The world-famous hockey player, eight-time champion of the USSR Valery Kharlamov, whose biography is still of interest to thousands of people, was born in Moscow in 1948, on the night of January 13-14, right in the car carrying his mother to the hospital.
Childhood, family
Father Kharlamov Boris Sergeevich worked at the Kommunar plant as a mechanic. Mother Carmen Orive-Abad, a Spaniard by nationality, who arrived in the USSR at the age of twelve, among other refugees, worked at the same enterprise as a revolver turner. At the time of the birth of their son, Boris and Carmen were not yet married and signed only three months later. Valery Kharlamov, whose biography is full of unexpected events, had a younger sister, Tatyana.
Having escorted his wife and just-born son Valery to the hospital, Boris Sergeevich set off with the things of the woman in labor on foot home. At that distant time, police patrols often bypassed the reporting territories to maintain order and peace on the streets of the city. A young man with a bundle in his hand, walking down the street at night, seemed suspicious to the policemen, and they asked him to go to the police station. Valery's father was even happy about this - at night in mid-January there was a big frost. And the office is warm. Having told the police officers on duty the good news that his son Valery was born, after treating everyone with shag and warming up, Boris Sergeevich went home.
Weak child
The biography of hockey player Valery Kharlamov, a world-famous athlete, is amazing, because he was born a weak child with low weight. This is understandable: with meager card nutrition, with virtually no vitamins, it was difficult to count on good health. At first, his family lived in a hostel: three families lived in a large room divided into four parts by plywood partitions. There were Spartan conditions, but they lived together and cheerfully.
Serious diagnosis
Due to insufficient and monotonous nutrition, not very favorable living conditions and a far from mild climate, Valery Kharlamov, whose biography surprises with the number of ups and downs, was often sick. After another sore throat, which happened in March 1961 and gave complications to other organs, the doctors discovered he had a heart defect and forbade the boy from any physical activity, including any sports, attending physical education classes at school, and in the summer - a pioneer camp. Even swimming was banned.
Introduction to hockey
Despite the warnings of doctors that Valery Kharlamov, whose biography is closely connected with sports, could die during physical exertion, in the summer of 1962 his father, who himself was fond of playing hockey, took him to a summer skating rink, which had just opened on Leningradsky avenue. At that time, there was a set of boys (a year younger than Valery) in the hockey section. Valery was also naturally frail, so no one thought that he could be a year older than the guys who were then accepted. He, like several other boys, was accepted by the second coach of CSKA Boris Pavlovich Kulagin. And when it turned out that Valery had the wrong age, it was already too late to expel him, because with his perseverance and hard work he managed to win the sympathy and trust of the coaches. Since then, hockey has firmly entered the life of Valery, and his whole other life was subject to a training regimen.
School of CSKA
From the age of fourteen, Valery began to successfully engage in the CSKA hockey school, and from the age of nineteen - in the main team of the club. Kharlamov was distinguished by perseverance, stubborn character, and the will to win. He always tried to achieve high results, never complained or whimpered. And he could burst into tears not when he was physically hurt, but when the referee first removed him from the field for two minutes, and he had to leave the team in the minority to fight with rivals.
Chebarkul "Star"
In a fairly short period of time, Kharlamov became one of the best players in the CSKA youth sports school. But the chief Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov did not have high hopes for Valery. Mostly because of his small stature. After all, at that time all the famous world hockey champions, including the legendary Canadian athletes, were much taller and more powerful. Because of this, the hockey player Kharlamov was sent to the second league in 1966, to the army team of the Sverdlovsk military district - the Chebarkul Zvezda. But as you know, talent will find its way everywhere. Being in Chebarkuli and playing there in the team, first-class Kharlamov managed to score 34 goals against opponents in one season.
Through the coach of the team, the Moscow coaches also learned about his success. In the spring, Kulagin went to the city of Kalinin, where the Kharlamov team played, and personally witnessed the success of the young athlete. It only remained to convince the great Tarasov to transfer the talented athlete to the main team of CSKA, since he continued to doubt the advisability of such a step. In the summer of 1967, he succeeded, and the 19-year-old hockey player Valery Kharlamov again ended up in Moscow, from where he and his team were sent to a training base in the city of Kudeptsta.
