with her results. In the entire history of Inga Artamonova for the first time became an absolute four-time world champion, a 10-time world champion at separate distances and a five-time champion of the USSR.
Unhappy marriage and death by the hand of her husband
In 1959, Artamonova married the athlete Gennady Voronin, which came as a shock to her entourage. Gennady was known in society as a cruel and jealous man. They were completely different people with opposite ideals. So this marriage looked very mysterious for everyone. The more achievements Inga achieved, the more often the husband raised his hand to her, asserting himself against the background of his own failures. Voronin knew how to deliver blows so that hematomas did not remain. Therefore, friends and relatives did not guess about anything for a long time, and Inga could not take dirty linen in public.
Finally, the athlete could not stand it and decided to divorce. The Sports Committee persistently discouraged her, considering this an unacceptable model of behavior for an athlete of this level. But she remained persistent, not wanting to endure further. The couple filed a lawsuit for divorce, and Inga moved to live with her mother. There was a drunken Voronin after the celebration of the new 1966. Right in front of the family's eyes, yesterday's husband stabbed Artamonov with a knife. Inga could not be saved, at the time of the arrival of the ambulance she died. Voronin received a modest term - 10 years in prison, of which he served only one and a half. The next three he spent in the Nizhny Novgorod region in the settlement, after which he returned safely to Moscow.
Another famous figure skater, Lyudmila Pakhomova, also passed away very early.
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