Yuri Vlasov

Yuri Petrovich Vlasov (p. Over the years of his professional activity he set 31 world records and 41 USSR records.

Great athlete and talented writer; a man whom Arnold Schwarzenegger called an idol, and the Americans said with annoyance: "As long as they have Vlasov, we will not break their records."

There are many interesting facts in the biography of Yuri Vlasov, which we will talk about in this article.

So, before you is a short biography of Yuri Vlasov.

Biography of Yuri Vlasov

Yuri Vlasov was born on December 5, 1935 in the Ukrainian city of Makeyevka (Donetsk region). He grew up and was brought up in an intelligent and educated family.

The father of the future athlete, Pyotr Parfenovich, was a scout, diplomat, journalist and expert on China.

Mother, Maria Danilovna, worked as the head of the local library.

After leaving school, Yuri became a student at the Saratov Suvorov military school, from which he graduated in 1953.

After that, Vlasov continued his studies in Moscow at the Air Force Engineering Academy. N.E. Zhukovsky.

During that period of his biography, Yuri read the book "The Way to Strength and Health", which made such an impression on him that he decided to connect his life with sports.

Then the guy did not yet know what heights he would be able to achieve in the near future.

Athletics

In 1957, 22-year-old Vlasov set his first USSR record in snatch (144.5 kg) and clean and jerk (183 kg). After that, he continued to win prizes in sports competitions held in the country.

Soon they learned about the Soviet athlete far abroad. An interesting fact is that the career of Yuri Vlasov was closely followed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who admired the strength of the Russian hero.

Once, at one of the tournaments, 15-year-old Schwarzenegger was lucky enough to meet his idol. The young bodybuilder borrowed one effective technique from him - moral pressure on the eve of the competition.

The point was to let the opponents know who is the best even before the start of the tournament.

In 1960 at the Olympic Games in Italy, Yuri Vlasov demonstrated phenomenal strength. Curiously, he was the last of all the participants to approach the platform.

The very first push, with a weight of 185 kg, brought Vlasov Olympic "gold", as well as a world record in triathlon - 520 kg. However, he did not stop there.

On the second attempt, the athlete lifted a barbell weighing 195 kg, and on the third attempt squeezed 202.5 kg, becoming the world record holder.

Yuri received incredible popularity and recognition from the audience. An interesting fact is that his achievements were so significant that the competition was called the "Vlasov Olympics".

In the same year, Vlasov was awarded the highest award of the USSR - the Order of Lenin.

After that, American Paul Andersen became the main opponent of the Russian athlete. In the period 1961-1962. he took records from Yuri 2 times.

In 1964, Vlasov took part in the Olympic Games held in the Japanese capital. He was considered the main contender for the "gold", but the victory was nevertheless snatched from him by another Soviet athlete - Leonid Zhabotinsky.

Later, Yuri Petrovich admitted that his loss was largely influenced by the underestimation of Zhabotinsky.

And here is what Leonid Zhabotinsky himself said about his victory: “With all my appearance, I showed that I was giving up the fight for the“ gold ”, and even reduced my starting weight. Vlasov, feeling himself the owner of the platform, rushed to conquer records and ... cut himself off. "

After the failure in Tokyo, Yuri Vlasov decided to end his sports career. However, due to financial problems, he later returned to the big sport, although not for long.

In 1967, at the Moscow Championship, the athlete set his last record, for which he was paid 850 rubles as a fee.

Literature

In 1959, being at the peak of popularity, Yuri Vlasov published small compositions, and a couple of years later he won a prize at a literary competition for the best sports story.

In 1964, Vlasov published a collection of short stories "Overcome Yourself". After that, he decided to become a professional writer.

In the early 70s, the writer presented the story "White Moment". Soon from under his pen came out the novel "Salty Joys".

During this period of his biography, Yuri Vlasov finished work on the book “Special Region of China. 1942-1945 ", on which he worked for 7 years.

To write it, the man studied a lot of documents, communicated with eyewitnesses, and also used his father's diaries. An interesting fact is that the book was published under the name of his father - Peter Parfenovich Vladimirov.

In 1984, Vlasov published his new work "Justice of Power", and 9 years later presented a three-volume edition - "The Fiery Cross". It told about the October Revolution and the Civil War in Russia.

In 2006, Yuri Petrovich published the book "Red Jacks". It spoke about the youth who grew up during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

Personal life

With his future wife Natalia, Vlasov met in the gym. The young people started dating and soon decided to get married. In this marriage, they had a daughter, Elena.

After the death of his wife, Yuri remarried to Larisa Sergeevna, who was 21 years younger than him. Today the couple lives in a dacha near Moscow.

In the late 70s, Vlasov underwent several operations on the spine. Obviously, his state of health was negatively affected by serious physical activity.

In addition to sports and writing, Yuri Petrovich was fond of big politics. In 1989 he was elected People's Deputy of the USSR.

In 1996, Vlasov announced his candidacy for the post of President of Russia. However, in the struggle for the presidency, he managed to gain only 0.2% of the vote. After that, the man decided to leave politics.

For his achievements in sports, a monument was erected to Vlasov during his lifetime.