The birth of the legendary trio
The consequence of this was that the CSKA team, for which the hockey player Valery Kharlamov played, became the champion at the national championship of 1967-1968. At the same time, the famous hockey trio Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov appeared, in which Valery achieved the highest results. The trio used a power style and knew how to interact in the game in such a way that the team achieved the highest results. Kharlamov himself in 1969, at the age of twenty, became the youngest world champion in the Soviet Union. Valery knew how to play beautifully, which won and fascinated millions of fans. Goalkeepers trembled when he went on the ice, and the audience enthusiastically admired his game.
The best team player
In 1971, Kharlamov became the top scorer, scoring 40 goals against opponents, and in 1972 - the best player in the tournament as part of the USSR national team, scoring 9 goals. In the same year, Olympic gold was won. Since that time, Valery was considered the best hockey player in all of Europe, becoming the champion of the USSR four times, three times world champion and twice European champion. In the fall, he went to conquer North America as part of a team.
"Invincible" Canadians
At this time, in September 1972, a series of matches between the national teams of the USSR and Canada began on the ice of the Montreal Forum. The inhabitants of the North American continent did not doubt for a single moment that their compatriots would win all eight games, and by a huge gap. And what a surprise it was when in the very first match the Soviet hockey players won with a devastating score of 7:3. It was a shock to Canadian hockey players. Kharlamov distinguished himself here with his unique style of play and scored two goals, later called masterpieces. After that, he was unconditionally recognized as the best player in the Soviet team. Valery became one of the key players in the USSR team. This led to the fact that after the match he was offered to move to the Canadian team, promising a million dollars for this. Kharlamov tried to laugh it off, saying that he would not go anywhere without his troika. The Canadians did not understand the joke and agreed to accept all three players, including Petrov and Mikhailov. But that was not the time - the players remained in their former team.
Recognition of professionals
Canadian large and powerful players were especially angry and surprised by Valery, as he was much smaller than their height and more frail. They called him "Baby" among themselves and were sincerely surprised at his resourcefulness and perseverance. But they also recognized his skill and talent - of all European hockey players, he became the first and only one whose portrait hangs on the stand of the Museum of Hockey Glory in Toronto.
Of course, Kharlamov was the most beloved hockey player in his native country - even fans of other teams admired him.
Fateful meeting
One evening, the guys from the hockey team, including Valery Kharlamov, went to a local restaurant to celebrate another victory. In the next hall of the same restaurant, a company of young people was walking - they were celebrating the birthday of one of the girls. When the music began to play, hockey players began to invite the girls from this company to dance. And Kharlamov invited a girl whose name was Irina. She mistook a young, short, black-haired guy in a cap for a car driver, a taxi driver, but nevertheless agreed to dance. Valery did not leave Irina all evening, and at the end he offered to take her home by car. Irina confirmed her assumption about Valery's profession, getting into the new "Volga" with the number 00-17 MMB.
At home, as befits a decent girl, she told her mother Nina Vasilievna everything. Nina Vasilievna was skeptical and distrustful of her daughter's new acquaintance and wanted to follow him to find out what he was like. Irina had already met Kharlamov for several weeks when her mother persuaded her to show him at least from afar. But this time we didn't get to know each other. And when Nina Vasilyevna found out who her daughter's beau was, she calmed down a little - after all, not some kind of driver, but a famous athlete.
Birth of the first child
In 1976, the son of Valery Kharlamov and Irina was born. He was named Alexander, in the future he will follow in the footsteps of his father. And a little later, the couple had a daughter, Begonita. During the same period, Valery became a six-time world champion and a two-time Olympic champion.
It is surprising that the parents of a celebrity have never met their daughter-in-law and have not seen their grandson, and he was not officially introduced to Irina's mother, despite the fact that young people have lived together for so long. The friends of the couple intervened in this, and one day on March 8, the son of Valery Kharlamov and Irina got by their efforts to Valery's parents to get acquainted. And after that, Valery went to Irina's mother for an official presentation.
Accident
In the spring of the same year, Valery Kharlamov and his wife were in a car accident. The accident happened in May. The day before, Irina called Nina Vasilievna and asked her to sit with the baby while they went to visit. But when, at the agreed hour, Nina Vasilievna did not wait for the call, she thought that someone else would be the nanny. And only after some time she learned from mutual friends that Valery and Irina had crashed in a car. They were driving home late in the evening, and Valery lost control of the car. The car was shattered and beyond repair. Valery received numerous broken legs, ribs and a concussion. Valery Kharlamov's wife was also injured. But it helped that witnesses to the accident immediately called an ambulance and the victims were immediately taken to the hospital.
