Great dictator. Victories and defeats of Viktor Tikhonov
Tikhonov did not take him to the team
The day before the tragedy, Irina Kharlamova and her six-year-old son Sasha were returning from the south, and Valery went to meet them at the airport. Mother-in-law Nina Vasilievna lived with her little granddaughter Begonita in a dacha in the village of Pokrovka, near Klin, that evening the whole family gathered there ... And the day before, a turning point occurred in the career of hockey player Kharlamov. The team flew away to the Canada Cup, and at the last moment he was “unhooked”. Rough, no ceremony. The team was already packing before heading to the airport when Main coach Viktor Tikhonov called Kharlamov for a conversation. Half an hour later, Valery left the coaching room not himself. Without explaining anything, he shook hands with his colleagues, mumbled something about the need to definitely win, turned around and left. Of course, the coach had every right to decide with whom to go to the most prestigious tournament, but none of the hockey players understood why everything had to be arranged like that.
It was clear that for the 33-year-old Kharlamov this would be the last tournament of this rank, his swan song. He prepared for it furiously. But alas...
Valery got behind the wheel
The mother-in-law of Valery Kharlamov, Nina Vasilievna, recalls:
Arriving from the airport, my daughter immediately took me aside and warned me not to say a word about the national team. It was clear that Valera was already very worried. Ira caught a slight cold in the south, so they went to bed early. There was no booze, nothing. Ira brought good wine, but Valera told me to keep it for my fiftieth birthday. Stayed in one room. But Valera did not lie down immediately. He pushed around the dacha, then joined Sasha on the bed. I wanted to take the child to her, but he refused. I sleep lightly, so I saw Valera get up several times. He didn’t smoke, he just sits, sits, and lies down again. Got up early in the morning. Ira and Valera were going to Moscow, and she offered to drive the car, since he did not get enough sleep. At this point, knowing that my daughter had no rights, I protested: “Don’t give her the steering wheel, she came to the dacha alone twice without you. And the weather is rainy today. Valera agreed with me, especially since it was necessary to make a detour - to bring his nephew Seryozha, who had recently returned from the army, on business. In short, Valera got behind the wheel, and they left.
"Volga" jumped into the oncoming lane
No one will know why, having barely left the dacha, Valera gave up the wheel to his wife. Apparently, this happened immediately, as soon as the village disappeared around the corner. And the tragedy occurred four kilometers from Pokrovka. The ZIL driver Viktor Petrovich Krylov recalls:
About nine o'clock I was driving in the area of Solnechnogorsk along the Leningrad highway. Distilled a new car from Pushkin to Leningrad. My speed was low, I always drive carefully, and then there was new asphalt. He is slippery, as if greased. But the road was clear, there was little traffic. And suddenly a Volga flies towards me along my lane. She tried to avoid the blow, so she turned sideways. It was with this side that she hit my bumper. She was turned around again and thrown to the side of the road. The policeman later told me that their speedometer jammed at 110 kilometers (in the materials of the criminal case it was recorded that the speed of the Volga was 60 kilometers. - “VM”). I was also dragged to the right, and I drove into a ditch. The police are right there. She followed the Kharlamovs, as if on purpose ... I recovered a little from the shock and began to help the senior lieutenant take people out of the car. A woman was driving. When they got it, she sighed twice more and died. And two men were pulled out already dead. They didn't have a scratch on their faces. Someone recognized Valery Kharlamov in one. Then came the major general, head of the regional traffic police. He took me aside and looked into my eyes for a long time, trying to figure out if I was drunk. Then he patted his shoulder, "Don't worry!" I spent forty minutes at the crash site.
Many died in the cursed place
A monument now stands at the site of that catastrophe. On a small pedestal - Hockey puck from granite and a club from metal. The puck says: “Valery Kharlamov. Here the star of Russian hockey went out. Often on the pedestal you can see an ordinary puck and an old, battered stick, rewound with electrical tape since Soviet times. Above are flowers.
The road at the 74th kilometer is now a feast for the eyes, the asphalt is excellent, not a pothole. But on both sides of the monument, a little to the side, there are wreaths on the trees. Not only for the Kharlamovs, this place became fatal ... Viktor Krylov, ZIL driver:
I've been to that damned place many times. I then continued to drive cars around Leningradka. I’ll stop, go up to the monument, stand still… But I don’t know what to reproach myself with. Apparently, it was God's will.
Direct speech
I don't blame the ZIL driver
Alexander Kharlamov, son:
I named my son in honor of my father, Valery. Now he is 15 years old, he did not work out with hockey. I myself played hockey for 13 years, three of them in the NHL, in the Washington Capitals. I visit the site of my father's death every time I go to the dacha. I don’t blame that ZIL driver for anything, what happened was a coincidence.
Fact
From the protocol from the scene of the accident
“The collision occurred in normal visibility on a section of the highway, the carriageway of which is wet, asphalted, of a horizontal profile. When the GAZ-24 car left the strip of old asphalt concrete (black gravel) and hit the edge of the freshly laid asphalt concrete protruding by 7 centimeters, the car skidded, after which it drove into the oncoming traffic lane.
One wheel of the "Volga" turned out to be on the new, high-protruding asphalt, and the other - on the old one. Specialists say that a small oil film always appears on new asphalt at first. And then frost. That's the "Volga" and suffered. And a ZIL from Pushkin was driving towards them.
