Video: Broken Fates: Legendary Soviet Athletes Whose Lives Failed
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Their names were well known not only in the USSR, but also abroad, they were called legends of Soviet sports and the pride of the country, they showed brilliant results in competitions and brought home gold medals. And all of this was destroyed overnight. Each had their own reasons - someone was imprisoned, someone was stopped by a severe injury, and someone repeated the fate of the hockey player Gurin from the movie "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" and could not cope with alcohol addiction …
Legendary Moscow Torpedo forward Eduard Streltsov was called a football prodigy, Soviet Pele and one of the best strikers in the history of Soviet football. At the age of 18, he became the top scorer of the USSR championship, a year later - the Olympic champion. He was predicted a brilliant sports career, but a few weeks before the start of the World Cup in Sweden, a scandal erupted: a young football player and two of his teammates were detained on charges of rape. This story was very strange and many raised doubts about its veracity: the athletes celebrated some kind of holiday at a dacha near Moscow, there were girls with them, a fair amount of alcohol was drunk, and the next morning two girls wrote statements of rape, accusing the players of this Streltsov and Ogonkov. The latter was acquitted, and the "Soviet Pele" was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He spent 5 years behind bars, after which he was released early. After another 2 years, he was able to return to football, but the best time for sporting achievements was lost. Nevertheless, he entered the field for another 5 years and was able to lead Torpedo to victory in the national championship and cup.
Many articles and books have been written about the fate of the legendary football player, this year the series "In the constellation of Sagittarius" was filmed. Until now, different versions have been put forward about the reasons for what happened to him: according to one of them, his accusation was the revenge of the security officials for refusing to play in Dynamo and CSKA, on the other, they simply decided to teach him a lesson for his incredible popularity among the people, illness and behavior unworthy of a Soviet footballer. Perhaps the trial of Streltsov was a demonstrative reprisal against the presumptuous idol of youth as part of another campaign for discipline and sobriety. The athlete really had a difficult character: his behavior was called too cheeky and self-confident, he often got involved in scandals and fights, he was known as a drinker. However, most of those who knew him well were convinced that the athlete was in fact innocent. Shortly before his death, he said to one of his friends: "". It is unlikely that a person dying of cancer would be cunning in the last days of his life. In 1990, Streltsov died of lung cancer.
Elena Mukhina was considered the hope of Soviet gymnastics. At the age of 17, she won three gold medals at the European Championships in Prague, presenting there a previously unknown element on the uneven bars, called the "Mukhina loop", and a year later the gymnast became the absolute world champion in Strasbourg. After that, her coach Mikhail Klimenko began to prepare the athlete for her first Olympics. The preparation was very serious and took all the strength of the young gymnast. According to eyewitnesses, the coach was harsh and even cruel to her: regardless of the numerous injuries, he kept increasing the load. Her teammates said: "". The gymnast herself admitted that she feels "".
In July 1980, at a preparatory camp in Minsk, Elena decided to perform a new difficult jump with a landing head down and somersault, but the previous injury to her jogging leg prevented her from pushing off with the necessary force, and the girl simply bumped her head into the platform, breaking her spine. This was the end of both the sports career and the full life of the 20-year-old gymnast. Since then, she has been confined to a wheelchair. She underwent many operations, but it was not possible to get her back on her feet. The former athlete suffered severe depression and died in 2006 at the age of 46. Larisa Latynina believes: "".
An athlete from Zaporozhye, Vladimir Yashchenko, began to engage in high jumping at the age of 14, and at 16 he had already reached a height of more than 2 meters, and at 18 he set a world record of 2.33 meters. Coach Vladimir Dyachkov proudly told about two of his pupils: "".
In 1979, a year after he became European champion, the athlete was injured - tore a ligament in his knee. He underwent two operations in Moscow, but both were unsuccessful. Subsequently, in his interrupted sports career, Yashchenko blamed Soviet medicine. Later he was sent for treatment to Austria, but he did not manage to return to his former form. Because of this, he became addicted to alcohol. His life was cut short at the age of 40 due to a deep post-alcohol coma.
Our contemporaries know very little about the achievements and even exploits of the athletes of the USSR. The humble superman of Soviet sports: How a champion swimmer saved the lives of more than 20 people.
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