"This morning he was cheerful and had breakfast with pleasure."
The death of Olympic champion Yuri Vlasov at the age of 86 was announced on Saturday by the President of the Russian Weightlifting Federation (FTAR) Maxim Agapitov.
According to him, the legendary athlete died in the morning.
“Yuri made the greatest contribution to world sports and, of course, weightlifting.
He personified not just sports, he was a shining example to follow both as a writer and as a politician.
His contribution to Soviet sports and weightlifting is invaluable, ”quotes the RBC-Sport functionary.
In turn, the general secretary of the federation, Alexander Kishkin, said that his death was a complete surprise and a serious blow to the family.
“This morning he was cheerful and had breakfast with pleasure, and then a tragedy happened.
No one expected that everything would turn out like this, he underwent surgery a year ago, but fully recovered after it.
Yuri Petrovich has not been sick with anything lately - neither colds, nor coronavirus, "TASS quotes Kishkina.
According to the functionary, the farewell to the Olympic champion and four-time world champion will take place on February 16 in the temple of the Botkin Hospital in Moscow.
The well-known strongman Mikhail Koklyaev, who was told about the tragedy by another outstanding weightlifter Vyacheslav Klokov, also confirmed the information about the death of Vlasov.
“I didn't even call anyone to clarify something.
This is a loss.
Heavy pieces are broken off from the ship.
Our task is not to lose face.
It is necessary morally and morally to correspond to the things that Yuri Petrovich possessed.
I try to live for the correct meaning, not even fight.
I want to preserve the traditions of Soviet sports, which more embody courage ", - quotes the words of Koklyaev" Sport-Express ".
"My sport is not amateur, it was a duel with death"
Vlasov was one of the most famous athletes.
It is a well-known fact: the Olympic champion was called his idol by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And his duel with Leonid Zhabotinsky at the 1964 Olympic Games entered the history of world sports forever.
Even his hungry childhood, which fell on the war years, did not prevent Vlasov from becoming a legend of weightlifting.
Later, the holder of 31 world records even admitted that due to malnutrition at the age of eight, he became bald.
Nevertheless, excellent genetics helped Yuri Petrovich to achieve success in almost all sports in which he was involved, whether it be track and field or cross-country skiing.
And while studying at the Saratov Suvorov Military School, a physically developed young man first tried himself in weightlifting.
The result was not long in coming.
The future Olympic champion easily tore off the non-lifting barbells from the floor and playfully took more and more weight.
In 1957, the novice athlete broke the USSR record in snatch and clean and jerk.
In total, he will set 41 national records in his career.
And in 1959, Yuri Petrovich won the USSR championship for the first time.
This is how the Vlasov era began in world weightlifting, which lasted until 1964.
During this time, he became a four-time world champion and six-time European champion, and also five times climbed to the highest step of the podium in the national championship.
The finest hour for the native of Makeevka is the 1960 Olympic Games, at which he was the standard bearer of the national team.
On the platform, Vlasov left no chances for the Americans James Bradford and Norbert Shemansky.
Four years later, in Tokyo, Vlasov intended to repeat his success and become the first two-time Olympic champion in weightlifting history.
Almost no one doubted its success.
It is no coincidence that the athlete, whose name thundered all over the world, was again appointed the standard bearer.
The main rival of Yuri Petrovich was his compatriot Leonid Zhabotinsky, but he seemed to have no chance.
The athlete himself understood this.
Therefore, during the competition, he went for a trick.
Before the last exercise, to which Vlasov approached the leader, Zhabotinsky made it clear to his opponent in every possible way that he was exhausted and not ready to continue the fight.
“With all my appearance, I demonstrated that I was giving up the fight for gold and even reduced my starting weight.
Vlasov, feeling himself the owner of the platform, rushed to conquer records and ... cut himself off, ”Leonid Ivanovich said later.
The reigning champion caught the bait and concentrated on conquering a new world record.
It was not possible to raise the bar, but Vlasov left the platform in full confidence in his own victory.
“Jabotinsky was going up to meet him.
And then something happened that I did not expect.
He took the weight, which immediately brought him to the first place, "Vlasov recalled.
So Yuri Petrovich lost his Olympic gold.
Having suffered a painful defeat, the owner of 41 world records announced the retirement of their sport, but later returned briefly and in 1967 even set the last record for the USSR.
After the end of his career, Vlasov concentrated on writing.
In 1964, the first collection of his stories, "Overcome Yourself", was published.
The story "White Moment" and the novel "Salty Joy" followed.
In 1973, the book "Special Region of China 1942-1945" was published, which he wrote under the pseudonym of his father, journalist, intelligence officer and diplomat.
In 1985, the Olympic champion returned to sports and became the head of the USSR Weightlifting Federation.
However, Yuri Petrovich worked in this post for only two years, after which he took the post of President of the Federation of Athletic Gymnastics of the USSR.
In the late 1980s, the legendary weightlifter took up politics.
In 1989, he was elected People's Deputy of the USSR.
At the same time, he did not hesitate to criticize the authorities and in the fall of the same year left the CPSU.
From 1993 to 1995, Vlasov was already a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
Finally, in 1996, Yuri Petrovich ran for the presidency of the country, but received only 0.2% of the vote and took ninth place.
Having failed, the Olympic champion left politics and practically disappeared from the information space.
Nevertheless, back in 2011, he admitted that he continues to play sports and even lifts 185 kilograms.
“To say that my health has always been excellent is impossible, I underwent three terrible surgeries: a tumor on my arm from a barbell strike and two surgeries on the spine, when my family was already warned that I was unlikely to survive.
But my sport was not amateur, it was not fun, it was a duel with death, ”explained Vlasov.
He was the idol of millions of athletes
The death of the legendary athlete became an irreplaceable loss for people who personally knew him.
So the 1996 Olympic champion Andrei Chemerkin lamented that with the departure of Vlasov, the era of the great Soviet weightlifting ended.
“In our heavyweight division he was considered a long-liver, it is very sad that such a legend has passed away.
Not so long ago Leonid Zhabotinsky died, today Yuri Vlasov ", - quotes the words of Chemerkin TASS.
In turn, the 1976 Olympic champion David Rigert called Yuri Petrovich "the founder of Russian weightlifting."
“I knew him well, we loved him.
I worked with Vlasov.
It's a pity, but what to do, he lived a good life.
Of course, he was the idol of millions of athletes, ”Rigert emphasized.
To gallery page
Finally, the head coach of the Russian men's weightlifting team, Oleg Pisarevsky, recalled how Vlasov, being the head of the Soviet federation, predicted that the specialist would lead the national national team in the future.
“I was lucky to meet my idol in the summer of 1987, when the weightlifting championship of the Soviet Union was held in my native Arkhangelsk.
We talked with him for two days.
He spoke more, and I listened.
Before leaving Arkhangelsk, we made a joint photo, which was signed by the great weightlifter: “To Oleg Glebovich as a keepsake and with wishes of victories.
I have no doubt that you will be the head coach of the USSR national weightlifting team.
07/03/1987.
Arkhangelsk, ”the coach said.