Dossier
Valery Borisovich Kharlamov was born in Moscow on January 14, 1948. Forward of CSKA and the USSR national team. Two-time Olympic champion, eight-time world champion. Member of the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor and the Order of the Badge of Honor.
Valery Kharlamov
And there is nothing to argue about who is greater. We have many of them, all deserve a monument - both those who are no longer with us, and those who, thank God, are alive. Maybe Valery Kharlamov really was not the best, but he was definitely the most beloved. Because everything came together - talent, character, fate. The tragic death took away everything except this love, the scale of which is now hard to imagine. To say that love was universal is to say nothing.
There was and remains a mystery in the biography that cannot be explained. Books about Kharlamov have been written and are being written, films are being made (it seems like the second feature film will be released in April - not a single one has been honored with this domestic sportsman), the external biographical canon is defined once and for all, but “behind the scenes” there is always something unknown.
When asked where such talent came from, there is no answer and never will be. Spaniard by mother - but where is Spain, and where is hockey? At the age of five, my father put me on skates - but there were thousands of such boys only in Moscow. In 1962, did you get into the CSKA school? But there were guys and more capable. Tarasov noticed, admonishing with the words “do not be afraid of anything!”? But the great one “exiled” him to the Chebarkul “Star” as unnecessary.
Kharlamov was returned, by the way, at the insistence of another great coach, Boris Kulagin. And, as the partners say, he was already an athlete and a player of a different level than the one he was before the “service”. He got into the link with Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov, replacing not just anyone, but the honored veteran and favorite of the public, techie and virtuoso Veniamin Alexandrov. After that there was a bright debut in the national team at the Izvestia Prize, the World Championship in Stockholm-1969, the title of Honored Master of Sports (from the first-class!), Further is known.
According to my feeling: if the solid game of the older and more experienced Mikhailov and Petrov was taken for granted, then Valery Kharlamov remained incomprehensible. The partners acted amazingly, but their actions could be explained, and the game of the 17th number did not always succumb to explanation. One day he will say that he himself does not know how he will act in the next moment. And this is the second question that has no answer when we talk about Kharlamov.
Kharlamov, like his partners, did not like the word "star". He knew his own worth, but he behaved in such a way that no one could suspect in him any signs of "star fever". He perceived people's love as naturally as he played. And he played easily and without effort, leaving behind the brackets the blood, sweat and tears of behind-the-scenes work. A fan of “Mozartianism” feels immediately, he will forgive everything to such a hockey player. And, in fact, it was not necessary to forgive very much - Kharlamov did not conflict with anyone, he took any decisions of any coach for granted, and the fact that these decisions were not always correct, he convinced the game.
At first, they tried to break up their trio at the whim of Tarasov. And after Anatoly Vladimirovich in the "super series of the century" in the fall of 1972, if anyone remembers, Kharlamov played on the same line with Alexander Maltsev and Vladimir Vikulov. Canada praised him, not knowing that Kharlamov could be even better (one of the great Canadian masters will say how he nailed it: “There is no other like it”). But it’s not for nothing that, being at the zenith of fame, Valery will write: “It was Volodya and Boris who made me Kharlamov.”
Senior comrades paid him by never being jealous of his glory. For them, he was and remains just Valerka, and here one should not look for a desire to belittle, or a desire to cling to - both Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov, the greatest masters themselves, know something that we do not know.
"Spanish sadness" did not appear in him immediately - perhaps, only in the last, very difficult years for him. He was not the darling of fate, as he might seem. At the turn of the 70s and 80s, Kharlamov’s time was running out not because he was already over 30 (now this is not age for a hockey player). The time of "Kharlamov's hockey" was passing in the thickening atmosphere of timelessness. He and his wife will die in a car accident in August 81st, Soviet hockey will remain life for ten years, as well as the country. But the country will lose something irretrievably at the end of that distant summer.
The answer to the question why he left so early also does not exist (it would be too simple to reduce everything to the fact that Viktor Tikhonov did not take Kharlamov to the Canada Cup). And this is the third secret of Valery Kharlamov, over which the interpreters of his biography are struggling.
It will be interesting to see what happens in movie number two. The first, created with the direct participation of Vladimir Petrov, turned out to be quite worthy, but did not become an event. In our country, feature films with a sports canvas, and even about a real hero, are not taken for granted (unlike North America, where a sports biopic is invariably popular).
... Meeting at the Ice Palace of CSKA with Boris Sergeevich Kharlamov, we did not talk about high matters. But looking at modern hockey, Kharlamov Sr. suddenly said: "And Valerka ... Yes, Valerka ...". And immediately everything became clear.
Vladimir Mozgovoy, Sportbox.ru
The decision of the head coach of the USSR national team Viktor Tikhonov not to take Valery Kharlamov to the Canada Cup was a real blow for the attacker. By this time, as the interlocutors of the author of these lines admitted, Kharlamov in Canada was the most popular Soviet athlete, his talent overshadowed the glory of Pele in the Maple Leaf Country. Valery Kharlamov, having met his wife and son, who returned from the south, went to the dacha. I did not sleep all night, I was worried, but in the morning I had to go to Moscow.
From night to morning on August 27, rain charged in the Moscow region. Although it was August outside, this rain was already cold in autumn.
When exactly on the way the wife of the hockey player, Irina Kharlamova, got behind the wheel, is unknown. There is a version that Valery Kharlamov, who did not get enough sleep, changed places with his wife, who was sitting on the right in the front seat, after he taxied from the rubble onto the Leningradskoe highway. Others believed that it happened when the car disappeared around the corner from the eyes of her mother. In any case, the wife of the hockey player was already driving the Volga in Leningradka.
