Sovetsky Sport, August 2, 1989. "You want songs? I've got them." But the verses will be sad. And without any moralizing. Listen: our superstar of the world stage, Dmitry Bilozerchev, has been expelled from the training camp along with his young friend from the Olympic gold medal team, Vladimir Gogoladze. They 'went on a spree.' For two days. They didn't show up at the sports base in Eshera.
We now openly write and discuss a professional approach to work. In all areas. Sport is no exception in this sense. After all, it's just as hard work as, say, the work of a lathe operator, a fitter, a miner, or a digger. Yes, it's not easy work, but it's very creative and rewarding. And, incidentally, it's quite well paid.
Bilozerchev was admired: a child prodigy! And rightly so - the youngest European and world champion in the history of gymnastics. He was a hunter of luck and medals. Elegant and handsome, Dmitry easily climbed higher and higher up the ladder of sporting fame. And one day, distracted by something bright in that captivating height, he stumbled.
Everyone knows this story well. Just two weeks before the start of the 1985 world championships, Bilozerchev, after having a few drinks, was returning with his teammates Oleg Kapetov, Mikhail Kokorin, and Sergei Gusev to the training base near Moscow. At night. In the rain. An accident on the wet highway shattered the plans of the young driver of the brand-new Niva - a severe leg fracture. A traffic police investigation, a hospital bed, an expulsion (along with his three friends) from the national team followed.
The gymnastics world followed Bilozerchev's recovery. He behaved bravely, although there were days when he sobbed, burying his face in his pillow. Out of despair. Out of a sense of guilt. Few believed in Dima's return. His leg was 'glued together' from 38 pieces. Almost like Valery Brumel's.
I still remember the photos from the hospital room: Dima is doing a 'handstand' on the headboard of his bed, doing push-ups, working with dumbbells, 'jumping' on crutches. We still know so little about our bodies, about what a person can do if they want to. The senior coach of the men's national team, Leonid Arkaev, contrary to his own decision, approved by the All-Union Federation, allows Bilozerchev to come to the training camp. "Otherwise, the man would be lost." And everyone understands Arkaev's compassion.
I also remember a letter that arrived at the editorial office about a month before the tragedy. Some man wrote with indignation and bewilderment: "I don't know who to turn to. I live in the same building as Bilozerchev. I was happy about his successes. But I've seen him buying vodka several times. Is it really for himself? That's terrible, he's only 18 years old. Stop him, sports don't forgive such things."
To be honest, I didn't believe him at the time and politely replied to the reader that he was probably mistaken.
We don't like cruelty and we don't like resentment. Bilozerchev, who underwent his second operation in two years (this time on the other leg), deserved forgiveness. He forged his own destiny. He wanted to return to the sport. And he did. First, he immediately won the national Cup, and then the title of 'king' of the gymnastics arena. For the second time. After two years of oblivion. Isn't that a miracle?
In the Olympic year, Bilozerchev was once again the leader of the future Seoul team (winning both the national championship and the USSR Cup). But I noticed that his gait had become somewhat swaggering, and his gaze held a certain knowing look. It was very difficult to talk to him; anger was frozen in his eyes: "Why are they bothering a champion with all these questions?"
Another 'incident' involving Dmitry at the last training camp in Minsk before the trip to Seoul was, for some reason, discussed at a meeting of the presidium of the All-Union Federation. Rumors spread, but no explanation was given. Unfortunately, we sometimes find it more beneficial to keep things quiet than to be transparent. And the gleam of the medals is more important to us than a person's fate.
Bilozerchev got drunk again in Minsk. He drank quite a lot. And the other guys turned away from him. They told the coaches that they didn't want to see a sportsman in the team who violated the rules and who had lost contact with his teammates. And yet, the leaders of our gymnastics and the USSR State Sports Committee, "for the sake of the overall victory of the Soviet team," included Dmitry in the national team. We still thought that there were no irreplaceable people.
But it was all in vain. The all-around champion was Volodya Artemov, Valera Lyukin came in second, and Bilozerchev only managed third place. He was 'outraged' by this outcome and, as he stepped onto the podium, 'forgot' to shake Artemov's hand in front of the astonished audience.
The 'offended star,' after receiving substantial bonuses for his three gold and one bronze Olympic medals and going on a commercial tour of Australia, became capricious and announced at the beginning of this year that he would probably quit gymnastics.
To be fair, it must be said that Dima was going through some difficulties in his life at that time: a child was born, his wife was ill. He got a new apartment, and it needed furnishing. As they say, everyday life took its toll. And there was the natural fatigue after a very difficult season, after many injuries. Well, he ended up becoming a coach at the age of 22 - nothing extraordinary.
But when Dmitry recovered and things gradually returned to normal, he started saying that he had been misunderstood and that he was ready to train and compete in the world championship.
A commendable desire. Bilozerchev is going to the training camp, having missed the USSR Cup. And then it turns out that the star doesn't really want to stick to the regimen, snaps back at justified remarks, and issues ultimatums.
And then, at the recent training camp at the sports base in Eshera in July, there was another setback. To be honest, I didn't expect this from Vladimir Gogoladze. He seemed like a modest guy to me. He had worked incredibly hard to get into the Olympic team, becoming the first Georgian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.
I called Gogoladze my 'young friend.' That's just a side note. He's 23 years old. I was very impressed with him five years ago at the European Junior Championships in Italy. The guys called him Lado. He was shy, blushing like a girl. And back then, in my report, I called Gogoladze one of the most promising gymnasts of the new generation. A year later, Lado competed in the senior continental championship, and then, for almost two years, he disappeared from the spotlight. His body was developing, his training program was being revised, and the fact that Vladimir still managed to 'catch onto the railing of the Olympic train' is thanks to his coach, Arnold Kvetenadze, who invested his heart and soul into his student. There is nothing more painful for a coach than to learn about the downfall of his protege...
According to Leonid Arkaev, head of the Gymnastics Department of the USSR State Sports Committee, Bilozerchev and Gogoladze had a corrupting influence on the members of the national team. Everyone was diligently preparing for the world championships, working hard and updating their routines, when these two suddenly 'went on a spree.' And now their path to the world championships is closed.
At the beginning of these notes, I promised not to preach. The situation is so typical of our sport that it hardly requires explanation, commentary, or conclusions. But, forgive me, I still can't resist quoting the great moralist Ivan Andreevich Krylov: "The first and most difficult duty of a person is to conquer their passions." These simple lines have a profound meaning. At a young age, each of us faces a situation where we must make a choice - to follow the broad road, clad in the knightly armor of honor and conscience, or to turn onto the narrow path of dubious temptations, leading into the thicket of a 'beautiful life'?
I'm not sure these two have chosen their path yet. There's still time for them to reconsider, if they truly understand what a professional approach to work entails.
V. GOLUBEV