The athlete spent two months in the hospital before taking the first independent step after the illness. The children of Valery Kharlamov at that moment were under the supervision of his mother. Teammates brought a simulator to the ward so that he could train and keep his muscles in good shape. Doctors gave disappointing forecasts and doubted whether he would be able to walk normally, not to mention the game. It was in August. In the late autumn of the same year, Kharlamov again took to the ice. And six months after the accident, he began to fully train.
To spite all predictions
There were many skeptics as to whether Kharlamov could become a player of the previous level. But, despite the disappointing forecasts of doctors and their recommendations to forget about hockey, Valery did the impossible - he already showed his high class in the first game with Wings of the Soviets. And in 1977, as part of the CSKA team, hockey player Kharlamov became the seven-time champion of the USSR and still remained one of the top scorers. Throughout his fifteen-year sports career, he played in 438 matches for the CSKA club and scored 293 goals. 123 matches were played for the USSR national team at the World Championships and the Olympic Games, and 89 goals were scored.
At that time, there were rumors about the strict nature of the team's coach Anatoly Tarasov and about the iron discipline in the training of the famous club. But the new coach who came to the club in 1977 dispelled them, saying that there was no discipline there, even the most elementary in terms of the requirements adopted in the sport. Just all conscientiously and responsibly treated their duties and training. And if necessary, they knew how to show heroism.
Untimely loss
On August 26, 1981, Valery Kharlamov died on the Leningrad Highway. The accident occurred when his wife Irina was driving the car. She also died a few hours later in the hospital. The death of Valery Kharlamov was a tragedy for millions of his fans. Together with family and friends, millions of admirers of his talent all over the world mourned. And the children of Valery Kharlamov from that moment were brought up by his parents. Until now, they are actively invited to various programs - to talk about their legendary father.
The funeral of Valery Kharlamov took place a few days later. Ten years later, a monument was erected at the site of his death.
The star legend of domestic and world hockey is Valery Kharlamov. A film about his life, successes and fame was released in 2013. Many sports facilities are named after him.
January 14, 1948. His parents worked at the Moscow Kommunar plant: father Boris Kharlamov is a test fitter, mother Aribe Abbad Hermane (Begonita) is a Spanish refugee.
Already at the age of seven, little Valery learned to skate, and in 1962 he was enrolled in the hockey section. Among all the available players, the coaches saw a talented hockey player in Kharlamov and immediately offered to move to the adult CSKA team, but the then coach Anatoly Tarasov did not take him, citing his small stature. Only after Kharlamov proved himself at the USSR junior championship in Minsk in the spring of 1967, upon returning to Moscow, he was enrolled in CSKA.
In 1968, Kharlamov managed to break into the main team of CSKA, where he formed a troika with Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov. In December 1968, to participate in the international Moscow tournament (later named for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper), Kharlamov was invited to the second USSR team. After the end of the tournament, their trio Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov was invited to the main team for two exhibition games with Canada. Starting with these games, their trio became famous all over the world.
In 1969, Kharlamov participated in the World Championships as part of the USSR national team. At this tournament, the team became the gold medalist, and Kharlamov became the Honored Master of Sports. In the 1970/71 season of the USSR championship, he was the best in terms of the number of goals, where he scored 40 goals. In 1971, in the final of the World Cup, Kharlamov scored the decisive goal against the Swedish national team, and at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo he was recognized as the best goal scorer of the tournament. At that time, the USSR national team became the Olympic champion.
Kharlamov received universal worldwide recognition after a series of games between the USSR and Canada in 1972, where he became one of the main players. In 1975, games between the NHL and the USSR took place at the club level. Four games were planned for the CSKA team, and Kharlamov was already a superstar by that time. In this tour, Kharlamov was recognized as the best in the CSKA team, where he scored four goals and three assists.