They said that the Kharlamov "Volga" with the numbers 00-17 MMB on the highway wet from the morning rain, they say, went at a decent speed - about a hundred kilometers per hour. But people who knew Valery and Irina said that she could hardly squeeze more than 70 kilometers per hour on a wet and slippery highway, especially on the Volga, which she hardly drove. Subsequently, this will be confirmed by a police examination. The car at the time of the collision was moving at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour.
As experts said, most likely, Valery in the front seat and cousin of Irina Kharlamova (Smirnova) Sergey, who had recently returned from the army, fell asleep. If so, then legend number 17 met his death in a dream, without understanding what happened. They say that meeting your death in a dream is the lot of happy people marked by the Lord. Not everyone is given this.
Moving along the almost empty Leningradskoye highway, Irina Kharlamova saw a sign - "Road work is underway" and road barriers standing in front. Where to turn at this speed? After all, you need to give aside! She decided to go around the obstacle.
"Volga" sharply spun. On this ill-fated wet asphalt, recently laid by road workers. One, two. The car spun, whirled around. Everything happened in a matter of moments. 00-17 passed into the oncoming lane. Apparently, Kharlamov woke up at that moment, experts will record that his left hand was outstretched to the steering wheel. So, I wanted to help my wife to taxi ...
And where did this truck come from at such an early hour, as it turned out later, heavy, stuffed to the brim with spare parts. The guy behind the wheel gripped the steering wheel with his mouth open. He understood that a collision with the out-of-control Volga was inevitable. The young man driving the ZIL turned the steering wheel to the right, trying to get to the side of the road. Late. "Volga" with numbers 00-17 MMB has already flown on a loaded and therefore less maneuverable colossus. Hit the truck sideways and rolled into a ditch.
The gnashing of iron, a terrible blunt blow and the clinking of glass. The woman flew through the windshield. "Volga" was squeezed, mangled, the metal was crumpled, grinded, and torn apart. All. In such disasters, as a rule, there are no survivors. The blow, as the traffic police officers later established, fell on the Volga from behind, where Irina Kharlamova's cousin was sitting. Kharlamov was hit in the back of the head. And his wife was thrown out of the cab. She lay on the pavement and was alive for about 10 minutes. She asked only one question: "How is Valera?". And she died.
In a few seconds, the ZIL driver will run out of the cab. Horror. Wild horror will seize him after he recognizes the people's favorite Valery Borisovich Kharlamov in the passenger in the front seat. No longer breathing and gone to another world.
Lev Maksimovich, a traffic police officer, later spoke about this and other details: “When I looked around at the scene of the incident, I almost immediately understood in detail what had happened. towards the steering wheel. Probably, at the last moment, he tried to help his wife cope with the controls. His wife, Irina, was lying in a ditch and was still alive. The ambulance was standing nearby. The doctor fussed with cotton swabs, trying to save her life. The hockey player's cousin, who was sitting in the back seat, died on the spot.
The death of the Kharlamov family, as they later wrote, became "largely a chain of random coincidences." The day before the accident, asphalt was being changed in this area. In the place where the new coating ended, a kind of ledge formed, some say five, some seven centimeters high, which caused the tragedy. As experts later dryly write, "Kharlamov's wife was an inexperienced driver and, having run into a bump, lost control." The car spun on the highway, and she collided with ZIL, who was walking towards her.
Most likely, they would have survived if they had been strapped in. If yes, if only.
But death, as you know, does not recognize subjunctive moods. In addition, the truck, as luck would have it, was packed full of spare parts. This heavy ballast added to an already powerful blow. And the slippery asphalt in this place, as if on purpose, left no chance of salvation, as if "spitting out" the car into a ditch. "The new coating, on which the Volga hit, was slippery like ice during the heat ...", they will write later. But those damned if...
An hour later, all of Moscow will know about the tragedy. This information will be confirmed to a TASS correspondent in the capital's traffic police. And later, world news feeds will be “sewn by lightning” from the Land of Soviets: “According to TASS, the famous hockey player Valery Kharlamov and his wife died in a car accident near Moscow this morning. They left two small children - a son and a daughter.”
“I conducted a training session in the SKA Leningrad team. A dispatch came from the club duty officer that Valerka had died tragically. I assembled the team, announced to my assistants that they should conduct the training themselves. happened. She was driving. He left the dacha. She was already sitting on the track. She didn’t know how to drive. That’s all. That’s how the tragedy happened. If he had been driving, the tragedy wouldn’t have happened, "he admitted in an interview with the author of these lines is the captain of the USSR national team Boris Mikhailov.
“Before his death, I went to Holland on a flight. I then worked at Sovtransavto and was abroad at that moment. Gennady Tsygankov called me, having found the phones through the leaders. Nothing was reported on the radio in Europe yet. Gena was laconic: "So and so, be strong, Misha, such a tragedy happened! ". But I could not escape, I could not be in time - customs matters, I also had no right to leave the car, the times were like that. I arrived after, I learned everything from everyone rumors, - recalled Kharlamov's friend Mikhail Tumanov.
As I understand it, as a result of the heavy rain that had passed the day before, the pads of the Volga got wet. The asphalt on the Leningrad Highway, along which the car was moving, was slippery like a skating rink. Under heavy braking, there was a sharp skid. And Irina could not cope with the management. Moreover, she had little experience driving the Volga, and she learned to drive in another car, in the Moskvich, ”Mikhail Tumanov admitted in an interview.
