Alexander Zaitsev's gold medal, presented to him at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, sold at auction for 9374 8 dollars. Today, when all awards (and not only sports ones) have a monetary value, this message would not cause much resonance. If not for the memories of how this Olympic victory was obtained and how the world reacted to the tears of Irina Rodnina.
The 1980 Winter Olympics in the United States took place in the midst of an escalation of the Cold War. After the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, US President Jimmy Carter launched a campaign against the Summer Olympics in Moscow. The Soviet leadership was not going to boycott the Olympics, although even a formal reason could be found: the organizers equipped the Olympic village in the building of a future prison, and methods far from the principles of fair play were used against our athletes. The Americans made a special bet on competitions in pair skating.
After the victory of Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov in Innsbruck in 1964, Soviet skaters dominated this type of program. In 1976, in the same Innsbruck, Rodnina and Zaitsev became Olympic champions. They have not lost to anyone at the world championships since 1973, but in 1979 the Americans Ty Babilonia and Randy Gardner won the gold. At that time, at the age of 29, Soviet women did not risk their unborn child, and Rodnina went on maternity leave. The pregnancy was difficult, almost all the time I had to lie on the conservation. American figure skaters brilliantly seized their chance.
Rodnina, by that time already a two-time Olympic champion (she won her first title in 1972 together with Alexei Ulanov), said more than once in an interview that she did not want to return, but the Soviet leaders could not come to terms with the fact that in «our» discipline «gold» could go to the Americans. As they said and sang then, «the party said — it is necessary.» And six months after the birth of their son, Rodnin and Zaitsev not only took to the ice, but also flew to demonstration performances in Japan to earn currency for the state and remind themselves.
American coach John Nix, who prepared Babilonia and Gardner for the Olympics, decided to launch a psychological attack on multiple world champions and Olympic winners. Usually the main contenders for «gold» try not to perform together even in the show. Only the Americans flew to Japan and even demanded a more prestigious number to enter the ice. This psychological attack was decisively stopped by Tatiana Tarasova and Elena Chaikovskaya. They had no problem convincing the Japanese that Rodnina and Zaitsev were much more titled skaters.
The closer the Olympics were, the more the American press whipped up passions. Naturally, the talents of Tai and Randy, as well as the external data of the partner, were extolled. The victories of Rodnina and Zaitsev were explained by the efforts of the «Soviet bloc» (it's good that it was not a military one, but a judicial one). Given that most Americans did not understand the nuances of figure skating (and there are still problems with this), the journalists convinced that the technique of Soviet figure skaters was far from ideal, unlike Babilonia and Gardner. Spectators came to the short program with posters «Babilonia is better than Rodnina», «Our couple is the best in the world», «Gold» will go to brilliant Americans. fullscreen» allowfullscreen=»allowFullScreen» frameborder=»0″>
Only the psychological pressure did not affect the Soviet athletes, who had not seen anything like that. What is the episode at the World Championships — 1973, when Rodnina and Zaitsev showed their program without music! Gardner simply failed to skate the short program and fled to the locker room, explaining this with a panic attack. The impressionable American was even influenced by the arrival of Tarasova, who worked with Rodnina and Zaitsev, for training. Gardner was unable to cleanly perform almost a single element.
The short program to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov in a modern arrangement by Rodnin and Zaitsev was absolutely clean, and even the American public was forced to admit that they had the right technique. True, the American arbiter gave «5.7» and «5.7» for the rental, while the rest of the judges — «5.8 — 5.9». Only no one could prevent Soviet athletes from becoming Olympic champions. They perfectly performed the free program to the music of Georgy Sviridov and Alexandra Pakhmutova. And then there was an award and tears of Rodnina on a pedestal. One of the most memorable episodes in the history of Soviet sports.
That is why the message about the sale of Alexander Zaitsev's Olympic gold medal caused such a resonance. Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Rodnina is now in sight. Zaitsev, who divorced her in 1985, did not do so well after the end of his sports career. He worked in the Sports Committee of the USSR, was a coach abroad, and in recent years — in Moscow. Only, as the two-time Olympic champion himself said, he has nothing to do with the sale of the iconic award. After the divorce, all the medals won by the Rodnina/Zaitsev couple were kept in the partner's family, and Alexander himself does not know how the most famous of them ended up at the auction.