In his youth, the future Olympic champion and two-time world champion in biathlon Sergey Tarasov could hardly have imagined what a great sports career awaits him. A native of the village of Staroaleiskoye, Altai Territory, in his childhood, he did not even think that he would once start skiing with a rifle.
Tarasov seriously attracted football and hockey, but there was no opportunity to deal with them - for this, he had to move to the city, and his family did not want to leave their homelands. In the village, only biathlon could be practiced. For a long time, Tarasov considered the ski races a waste of time, but he liked to shoot. Perhaps, the hunting genes transmitted by the father and grandfather made themselves felt.
In the ninth grade, Tarasov finally decided to take up biathlon, and a chance helped him to finally connect his life with sports. After school, he entered the agricultural institute, in the dormitory of which there were bugs. The harmful insects on the first day stung Tarasov, and after a few days he took the documents, then to enter the pedagogical department. There was an opportunity to go skiing, and after serving in the army there was no longer any thought of quitting biathlon.
In 1989, Tarasov reached the USSR national team and immediately began to achieve serious success - at his first stage of the World Cup, the 24-year-old biathlete won silver in the sprint and in the relay. At that time, Vladimir Drachev, Sergey Chepikov, Valery Medvedtsev, Alexander Popov, Yury Kashkarov and many others shone in the national team. Tarasov was able to calmly join the team and become an integral part of the team.
At the World Championships in 1991, a native of the Altai Territory won two medals - silver in the relay and bronze in the team race. The future of Tarasov seemed cloudless. The team of the USSR and the CIS consistently did not fall below third place in any relay, and the young athlete himself could at any time shoot at personal starts. It was hard to dream about more on the eve of the Olympic Games in Albertville.
But all the attractive prospects melted on February 6, 1992, two days before the opening of the competition. Doctors of the biathlon team decided to resort to a banned, but popular in professional sports circles, procedure and pour blood, which was prepared in advance, rich in vitamins to biathlonists. The first in line for transfusion was Tarasov.
"I was on the verge - there or here"
What happened next could well become a scene from a horror movie. The blood that Tarasov wanted to pour was taken to Albertville for several days and not in a special refrigerator, but in a regular suitcase. On the way, she was spoiled. Doctors team made a terrible mistake and still decided to carry out the procedure. A few minutes the infected blood poured into the athlete’s body until his body reacted - the pulse increased several times. Tarasov fainted and woke up already in the bed of a French hospital.
“I feel my heart break!” Hands up legs throws up. Immediately poured stopped, but already gone rejection, crisis. Consciousness left and then returned, ”said Tarasov.
“I saw through the veil that the doctor was trying to make an injection, that he would not get a syringe. We started at lunchtime, and in an ambulance we were sent to a local clinic when it got dark, ”Tarasov recalled in an interview to Sport Express.
The biathlete survived the state of clinical death and only survived by a miracle — saved by incredible training before the Olympics. For several days in a row, Tarasov's heart beat as if he was running at the limit of his abilities, although at that moment he was lying on a drip. According to his own recollections, he lost a dozen kilograms, hair and nails fell out, and skin was peeling off from his arms and legs. But the thirst for life was stronger, and Tarasov literally returned from the dead.
“Saw the light. Very bright. I think at that moment I was on the verge - to or from here. Suddenly I heard the voice of my daughter: “Dad! Dad! ”After these words he could not die. They brought back to life. More expensive Katie I have no one. When I came to, they suggested that my wife should fly to Albertville. Replied that it is not necessary. Why scare her? I lost more than ten kilograms. From the wind swayed. Day on the fifth they took me for a walk under my arms, breathed the air - so the nurse barely kept me, ”the athlete said.
The whole Olympiad — 1992 Tarasov spent in the hospital, after which, despite the protests of the doctors, he was sent home with a delegation of the United team of the republics of the former USSR. His absence on the track surprised many, and in order not to expose the athlete, a legend was invented about the poisoning with mushrooms brought from the homeland, because of which the kidneys had failed. At the same time, foreign journalists quickly learned about the transfusion, but could not receive official confirmation.
Upon returning home, Tarasov had to return to normal life. Helped sport - the body for the full recovery required loads. Although it had already put an end to the national team, Tarasov set a goal to revive a biathlon career. He was given the only chance - to prove himself on the "Izhevsk rifle." In the first start at 20 km, he showed the 24th result. And in the sprint won a victory - with it and began his new path to the Olympic gold.
Already in the season of 1992/93 the biathlon world met the new Tarasov, who could be considered better than the former. At the World Championships in Borovets, he won silver and bronze in personal competitions, backed by their “duty” silver medal in the relay. The Olympic season Tarasov began with a victory in the individual race and could already pin some hopes on Lillehammer.
Cherished victory
In those years, the biathlon program at the Olympics was much leaner than the current one. You could win only three medals - in the individual race, sprint and relay. Biathletes had to wait more than a week after the opening ceremony to finally get to the start of the 20-kilometer race, scheduled for February 20.
It was a frosty sunny day, the temperature froze at –16 ºС. In this weather, the winners are the athletes who started later than the others, while Tarasov had an early 26th number. As he himself said, it was not important for him when to enter the fight, and then the coaches sent him to the second starting group.
Recall that in the individual race the role of misses at the shooting range increases significantly - each misfire adds one penalty minute to the total time. And already at the first shooting with Tarasov, a misfortune happened - two bullets flew past the target. However, these blunders seemed to sobered up the athlete - he stopped worrying and just ran the rest of the distance to his own pleasure, driven by numerous spectators.
It soon became apparent that shooting problems were haunting many. The approach to the shooting range was very difficult, and one and all favorites knocked the breath before getting on the mat.
Three or four misses on 20 shots were a completely normal result, which on any other day would be equal to failure. And Tarasov, who finished the race with three unclosed targets, suddenly had a chance for a medal.
Having overtaken the German Sven Fischer at the finish, the Russian began to wait for someone to drop him from the first place that he held thanks to an absolutely better move. Chepikov "smeared" five times, Mark Kirchner, four-time medalist of the last Olympics, three, current world champion Andreas Zingerle, three. Of those who could still move Tarasov, only the former skier Frank Luke remained.
The German passed the first shooting flawlessly, but missed twice on the "rack". By that time, he was half a minute ahead of Tarasov. After the third shooting, the German re-entered the first place, but at the last frontier he again failed to work perfectly. Only now this blunder brought Luke a lag from Tarasov in half a minute.
On the last lap, a former skier tried to snatch gold, but could not do it on a slippery track. As a result, Tarasov beat him to 3.4 seconds.
To this day, this is the smallest gap between first and second place, which happened in a 20-kilometer race at the Olympics.
And Tarasov himself is still the only biathlete from Russia who, after the collapse of the USSR, won three medals at some Games.
The next race in Lillehammer was a sprint. Tarasov to his top got sick together with the rest of the team, but managed to take third place. And if it were not for one mistake, which forced to turn on the penalty loop, then not the fact that Sergei Chepikov would have won. Three days later, Tarasov together with Chepikov, Drachev and Kiriyenko became silver medalists in the relay.
After the Games — 1994 Tarasov continued to perform successfully, as if he had never been on the verge of death. He won two gold and two silver at the world championships, and ended his career at the Olympics in Nagano, where he won the bronze in the relay. At that moment, Tarasov only turned 33 years old. As he himself admitted in subsequent interviews, he could run for a few more years - his health allowed.