On that fateful morning, by a lucky chance: they wanted an additional portion of the same barbecue that their grandmother promised to cook, the Kharlamov children remained in the country. Remained alive. Left orphans.
“On August 27, Tatyana Mikhailova called in the morning and said: “Come to me quickly. Valera crashed. Come soon. "I'm flying out of the house. As luck would have it, no trolleybus, no bus. No taxi. I found a private trader. I'm all crying. I can't believe what happened. The driver asks what happened to me. They told me that my brother crashed. I'm coming to Tatyana's home, and there her youngest son says to me: "Aunt Tanya, and they have already left for the morgue for identification. You sit here and wait." I waited, then Tatyana called from the morgue and said one phrase: "Yes, this is Valera." Then the information went on the radio right away. Then dad came, we all came home. And the next day mom to come," recalled the hockey player's sister Tatyana Kharlamova.
The hockey players of the USSR national team, who played at the Canada Cup, among whom were several very close friends of Valery Borisovich (what can I say in general: he himself was a long-term favorite and the soul of the national team, how could one not love him), could not come to the funeral. That's why they, the players, were offended. They could not salute, throw a handful of earth, as it should be during burial, into the grave of the one who was so respected and loved. They could not be near the cemetery and at the same time in grief with the whole country.
The news of Kharlamov's death in a car accident near Moscow, according to his best friend Alexander Maltsev, was a "terrible blow" for him, from which he could not recover for years. The USSR national team at the time of the disaster was sent by plane to the Maple Leaf Country to prepare for the Canada Cup. “At the Winnipeg airport, approaching us, the Swedish judge said that Kharlamov had died. For us, the death of such an original player and an amazing person was a terrible blow. I realized that I had lost my soul mate,” recalls Alexander Maltsev. Everyone loves that when a minute of silence was announced in North America for Valery, then, I think, all of Canada and the United States stood up to honor his memory.
“Fate took my closest friend away from me,” Alexander Maltsev says quietly. “If Valera were alive now, everything would have turned out quite differently. No one could replace him for me ...”.
Alexander Nikolaevich often remembers his friend. At these moments, the pain of loss is visible in his eyes, which has not subsided, despite the years lived. For these three and a half decades. Maltsev perks up when he is asked to talk about the happy days spent with Kharlamov, when warm words are said about his friend.
On August 27, 1981, the players of the Soviet team at first perceived the information about the death of the team's favorite as nothing more than a provocation - Kharlamov's portrait, framed by a black mourning ribbon, was shown on TV news when the team players checked into a hotel.
We decided to call home. This tragic news was confirmed after the head of the Soviet delegation, Boris Mayorov, made a call to Moscow directly from the reception. From his instantly whitened face, the hockey players of the USSR national team guessed that the irreparable had really happened.
“It took us almost two days to get to Canada on the bed. We flew to Winnipeg, it was night there, we slept. In the morning, when we turned on the TV, photos of Valera in a black frame began to appear in the news reports. Then no one spoke English much. We didn’t understood what was happening. Everyone ran downstairs to the hotel lobby. Then someone came and said that such a tragedy had happened. There was a noise. We told the management that we would fly back to Moscow for the funeral. The head of the delegation from the Central Committee, an instructor who called home , said that a team meeting would take place in the near future, - Vyacheslav Fetisov recalled in a conversation. - As a result, we were convinced that we would not have time to get to the funeral. I could not believe that this happened. Only yesterday he was next to us and ... suddenly he is no more. When we left the stadium in Canada, many people came up to us, everyone expressed their condolences and everyone said the name Kharlamov. Only when we flew to Moscow and came to his grave, only then did I realize that Valery Borisovich was gone from us. I didn't want to believe it until the last minute, but it was the bitter truth. It was a shock. It was the loss of a friend."
Tretyak, Vasiliev and Maltsev came to Tikhonov with a request to let his friend go to the funeral. Tikhonov did not let him in, although the players literally begged the national team coach to give them the opportunity to say goodbye to their best friend. They were ready to fly to Moscow at their own expense. On the first flight, the Canadians would help. We were ready immediately after the funeral to return back to the Canada Cup. Tikhonov was adamant.
“We came to Tikhonov and at our own expense asked to fly to Moscow for the funeral. Tikhonov categorically forbade us to do this. All the guys gathered, remembered, drank 100 grams of vodka each. We all took up arms against Tikhonov. that Kharlam did not take. If he had gone, then there would not have been this terrible accident and such grief for us. Secondly, that he did not let us go to the funeral. After 1972, Valera made a revolution in hockey in Canada. He was there popular as a national hero," admitted Alexander Maltsev.
Bobby Hull entered the locker room of the Soviet team after one of the matches at this tournament. In his hands he held a bouquet of red carnations. "I know that red carnations were Valery Kharlamov's favorite flowers. Please take them and bow on behalf of all Canada to the great Hockey Player and Man," Bobby Hull asked.
At the 1981 Canada Cup, the hockey players of the national team played for two: for themselves and Valery Kharlamov. One can only imagine how hard these matches were for them. When every second the pain of irreparable loss burned, when the thought was constantly tormented that they could not pay their last tribute to the memory of a friend and comrade in Moscow, but should these days be far beyond the ocean.
