How the ingenuity of a Russian Olympic athlete changed speed skating
How the ingenuity of a Russian Olympic athlete changed speed skating

Video: How the ingenuity of a Russian Olympic athlete changed speed skating

Video: How the ingenuity of a Russian Olympic athlete changed speed skating
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Thanks to the ingenuity of the Soviet long-distance runner Viktor Kosichkin, the "nylon" era began in speed skating. It was he who first realized that synthetics are capable of working miracles.

It happened quite by accident, says Viktor Kosichkin:

“In Davos (at the 1960 World Championship) I got into the second group on the“chervonets”. It got colder in the evening. I ride and feel cold. I go into the locker room, and there are American and German women. "Me!" They shove me tights. I put them on, but they are too small, damn them. I took, cut off, pulled on the upper part, I ride, I look: this nylon tonifies my legs! the weather is not the same, but I still show the second result. The first was Johannessen. I drove up to the girls, I show them cropped tights, they laugh … At the banquet I sit with Kudryavtsev, I tell him: " - secondly, I have an idea. I have to go to the store. "And the Soviet athletes could not go out into the city one by one. Especially in the evening. I pulled Kudryavtsev from behind the table and take him to the store, where the day before I saw in the window a huge woman in black tights sewn with a double seam., I tell the seller: "I have these tights for" Big Frau ". They bring. I asked for the same black sweater. And they brought him. He fitted the torso amazingly! I returned the tights to the girls.

We arrived in Moscow, parting words for the Olympics and everything else … We fly to America for four days. Tired as hell! We arrived at Squaw Valley at 11 pm. We settled in and fell asleep in a dead sleep. And I can't sleep. I bought it! I have to try! I waited forcibly until daybreak. It was about 6.30 am. And you can't go to the stadium alone either! I go to Konstantinich - he drowsily waves it off: come on, let me sleep! And I told him: “Konstantinich! He went with me. The ice is powdered. Warmed up a little and say: well, let's try the "C". I'm driving the fourth round, and Konstantinich shouts: "Stop! Stop!" I drove up: "What's the matter, Konstantinich?" And he told me: “I don’t understand whether the stopwatches are lying to me, or whether you broke the world record by 20 seconds … The record on the“three”is 4.37, and you are running 4.16.” "Konstantinich," I say, "I succeeded!" After breakfast I start training in this little black suit, I go around everyone. Zhenya Grishin drives up: "Vitya! Let me try too!" I tried it, my eyes are round: "Vitya! Why didn't you tell me before!" In this suit, Zhenya Grishin won two gold medals in the Indian Valley"

At that Olympics in Squaw Valley, Kosichkin won gold and silver, and the nylon age began in speed skating.

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