Olympic champion Boris Shakhlin: biography, sporting achievements

Shakhlin Boris Anfianovich - an outstanding Soviet gymnast, Olympic champion, master of sports. Many more good words can be said about this remarkable man ...

Boris Shakhlin: biography. Childhood champion

He was born in Ishim in 1932, at a large nodal station near Tyumen. When he was 12 years old, his parents died. Then he was raised by his grandmother with his elder brother.

In the yard of their house stood a bar, on which Boris liked to study. In 1944 he was admitted to the gymnastics section. The first coach of the future champion was VA Porfiriev. It was he who laid special relation to the sport and developed by nature the strong character of the boy. Coach Porfiryev had a very strong character. After the illness he could not bend, but did not complain, he worked. His example greatly inspired the students.

The training hall in which Shakhlin was engaged was small and low enough that when working on uneven bars the children hit the ceiling with their feet. We practiced a lot on the street. Bathed in the local river. We went skiing. They ran along the grass.

Shahlin won his first victory at the All-Union Olympics among schools, which was held by the Ministry of Transport. Acted in the third category.

The period of growing up and the beginning of a stellar career

In the Sverdlovsk physical culture technical school, Boris came to the wonderful trainer E. F. Runge. Already at this stage Shakhlin switched to the program of masters of sports. Pulled his physical condition, ability to work on the rings. In their native Ishim, they could only be practiced on the street in the summer.

After graduating from the technical school, Porfiryev and Runge advised Shakhlin to go to study at the Kiev Institute of Physical Education. There, with the future champion was engaged in AS Mishakov. The joint work of a remarkable coach and a talented student gave a positive result. As a sophomore, Shakhlin was awarded the title of Master of Sports of the USSR.

In 1954, Rome hosted the first world championship, in which athletes from the Soviet Union participated. The team, in which Shahlin went, included Chukarin, Muratova, Korolkova, Azaryan and Vostrikov. In these competitions Shahlin received a silver medal for his performance on the crossbar and gold in the team competitions. After returning home at competitions in Kharkov, Boris competed with his comrades in the World Cup and was awarded the title of absolute champion of the USSR.

The heyday of sports career

Shortly before the Olympics in Melbourne, when he came to the sports camp in Odessa, Shakhlin met his future wife, a student of the medical institute, which was a member of the national gymnastics team. After the Olympics, a wedding was played in Kiev and Odessa. Modestly, without a white dress and rings. The athlete's wedding ring was later presented to his wife in Moscow. He himself went to the end of his days without this attribute of a married man.

The first gold medal he received at the Olympics in 1956 in Melbourne. Victory won in competitions on horseback and in team competitions. Boris Shakhlin is a master of sports who participated in the twelve Olympics. In three he fought for the victory. At nine he was a judge.

In 1958, at the championship in the Soviet capital, the main competitor was the brilliant Japanese Tokashio Ono. Shakhlin received a gold medal for team performances on horseback, bars and crossbar.

Getting the prefix "iron" to the surname

At the competitions in Rome in 1960, Japanese Ono was again the main rival. Shakhlin was psychologically more prepared. Tokasio became nervous and gave up his position. Shakhlin won on the rings, which he never liked.

To add a prefix "iron" to the name of the athlete began after at the beginning of the exercises on the crossbar on his arm burst a leather lining. In such cases, athletes interrupt performances. Running the program without the lining is fraught with a fall from the crossbar and serious injuries. But Shakhlin could not refuse to speak. He completely fulfilled the program at a high level. I completed it successfully. The arm without a lining has turned into a continuous wound, it has worn off. Smiling at the hall, Shakhlin did not show that he was in pain.

Boris Shakhlin is an Olympic champion, who won 4 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals at competitions in Rome . Bronze - for a performance without a lining, it actually was with the help of one hand.

At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Shakhlin was the only sportsman from the Union who won gold. He also received 2 silver for performances in the team and personal championships and bronze for performing on the rings.

Completion of an athlete's career

For ten years, Boris Shaflin was in Ukraine, the USSR and in the world arena the leader of gymnastics. During this time he won 97 medals. Actively participated in competitions up to 35 years. For gymnastics is very much.

And then the negative habit, which had appeared in the school years, was expressed. The athlete combined smoking with heavy physical exertion. Smoked makhorka and "Belomorkanal". As a result, in thirty-five years he received the first heart attack. Since training, he was taken to the intensive care unit. The career of the athlete is over. I could not train, either.

The way out for a world-famous athlete was found in judging. Since 1968 Shahlin took part in the Olympic Games as a judge. And in the seventies he was elected vice-president of the Technical Committee of the International Federation of Gymnastics.

For the contribution to the sports and Olympic movement, as well as for personal sporting achievements, Boris Shakhlin received:

• In the international press the title of the most outstanding athlete of the twentieth century;
• Silver Order from the IOC;
• In 2002, the "International Gymnastic Hall of Fame", which is in America, included Shakhlin in his list.

In addition, Boris Anfianovich worked at the gymnasium in his native institute of physical culture in Kiev, was an assistant professor. Supervised the Foundation for the Development of the Olympic Reserve.

How was Shakhlin in life?

Boris Anfianovich was very modest. I did not ask for anything. But he often sought help for others. And I did not wait for him to be asked. He loved and spoiled his wife and daughter. Boris Shakhlin, a gymnast who played chess well, was fond of billiards. He was an interesting interlocutor.

When the elder brother of the sportsman died, and the nephew from Tyumen wrote that his father had nothing to bury, Boris Shakhlin sold his medals. He left only two granddaughters and a daughter for memory. I gave the money to my nephew.

He died at the age of 76 in 2008. The great sportsman was buried at the Baykovoye cemetery in the city of Kiev.