In pursuit of prosperity: How did the fate of famous athletes who fled from the USSR

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

Everyone in the USSR knew about their sports achievements - they won prizes at championships and brought gold medals from international competitions and Olympiads. However, this practically did not affect their material well-being. Therefore, some of them, finding themselves abroad, decided not to return to the USSR. True, only a few managed to achieve the same success in another country. How the fate of the fugitives and "defectors" of Soviet sports developed is further in the review.

Viktor Korchnoi was one of the most famous Soviet chess players, four times USSR champion and master of sports. He has won nearly 100 international tournaments and played twice in the world championship matches. True, because of his wayward and quarrelsome character, he was not honored by the leadership and in tacit disgrace with his colleagues. After Korchnoi lost to Anatoly Karpov, he said that he still "did not feel his superiority." In the mid-1970s. against Korchnoi there was a real harassment in the press because of such "unsportsmanlike" behavior. As a result, he was excommunicated from international tournaments for 2 years, but the ban was lifted thanks to the intercession of Karpov.

In 1976, Korchnoi went to a tournament in Amsterdam, went to the nearest police station and asked for political asylum. The chess player used to say: "". In the Netherlands, Korchnoi was not given asylum, and he moved to Switzerland. There he married Petra, a native of Austria, who had been in a Soviet labor camp on charges of espionage. For several years the chess player was unable to secure the departure of his ex-wife and son from the USSR, they were released only in 1982. As a member of the Swiss national team, Korchnoi took part in 10 chess Olympiads, but did not achieve significant success and did not become a world champion, although about his escape never regretted. In 2016, he passed away at the age of 85.

USSR champion in diving, master of sports of international class Sergei Nemtsanov decided to stay abroad in 1976 during the Olympics in Montreal. At that time, he was only 17 years old, and no one saw logic in his actions - it was possible to count on political asylum only after the age of majority. The newspapers exaggerated a romantic version - allegedly Nemtsanov fled the USSR because of his love for the American athlete, but the Soviet representative explained this by the fact that he simply did not live up to the hopes of the national team, taking 9th place, and was deprived of the opportunity to participate in the planned competitions in the USA. that's why I decided to stay in Canada.

However, the athlete stayed as a defector for only 21 days. He was given a tape recording in which his grandmother cried and asked her grandson not to leave her alone. His heart could not stand it, and he returned to the USSR. After that, Nemtsanov's sports career went downhill - he was no longer allowed to go abroad, and the former fans received him coldly, not forgiving him for "betrayal." He last competed at the 1980 Olympics, finishing in 7th place, and then retiring from the sport. After that, he opened a car repair shop, for some time the former athlete had problems with alcohol, which is why he even ended up in a medical and labor dispensary. But Nemtsanov was able to overcome the addiction, and later still realized the dream of escaping abroad. He emigrated to America, settled in Atlanta, got married and started repairing cars.

Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov were a couple not only in figure skating, but also in real life. It was with them that the golden history of Soviet figure skating began - they brought the USSR the first gold medal in pair skating at the Olympics in Innsbruck in 1964, and in 1968 in Grenoble. While touring Switzerland in 1979, the athletes decided to flee and asked for political asylum. At that time, Lyudmila was 43 years old, and Oleg was 46, but despite such a serious age for sports, they believed that in the USSR they "rudely cut off their career" and sent them to retirement and coaching too early, while they still able to compete. At the championship in the USSR in 1970, the judges sent them to 4th place. They were denied a trip to the third Olympics, indicating in their resume: "The skating of Protopopov and Belousova is outdated." They hoped that in the West they would be given the opportunity to continue their sports career, as well as provide better training conditions and decent wages.

They were really well received in Switzerland. Lyudmila Belousova told: "". The couple settled in the town of Grindelwald, where the ice rink has been operating since August. In 1998, when both were in their 60s, they wanted to represent Switzerland at the Nagano Olympics, but of course they did not qualify. Nevertheless, the athletes continued to go out on the ice - even at the age of 70, they trained 5 hours a day and participated in ice shows. In 1996 they were invited to perform at a tournament in St. Petersburg, but they refused, as they did not agree with the organizers on the price: "".

They never regretted their escape. Lyudmila Belousova said: "". After 2003, athletes have been to Russia more than once and went out on the ice. In 2017, Protopopov was widowed - his wife and partner died of cancer at the age of 81.

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