The situation in the ranks of the USSR national team was really oppressive. It was especially hard for those who played with Valery Kharlamov in the national team and the club for many years, for whom he became a friend and brother. "Three decades have passed, and the events of those days are still in my memory. And most importantly, the question is why did it happen so suddenly? Not after some kind of illness, but this is how the life of one of our best athletes, our friend, ended," recalls Boris Mikhailov.
The players then, in Canada, held their own meeting, separate from the coaches and heads of the delegation. "Valerka Vasiliev, team captain, all the guys said that the victory should be dedicated to the memory of Valery Borisovich. We swore that we would fight to the last and try to win the Canada Cup, which he himself wanted to win. Before the final, we gathered again, all together, without management, without coaches and said that we would do everything to win the final match against Canada," Vyacheslav Fetisov admitted.
The USSR national team really rallied, and won the 1981 Canada Cup, but with what score, 8-1! Leaving no stone unturned from the Canadians and dedicating this victory to the memory of Valery Kharlamov. Upon arrival in Moscow, the players of CSKA and the national team visited both the parents of Valery Kharlamov and the cemetery. “Upon arrival in Moscow from Canada, we were met by our wives and relatives. We got on the bus and went straight from the airport to the Kuntsevo cemetery. We couldn’t believe in his death until the last, but when we arrived at the grave, we realized that neither Valera nor Ira there will be no more," Vyacheslav Fetisov recalled in a conversation.
The funeral of Valery Kharlamov took place on August 31, 1981 at the Kuntsevo cemetery. First, it was decided to bury the great hockey player at the Vagankovsky cemetery, where the corresponding letter from the Moscow City Executive Committee went. A responsible "party comrade" came to Vagankovo with a letter in his hands and absolutely stupidly chose a site in the far, near the fence, then still undeveloped, part of the cemetery. When the hockey player's friends came to look at the site, they immediately refused: it was simply difficult to get to the burial place. “If you had arrived earlier than this frame, I, of course, would have identified the best site, closer to Vysotsky’s grave, now I can’t, the order has already been approved,” the director of the cemetery shrugged.
As a result, it was decided to bury the great hockey player at the Kuntsevsky cemetery of the capital.
Farewell to Valery Kharlamov and organized the burial hockey club CSKA. It was painful to look at the mother of the legend, Begonia Kharlamov. She was constantly sedated. Thousands and thousands of people came to say goodbye to the people's favorite. Like a year earlier. On the death of Vysotsky.
Farewell to Kharlamov was extended for two hours, after the organizers saw what a huge line of people stretched into Ice Palace CSKA. People climbed over the fence. The queue stretched right from the Aeroport metro station, so there were a lot of people.
The funeral was indeed very crowded. Officers, generals with golden stars of Heroes of the Soviet Union, artists, athletes, women, adults and children passed by the coffins in deep sorrow. The gray-haired old woman, heartbroken, knelt down and laid a modest bouquet at the feet of the inconsolable mother of Valery Kharlamov. The Spanish ambassador expressed condolences to Begonia Kharlamova, bent over her, said something, then stood on the guard of honor.
The people kept coming. Everything was intertwined together, streams of tears merged, overflowing into a huge, forgive me, reader, I won’t pick up a suitable comparison, “a sea of \u200b\u200bwoe.” And this ridiculous death itself, and this death in the prime of life, and the fact that such a phenomenal person left so early and unfairly. Indeed, a people's favorite, who would live and please people with his sparkling gift ...
“On the territory of the army sports palace, everything was crowded with people, many of whom were crying. We army men were in military uniform. It was an unbearable feeling. Mikhailov, Petrov, Lutchenko carried the coffin of Valera. I carried the wreath. It hurt the most to look at his mother. It was a shock. The pain of loss was felt for years. There was a lot of talk about this, this topic was constantly touched upon. If he went to Canada, then he could stay alive. But, it's fate. I'm not one of those who support this topic. Kharlamov is a unique person. And his loss was very heavy," Sergei Nailievich Gimaev recalled in an interview with the author of these lines.
In the end, they decided to take the coffin to the cemetery, despite the fact that people were still walking towards the palace. “I remember that there were a lot of people at Valera’s funeral. Thousands and thousands of people. A continuous stream of people went to our army weightlifting hall. It was like going to the mausoleum. From the entrance to CSKA and there. There were a lot of people. "because of the endless stream of people. Then we went to the Kuntsevo cemetery. We drove in a separate car. It's not clear who got on there. There were several buses to get there. Everything was also jam-packed at the cemetery, it was impossible to break through. At Kuntsevo, it was raining, as if from buckets, then suddenly the sun came out sharply in a second. Tarasov, the chairman of the sports committee of the Ministry of Defense, was such a good general. The leadership spoke, and people spoke, "recalled Olympic champion Alexander Gusev in an interview with the author of these lines.
It so happened that on the eve of the fateful day of the death of his friend, Kharlamov's friend, the famous Vladimir Vinokur, went to Kursk to visit his parents. “Then Leva Leshchenko called me and said: “Volodya, there is trouble with Valera. He crashed in a car." I ask by inertia: "Is he in a military hospital or in a civilian clinic, remembering the accident that he had in 1976?" Then Leva told me that the most terrible and irreparable had happened. I immediately went to Moscow," Vinokur recalled in an interview with the author of these lines.
“Valera’s funeral became a tragedy for us, which no words are enough to describe. I didn’t feel anything: there was no legs under me, no head. I just remembered that when we left the CSKA Sports Palace with a procession, everywhere, despite the pouring rain , crying people were on their knees and so saw him off on his last journey, "recalled Tatyana Blinova, who knew Valery Kharlamov from childhood.
