Woman hero Agafya Zavidnaya: How Poddubny's favorite student conquered men and the arena

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

This woman could defeat any man in the struggle, or she could conquer him. In her youth, her angelic face and the body of a real giantess made a splash. Nature endowed Agafya with incredible strength, and by a happy coincidence, she met the person who made a real star out of her. Unfortunately, the decline of the career of a woman hero also happened because of a man and an unsuccessful love story.

Agafya Rodionovna Zavidnaya was born in 1884 in a small Ukrainian village near Nikopol. The story of her birth resembles a heroic legend. Parents lived almost the entire century alone. At the time of the appearance of the long-awaited child, the mother was 30 years old, and the father was 60 - at that time they were already "an old man with an old woman" and no longer hoped for offspring, when suddenly, as if by magic, Agafya was born. And behind her and 13 more children! True, only seven of them grew up, and this is another given of that time, but all were sturdy. The eldest daughter turned out to be excellent - tall, large, blue-eyed and curly. At the age of 12, she looked 18, so very early her parents gave her into the service of the owner of a local hotel.

Mrs. Yushkova was kind to the girl, she was diligent and obedient, but after one incident she began to treat her as a real treasure. Once Agafya heard that the hostess was going to hire movers to rearrange furniture in the rooms. The nimble servant decided to please her employers, and while no one saw, she rearranged the furniture herself, without waiting for six healthy men. The hostess was amazed:

Mrs. Yushkova crossed herself, but later in her work she began to take into account the unusual abilities of the young strong woman.

It is surprising that Agafya's life path crossed with the very person who was able to turn her incredible natural gift into a profession. Probably, the chance for this was one in a million, but the troupe of the famous strongman Ivan Poddubny came to Nikopol with performances. The artists settled in the rooms of Mrs. Yushkova. The circus performers put their varied inventory in the courtyard. Agasha was very interested in so many unusual "toys". The girl first lifted heavy weights, and then began to throw and catch them. Amazed artists watched her from the window. When the information reached Poddubny, he decided not to miss such a rare gift of fate and went to the girl's parents to persuade them to let her go with the troupe. Of course, they did not immediately agree to such a sharp turn in the fate of their daughter, but a generous monetary contribution decided the matter. So Agafya Zavidnaya became a circus artist.

Poddubny taught her all the intricacies of his craft. Even strong men were rare, and women heroes like Agafya are probably born once a century at all. By the age of 17, the girl even surpassed her teacher in physical data. With a height of 190 cm and a weight of 150 kilograms, she remained flexible, very graceful and artistic. It is surprising that with such an obese body, her foot size was truly aristocratic 37th foot size and a very pretty face. Curly brown hair, huge blue eyes and dimples on the cheeks drove men crazy. And when the beauty began to juggle with huge weights on stage, the audience simply raged. Agafya had favorite numbers that the audience especially liked: the girl lifted two pounds of weights with one hand, broke chains, bent horseshoes, twisted iron rods into a spring, lifted a chair with a man sitting on it with her teeth, twisted a carousel with a rail on her shoulders. which clung to four people and acted as a "living anvil" - Agafya lay down on the floor, a door and an anvil were placed on her stomach, on which the blacksmiths forged horseshoes. The crown number was the "bridge", standing in which the hero was holding 8 men on her.

After several years of triumphant performances, Agafya parted ways with the troupe of Poddubny. It is known that the artists had a serious quarrel at the same time, but what was the reason is not exactly known. Of course, popular rumor was inclined to the version of unrequited love and a broken heart, but, most likely, the young strong woman just wanted independence and fame. Apparently, Poddubny did not let the new star shine brighter than his own. So, for example, he did not always indicate Agafya's name on the posters, although the success of the performances was largely due to her.

The solo performances were incredibly successful at first. Rumors of an incredible wonder woman reached St. Petersburg, and Nicholas II invited the artist to a reception. Judging by the surviving memories of Agafya's relatives, the emperor was so delighted with her that he offered her untold treasures:

However, Agafya, proud and by that time already earned enough money, allegedly answered:

Instead of gold, the artist asked for free travel abroad and, of course, immediately received such permission. She toured all over Europe, as well as Persia and Turkey. Eastern men, by the way, were ready to give a fortune for such a rare treasure, but this woman did not give her heart to anyone, preferring to be free. And she met with men only in the ring, in the championships in French wrestling, which was very popular at that time, she had no equal.

Unfortunately, the fate of Agafya Zavidnaya, like many other people, took a very sharp turn after 1917. The artist was still young and full of energy, but she could not find a place for herself in a new, half-impoverished country, and she had to forget about trips abroad. The girl returned to her native places and, together with her brother, who became her impresario and assistant, began performing in the surrounding villages. Of course, it was impossible to wait for gold and jewelry as a gift from the villagers, but food at that difficult time was also quite hard currency, so Agafya and her family at least did not live in poverty.

However, it seems that Agafya has already exhausted her reserve of luck. Men still bowed to her strength and charm, but she, as before, was cold to them. Local policeman Shponka, hopelessly in love with this incredible woman, once tried to stick to her after a performance, and after receiving a rebuff from the giantess he was so scared that he shot her with a pistol. Of course, he was drunk at the same time, but what had been done could not be changed. A severe chest wound practically put an end to Agafia's career. She still tried to be treated, to teach wrestling, but over the years her health continued to deteriorate.

The woman wanted to return to Petersburg, where she was once so popular, but ended up in the new, Soviet Leningrad. A small rented apartment, a lonely life, part-time jobs and constant medical treatment. Agafya was now paying for a life free from men with real loneliness. In 1934, after another operation, the strong woman began to get blood poisoning, and she died in a hospital bed. Relatives could not even come to the funeral, so her grave became one of the thousands of nameless and forgotten ones.

The last secret of this amazing woman was the legend of the weight-piggy bank, in which she allegedly hid her jewelry from the new government and random robbers, because during her performances, especially in the East, she received innumerable expensive gifts from fans. The brother, who told that this "safe" was opened with a special secret key, did not know anything about its whereabouts later. So, perhaps this treasure is still waiting for its Shura Balaganov with a saw.

It is not for nothing that Russian heroes were famous throughout the world for their strength. For example, the famous Alexander Zass not only carried a horse from the battlefield and caught people from a cannon, but also became the creator of a system of exercises that is still popular.