Legendary athlete Vadim Khamuttskikh died on December 31, a few hours before the New Year.

According to unofficial data, 52-year-old Khamuttsky's heart could not stand it.

As his friend, commentator Vladimir Stetsko, a former athlete, said, “on the day before the New Year, he lay down to sleep and did not wake up.”

The whole country learned the shocking news only the next day.

The death of the famous player was a big blow not only for his relatives, friends and colleagues, but also for many fans, for whom Khamuttskikh was the personification of volleyball, its symbol and soul.

“Vadim Anatolyevich defended the colors of our club and the Russian national team for a long time, repeatedly won the Russian championship, twice won the Champions League, was a medalist at the Olympic Games.

This is an irreparable loss for all Russian and world volleyball.

Rest in peace, Beard! "

- said in the message of the volleyball club "Belogorye".

The former head coach of Belogorye, Gennady Shipulin, who brought 23-year-old Khamuttskikh to the team back in 1992, noted that Vadim was an important person for Russian volleyball.

“It was a very strong personality.

A wonderful person and player.

He did not spare himself, played without compromise, to the end.

Khamuttskikh always gave his best.

We grieve, we grieve, we cry.

This is a very big loss.

I have the most vivid impressions of this man.

Good-natured, good person.

Very few such people are born in our country, ”he told Sport Express.

Dozens of volleyball players expressed their condolences on social networks.

Vadim Khamuttskikh will be buried on January 4 in Belgorod, and the farewell ceremony will be held at the home arena of Belogorya.

View this post on Instagram

Publication of Volleyball Club "Belogorie" (@belogorievolley)

From the construction battalion to the national team

The Khamuttskys' road to recognition was long and thorny.

He was born in the small town of the Chelyabinsk region, Asha.

Vadim started playing volleyball quite early - at the age of 7.

His first coach Anatoly Poroshin noticed a tall boy at school and invited him to his team.

So Khamuttskikh, as he himself said, "contracted volleyball."

And even then Poroshin sent the boy to the position of a binder, probably not even realizing how historical this decision would become.

After the children's sports school, the 15-year-old Khamuttskikh moved to the Sverdlovsk sports boarding school, and from there he was invited to the Chelyabinsk Torpedo, which played in the second league of the USSR championship.

And then the athlete turned 18 years old - and he was drafted into the army.

“I got into a construction battalion.

I don’t regret it.

We built everything from mines to residential buildings, ”he recalled in an interview.

At the end of the service, the Khamuttsky detachment was completely sent to Chernobyl, where the accident had just occurred.

He was not a liquidator, he was engaged in the construction of barracks for the chemical unit.

“When I returned home, my father asked where I came from.

I opened Pravda, there was a map of infection, I showed it to him.

He asked if I was a fool that I had gone there, ”said the volleyball player.

Stetsko, recalling this episode of the Khamuttskys' biography, noted that after such an experience he should not have had any volleyball career.

“Due to my character and crazy desire I managed to achieve everything practically from scratch.

He served in the construction battalion.

Consumable material.

We admire such people, but we didn’t feel sorry for them.

After that, he was able to become an outstanding player, ”the commentator emphasizes.

It was in the army that the nickname Beard finally stuck to the athlete: and throughout his career, friends and colleagues, and then fans, this is what they called him.

He even played for a long time in a T-shirt with the word "Beard" instead of a surname on the back.

“I grew a beard in front of the army, and someone blurted out - Beard!

And so it stuck.

When I served in the army, I had severe skin irritation from shaving with a razor.

We agreed with the battalion commander that I will not shave until the very last moment, until it is completely in accordance with the regulations.

And when I returned home, I stopped shaving altogether, ”Vadim said.

Upon his return from the Khamuttskikh army, he ended up in the Rostov SKA, where he was noticed by Gennady Shipulin.

And soon after the athlete moved to Belgorod, "Belogorye" was headed by the legendary Soviet setter, Olympic champion 1980 Vyacheslav Zaitsev.

According to the player, the joint work greatly influenced his skill.

“Vyacheslav Alekseevich has been my idol since childhood.

Training under his leadership has become an excellent school.

It is very important that Zaitsev immediately believed in my abilities and put me on the line-up.

The only thing left to do was to justify the trust with a good game, ”the volleyball player recalled.

And we didn't have to wait long for this from Beard.

Three years later, Khamuttskikh made his debut in the Russian national team and went with the team to the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

The great Russian coach Vyacheslav Platonov said then that the Russian national team received a setter for the next two Olympics, but he was mistaken - Khamuttskikh had been in volleyball for much longer.

Six league titles with Lions

The fate of the Khamuttskys is inextricably linked with "Belogorye": with his arrival, the team began a gradual ascent to the top of Russian and European volleyball.

Six times Vadim celebrated victory in the national championship with the Lions, five times in the Russian Cup and twice won the Champions League.