“On the day of Valera’s funeral in 1981, when we left CSKA, it was raining, we were traveling by bus. I recall a symbolic episode. A funeral column is going and suddenly an absolutely amazing picture appears before our eyes. right on the Leningrad highway with a bunch of roses, kneels, right into the water in front of the hearse driving towards him with the coffin of Valera and Irina, and then the whole column, and puts these flowers, this bunch of gorgeous roses right on the wet asphalt. ". And then, when we arrived at the cemetery, the dazzling sun shone. When I talk about Valera's funeral, I always see this symbolic scene: a man, roses, downpour and a shining sun," Vladimir Vinokur recalled. "When I go to the cemetery to brother, and his father lies nearby, and 50 meters from them is the grave of Valera and his relatives. I always go there, there are always flowers lying there. But this is fate. Every person. We are guests on this earth."
The rain stopped and the sun came out. At that moment, Anatoly Tarasov approached the coffin. Suddenly thunder rumbled and it began to rain again. Then Tarasov said: "You see, all of Moscow is crying for Valera." And then, suddenly, the sun came out. “In a farewell speech at a funeral rally in front of thousands of people, in front of true friends of hockey and Kharlamov, who gathered at the Novokuntsevo cemetery, I said that Valery “did not know his greatness,” Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov would write later. “Valery was a really great hockey player, ... he did not know the true extent of his amazing talent, in no way, never, nothing and no one emphasized his exclusivity and, in general, was a rare decent, clean and honest person.
What Kharlamov did on the ice is really beyond the control of a simple craftsman and even a hockey master. So the artist played, closed in himself, vulnerable, subtly feeling falseness. So Kharlamov, usually cheerful and cheerful, is remembered by everyone who knew him.
Valery Kharlamov
I did not know Valery Kharlamov as closely as, say, Helmut Balderis. But I heard a lot about him and read a lot about him. Of the entire leading trio of CSKA - Mikhailov, Petrov, Kharlamov - he was the most decent person. With an unusual, Russian-Spanish character. The kindest person, according to reviews. And very talented, Victor would add. Although, as far as I know, Anatoly Tarasov did not recognize him at first - he exiled him to Chebarkul. And there was even such a saying - they say, Tarasov said: "This humpbacked horse will not play."
I was amazed that Kharlamov got into an accident twice. And that the wife was driving, who, firstly, wore glasses and who, secondly, did not have a license on that fateful morning.
Victor did not take Kharlamov to the 1981 Canada Cup. And he was almost blamed for the death of Kharlamov. Almost called a killer. Say, if Tikhonov had taken him, then Valery would have remained alive. But this is a completely wrong premise. He did not take it out of a personal whim. Not because of any conflict. Only and only because Valery was not ready.
He had several serious injuries in his career. After the first accident, the doctors even recommended that he stop playing hockey. His ankle dangled, and this was the reason that Victor did not take him to the tournament. And he did not just put him before the fact. He explained his decision - they had a conversation before the departure of the national team. Victor later told me that Kharlamov listened and did not express any complaints: “Viktor Vasilyevich, I understand everything.” No hard feelings. But then the tragedy was turned in such a way that almost Tikhonov killed Kharlamov.
At the time of his death, Valery was in his thirty-fourth year. At that time, this was already an absolutely veteran age. In principle, the 1981-1982 season was supposed to be his last in CSKA. Yes, and in the team there was a rapid rejuvenation of the composition. And not artificial - in connection with the failure at the Lake Placid Olympics - but quite natural. An unusually talented galaxy came to CSKA and the national team.
Here Volodya Krutov believed that he was taken to Canada instead of Kharlamov. But he got into the national team according to quite objective indicators. And Krutov became one of the best at the Canada Cup. I clarified his statistics: eight points in seven matches.
If Viktor unhooked Kharlamov, but at the same time replaced him with some kind of mediocrity, then reproaches for the lack of coaching intuition would be fair. One could say that Tikhonov is not sports principle changing the old guard. But then the team won the Canada Cup! For the first and last time. The world saw the famous five "Krutov - Larionov - Makarov - Fetisov - Kasatonov". And the same Krutov subsequently played superbly for the national team for ten whole years. Facts cannot be ignored!
Of course, I am a wife, I, of course, have a personal attitude, but here, in my opinion, it is obvious: all these conversations and articles that Tikhonov is allegedly to blame for the death of Kharlamov is the height of cynicism. But they reached Victor, he was terribly unpleasant. He was very worried. We talked to him about this topic.
Meanwhile, he had normal relations with Kharlamov's relatives. And they called for many years, we saw each other and talked. No reproaches from them. Apparently, on the eve of the disaster, Valery told at home how he talked with Viktor, explained the reasons why he did not fly with the national team. A real hockey player understands very well: if you are not absolutely healthy, you cannot go to a major tournament.
Of course, Victor considered him a wonderful player and very a good man. Unlike, say, Mikhailov.
And the team won the Canada Cup in memory of Kharlamov. Everyone loved him and played for him!
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From the author's book From the author's bookValery Kharlamov Valery Kharlamov was born on January 14, 1948 in Moscow, in a working-class family. He died on August 27, 1981, near Solnechnogorsk, Moscow region. Winner of many awards, legendary hockey player, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, two-time champion olympic games,
Kharlamov swept over the planet Hockey like a blazing meteor. His short, but such a bright path is the subject of hundreds and thousands of studies. Books have been written about Kharlamov, documentaries and feature films have been shot, his name is immortalized in monuments and street names, poems and songs are dedicated to him...
Start
The future hockey genius was born on the night of January 13-14, 1948 in Moscow in a working-class family. Father, Boris Sergeevich, worked as a test fitter at the Kommunar plant, like my mother, Carmen Orive-Abad, or simply Begonita, a Spaniard by nationality, who arrived at the age of twelve in the USSR in the late thirties of the last century.
The process of the birth of a genius began ... in the car: while my mother was being taken to the hospital, contractions began. Boris Sergeevich left his wife in the maternity hospital, and he himself went on foot to the hostel. On the way, a patrol stopped him, and the young father gladly agreed to the offer to “go where he should go”: the frost that night was bitter.
In the department, Boris Sergeevich warmed up, treated the policemen to shag and shared his joy:
“My son was born today. called Valery, in honor of Chkalova.
“Valerik was very weak,” Boris Sergeevich later recalled. - Weighed less than three kilograms, and where was the bogatyr expected from at that time card nutrition? We lived at that time with Begonita in a quarter of a large room, fenced off from other families by a plywood partition.
At the age of seven, Valera was put on skates. My father played for the factory Russian hockey team, but ice hockey had already gained such popularity that only football could compete with it. The boys of that time dreamed of being like Vsevolod Bobrov.
Valera was no exception.
Forgery
In the summer of 1962, a summer skating rink was opened on Leningradsky Prospekt, and boys born in 1949 became the first enrollment in the section. By age, Valera no longer passed, but by physique - completely. Therefore, it is difficult to mislead the coach Boris Kulagin he did not. I threw off a year, they took it. When the deception was revealed, it was already too late to punish the kid with expulsion: his abilities were too obvious.
Behind a short time Kharlamov turned into one of the best players in the children's and youth school of CSKA, but the head coach adult team Anatoly Tarasov was skeptical of him: too small. Tarasov was then obsessed with the idea of slapping Canadians and relied on physically powerful players: “All outstanding Canadian hockey players are giants compared to ours. How can we defeat them if we are dwarfs, a meter with a cap?
Tormented by these contradictions, Tarasov in 1966 sent the eighteen-year-old Kharlamov to the “farm club”: the Chebarkul Zvezda, which played in the second league. The young did not disappoint: he scored 34 goals in 40 matches and in the summer of 1967 he was called to the CSKA training camp in Kudepsta.
Kharlamov's partner in the youth team of CSKA Vladimir Bogomolov recalled: “When Valera was just being tried in the team of masters, it was hard for him: no physical data, no voiced even on junior level name. He left for a training camp in Kudepsta, and when we saw each other again, I no longer recognized my friend. Muscles played all over the body. The athlete returned home, at least sculpt an ancient hero from him.
Health
Indeed, those who saw Kharlamov on the ice (and even more so - opposed him), noted his outstanding physical qualities. Quick legs, Strong arms, incredible speed, endurance: Kharlamov seemed to be made of steel and alloys.
This is actually a completely amazing fact, because he was closely “friends” with doctors from birth. In infancy, he suffered from dyspepsia (failure to assimilate food), easily, at the first request, he caught dysentery or scarlet fever. Angina - endlessly, in a chronic mode, and with complications up to paralysis right hand and left leg. At the age of 13 - the final diagnosis: heart disease. Physical education and sports, respectively, are completely banned ...
But it was the mother's version. Father, he is not a stranger sports passion, thought otherwise, and when the chronically ill, but nimble and agile Valera dreamed of signing up "in hockey", he fully supported him.
Surprisingly, a year later Kharlamov's electrocardiogram looked perfect, and in the future he had no health problems at all.
Career
Kharlamov's career in the "big" CSKA went off the rails. The army team won the 1967/68 USSR Championship, and this was Kharlamov’s first allied gold out of 11 that he collected during his career (it was in that year, by the way, that the famous army trio was born Mikhailov — Petrov- Kharlamov).
In 1969, twenty-year-old Kharlamov became the world champion, setting an age record: before him, not a single hockey player in the Soviet Union knew such success at such a young age. By the beginning of the seventies, he was considered the best hockey player not only in the Soviet Union, but also in Europe, in 1972 he won Olympic gold.
Boris Mikhailov, Vladimir Petrov and Valery Kharlamov. Photo: RIA Novosti
Nature
One of Kharlamov's biographers tells Maxim Makarychev:
“He was a great hockey player, because the human being was powerful,” Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov once dropped a brilliant phrase about Valery Kharlamov. “Kharlamov is not only an outstanding hockey player, but also a great guy,” confirms the legendary Vitaly Davydov. — There are many good players, but not every one of them turns out to be a decent person. I see the greatness of Valery Kharlamov in his devotion to the country, hockey, friends. He was one of those people who are ready to give away their last shirt. His life was filled not only with serious trials, but also with joys, work, love for parents, wife, children.
While working on the biography of Kharlamov, I was amazed when I learned about the origin of the name of our hero. How can one not believe in "destiny from above"? So: Kharlamov is a Russian surname, comes from an abbreviated form of the name Kharlampy. And in Greek, this name means "glowing with joy." Hitting the bull's-eye. This is exactly the same about Valery Kharlamov.
The famous Soviet footballer knew Kharlamov well Mikhail Gershkovich, who now heads the "Association of Domestic Trainers".