Belgorod became a home for the volleyball player, and he himself became a favorite of local residents along with two more symbols of the team of those years - Sergei Tetyukhin and Alexander Kosarev.

The first triumph of Boroda - and of the Belogorye team as a whole - happened in 1995 with a victory in the Russian Cup.

And in the 1996/1997 post-Olympic season, the Lions won the gold medals of the national championship for the first time.

It seemed that everything was going just fine, but in 1999 Hamuttskikh suddenly decided to change the situation and left for Turkish Erdemirspor for two seasons.

Fortunately, Shipulin then convinced the volleyball player to return to Belgorod.

“He has a very good quality: he knows how to charge people with faith in success.

I think, had it not been for Shipulin, <...> I would hardly have returned from Turkey, "the famous player recalled.

And it was after the return of the Khamuttskys to "Belogorie" that the so-called golden era of Lvov began.

In the 2001/2002 season, the team won the national championship, and in the next one they issued a winning streak of 31 matches, leaving no doubt about who will become the owner of the gold medals.

In the spring of 2003, Lokomotiv-Belogorye won the Champions League, defeating the host of the tournament, Modena, in the decisive match with a score of 3: 0.

Vadim Khamuttskikh in this tournament received an individual award as the best setter.

Many people remember the player's tears after the final whistle - sincere and open, Khamuttskikh was never shy about showing emotions.

A year later, the Final Four of the strongest European tournament was already held in Belgorod, where, to the roar of the home stands, Belogorye again won, this time over Iskra Odintsovo.

The merits of the Khamuttskys in these brilliant victories can hardly be overestimated: he was a master with a capital letter, had an incredible playful flair, and in any situation he knew how to find an unexpected outcome.

Khamuttskikh won another champion title with Zenit Kazan (then called Dynamo-Tattransgaz), where he spent the 2005/2006 season.

Four Olympiads

For the Russian national team, Khamuttskikh spent 237 matches and scored 421 points. Since the Sydney Olympics in 2000, he has been the team captain. It is impossible to imagine the national team of those years without its bearded leader with his sleeve always rolled up on his right hand. In 2002, Beard led the team to a historic victory in the World League, where the seemingly invincible Brazilian national team was defeated in the final. He himself at this tournament received a personal award as the best pitcher. In 2007, at the European home championship, where the Russians won silver medals, the 37-year-old player became the best in his role, refuting all doubts that at this age it is possible to play successfully at the international level.

With all this, the fate of sports turned out to be unfair to the brilliant volleyball player.

He went through four Olympics, but did not manage to win the gold medal of the Games.

In Atlanta, the domestic team became the fourth, in Sydney, the Russians lost in the final to the Yugoslav national team and were content with silver, and won bronze medals in Athens and Beijing.

Alexei Mishin, recently honored figure skating coach of Russia, remarked: “There are athletes who fail to reach the top in the medal standings, despite all their talents.

It is often said about them that sport has given them the audience, the love of the audience. "

This phrase referred to his student Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, but in full measure it can be attributed to Vadim Khamuttskikh.

He did not become Olympic champion, but he was a fan loving champion.

“There was only one thing that failed - to earn an Olympic gold medal.

It's a shame, but nothing can be done about it.

I don't like digging into the past.

The main thing is that I am happy with my life.

I have nothing to complain about.

And in myself I am such a person that I do not like to complain about life.

We must live with what we have at the moment.

If you cry and complain, it will not lead to anything good, ”the volleyball player admitted on his 50th birthday.

Dozens of years on the site

The Khamuttskys have always been called the main long-liver of volleyball.

In sports, he really lived a bright and long life, ending his career in 2013.

He spent his last season in 2013 at Gazprom-Yugra as a playing coach.

Considering that Vadim started playing volleyball at the age of 7, in total he spent 37 years on the court.

According to the player, this became possible thanks to his desire and passion, which never left him.

“And thanks to my parents for their health - it means a lot in our sport.

Someone, because of injuries, finishes before finishing the game and before 30. I was lucky.

And I was able to finish playing almost to 45, ”he said in an interview.

After completing his playing career and leaving Gazprom-Ugra, Khamuttskikh returned to the structure of his native Belogorye.

In the 2015/2016 season, Gennady Shipulin entrusted him with the leadership of the main team after Boris Kolchin resigned - with him, Belogorye became the bronze medalist of the Russian Championship and reached the final of the National Cup.

But the famous volleyball player himself, a maximalist in life, was not too happy with this result.

“The Belgorod club sets only the highest goals for itself, and even during the season it was possible to fix something.

Bronze medals are not a bad result, but it is difficult to be completely satisfied.

There was a chance to rise higher, but as it happened, it happened, ”he said at the end of the season.

At the post of head coach, Boroda did not gain a foothold, which, however, Gennady Shipulin spoke of as a normal workflow in the search for an optimal solution for the team.

In 2019, the former setter headed the youth team of the Belogorye-2 club.