“It cannot be said that Valera and I were very close friends,” says Gershkovich. - It's simply impossible due to completely different life schedules. But at the training camp they often crossed paths, often called up, there were many informal meetings.
- How do you remember Kharlamov?
- He was a great hockey player, that's the main memory. No controversy, no discussion. All his colleagues, from Petrov and Mikhailov to Lutchenko And Vasiliev, recognized Valera number one. And in communication he was very simple, he never boasted of his greatness: rather, he was embarrassed by everyone's attention.
- They say he looked very decent on the football field.
- I know for sure that I played well Sasha Maltsev but Valera was fine. We, the players, winter period hockey was always included in the training program, and at that time it was impossible to buy or get good skates - those in which the masters played. Somehow, Valerka and I agreed to change, since the size of the legs is the same: he gave me his skates, and I gave him my boots. Later we met, I said: “Well, now I’m the best in the team in your skates!” “Your Adidas help too,” he replies.
Do you have these skates?
- Certainly. They lie at home.
Mode
Kharlamov, they say, loved to "buzz." No, God forbid, dependence, but it was not difficult to persuade him to a good feast.
Appointed in 1977 as head coach of CSKA Viktor Tikhonov was, as you know, a man with a strong character and did not do concessions to anyone. Especially in terms of compliance. So, the new coach was struck by the freemen reigning in CSKA: “Like all people associated with hockey, I heard a lot about the “iron” Tarasov and the “iron” discipline in the army club. But none of this was in that CSKA, which I got into.
The singers in the "choir" were Alexander Gusev, Vladimir Petrov and Boris Alexandrov. Kharlamov, on the other hand, was classified as “not objecting,” and Tikhonov did not refuse this mark until the very end of his career. In the end, she played a fatal role: Kharlamov did not get into the final application for the Canada Cup in 1981 precisely in connection with the violation of the regime, which Tikhonov became aware of ...
However, there was a case when even the unshakable Tikhonov himself almost betrayed his principles. It so happened that during one of the tournaments, two Valery, players of the USSR national team Kharlamov and Vasilyev, were caught red-handed: on the eve of the match they drank heavily and got caught. There were no sanctions just because there was simply no one to replace the violators.
The match with the Czechs, the most important rivals, went crookedly, they quickly scored two goals and were not going to give up the initiative. Kharlamov and Vasiliev looked weak, Tikhonov, pale with anger, loitering along the side, called the hockey players enemies and promised the most terrible punishments. But he didn’t have time to send them: Kharlamov “woke up” in time and scored two goals, and one from Vasilyev’s pass. The USSR national team won, and both Valeriy were named the best players match.
“I have an idea: maybe let these two drink as an exception?” - then consulted with Tikhonov's entourage. A Chairman of the State Committee for Sports Sergey Pavlov went even further: “Guys, if you really feel like it, take the keys to my dacha, drink there. But it's still not worth the fees. Others will see and start too.”
Catastrophe
The 1981 season was supposed to be for Kharlamov, by his own decision, the last in his career. In hockey, he achieved everything he dreamed of, and 33 years old at that time was almost the limit for an athlete.
Hockey 1981 began with a team trip to the Canada Cup, but the head coach of the team, Viktor Tikhonov from Winnipeg Kharlamov, unexpectedly “unhooked” for everyone.
“Valera trained furiously,” recalls Vyacheslav Fetisov, who made the most mature Kharlamov years in CSKA. - He got into great shape, and it was felt that he was waiting for a tournament of such a rank in order to leave beautifully. We were already packing our bags, when suddenly Tikhonov called Kharlamov. Half an hour later, Valera left the coaching room not himself. Without explaining anything, he shook hands with the guys, mumbled something about the need for victory, turned around and left. As it turned out later, Tikhonov punished him for violating the regime. I don't know what that violation was...
The team flew to Canada, Kharlamov stayed in Moscow. Early morning on August 27 with his wife Irina he was returning from a dacha located in the Klin district of the Moscow region. Irina was driving the Volga, in the cabin, in addition to Kharlamov, her cousin Sergey.
It rained heavily at night, the track "led". At the 74th kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway, the car ran into an oncoming lane, along which a truck was driving. The driver did not really have time to react: he turned the steering wheel to the right and framed the side of the Volga. The collision was terrible, with no chance of a more or less favorable outcome. Valery and Sergey died on the spot, Irina - a few minutes later ...
The first collective reaction of the hockey team, who learned about the tragedy, was the desire to interrupt the performance at the Canada Cup and fly to Moscow. But then another decision was born: to win the tournament at all costs, dedicating the victory to Valery Kharlamov.
In the final, the Canadian team was defeated with a crushing score of 8: 1.
Monument to the Soviet hockey player, two-time Olympic champion Valery Kharlamov, on the territory Olympic complex Luzhniki in Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexey Filippov
Memory
On the same 74th kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway, a memorial sign was installed, a marble puck with the inscription: "The star of Russian hockey rolled up here."
famous poet Mikhail Tanich dedicated the following lines to Valery Kharlamov:
The ATES buzzer rings in the morning,
And the heart knows, but the heart hurts!
Lived at speed and died at speed
What a merciless bully!
The artists leave, and the stage is in mourning
And time flows like a river
And again behind the side is heard: "Change!"
But the change is not visible yet
No, life does not end with a black frame,
And you are infinitely alive!
See you soon, Valera. And remember that in the team
Number seventeen is yours!
We will never get used to this loss
She burns like a lie
And if we don't have enough pucks, we'll click
You will go out and score right away!