At the Olympic Games in Innsbruck in February 1976, Kharlamov scored the decisive goal in a match with Czechoslovakia. In the same year, in April, at the World Championships, he became the best striker. On May 14, 1976, the wedding of Valery Kharlamov took place, he married Irina Smirnova, who was 19 years old. Before that, they had a son, Alexander, and later a daughter, Begonita, was born. Almost two weeks after the wedding on the Leningrad highway, Valery and Irina had a car accident. The hockey player had a fracture of the right shin, a concussion, a fracture of two ribs and many other bruises. Doctors forbade him to play sports, but by the autumn he resumed training. Already in November of the same year, he played in a match with Wings of the Soviets, where one of the goals was on his account.
In December 1976, he participated in the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper and, in the very first match with the Swedish national team, scored three goals. In 1978 and 1979 Kharlamov also played at the World Championships under the leadership of Vyacheslav Tikhonov, where he helped the team become a gold medalist. After an unsuccessful performance at the 1980 Olympics, the trio Kharlamov - Petrov - Mikhailov was accused of a weak game, and even offered them to end their careers. Due to injury, he missed about half of the 1980/81 season, which turned out to be his last. His last puck was thrown into the gates of the Moscow Dynamo on May 14, 1981.
Valery's life ended tragically, on August 27, 1981, together with his wife, he got into a car accident. The players of the USSR national team could not attend his funeral, as they were at the Canada Cup tournament. But between themselves they decided to win the tournament. And won the Canadians in the final with a score of 8:1.After the tragic death of the Kharlamovs, Nina Vasilievna Smirnova, Irina's mother, took up the upbringing of their children. Soon, having matured, son Alexander followed in his father's footsteps and became a hockey player. But he did not become as famous as his father, periodically changing clubs, either in the North American leagues or in the Russian ones. He also worked as a coach for a while, and then went into business. Begonita became a master of sports in rhythmic gymnastics.
For all 15 years of his career as a hockey player, Valery Kharlamov played 438 matches for CSKA, scoring 238 goals. He played 123 matches for the USSR national team at the Olympics and World Championships. During his career, he repeatedly became the champion of the USSR, five-time winner of the Cup of the country, twice was the gold medalist of the Olympic Games, and eight times the world champion. At the 1971 USSR Championship, he was recognized as the top scorer. He also became the best goalscorer at the 1972 Olympics. He was awarded the title of the best hockey player in 1972 and 1973. In 1976 he was recognized as the best striker in the world.
Kharlamov was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and the medal "For Labor Valour". Kharlamov is assigned the number 17 in recognition of his services to the club. In Toronto, in the hockey hall of fame, his name is immortalized.One of the championships of the Continental Hockey League is named after Valery Kharlamov. Also in the Youth Hockey League, the main trophy is named after him. For the first time, the Kharlamov Cup, which was made by the sculptor Frank Meisler, among youth teams, was awarded to the Russian champion in 2010, the team from Magnitogorsk - "Steel Scales".
On May 18, 2008, Kharlamov was included in the symbolic six hockey players by the International Ice Hockey Federation during the centenary existence of the federation itself. On April 29, 2009, a bust was unveiled to Valery Kharlamov on the Walk of Fame of CSKA. On October 30, 2009, the Central Bank of Russia issued a silver coin with a face value of 2 rubles with a portrait of Kharlamov, which is dedicated to the Outstanding Athletes of Russia series. Commemorative rings on September 14, 2012 were awarded to the participants of the famous first Super Series of the USSR - Canada in 1972. The relatives of Valery Kharlamov were also given his ring.
On August 27, 1981, Valery Kharlamov tragically died. At that time he was only 33 years old, he was already a hockey legend, an Olympic champion ...
Valery Kharlamov is called one of the six best players in the history of world hockey, his name has become a true legend of Soviet sports. Unfortunately, the fate of the famous athlete was tragic. He died in an accident, but his loved ones spoke of a non-random chain of events that made this death inevitable ...
Valery Kharlamov with his parents and sister
The biographers of the athlete claim that he inherited his strong-willed character from his father, and his explosive temperament from his mother, who was Spanish. As a child, she was taken to the USSR among the refugees from Spain, and since then she has lived in Moscow. She met her future husband, Boris Kharlamov, at the Kommunar plant, where both worked, and in 1948 the couple had their first child, Valery. He was born in a car while his mother was being taken to the hospital. The newborn was very weak and weighed less than 3 kg. He was named after the pilot Valery Chkalov.
Valery Kharlamov in his youth
Valery's father was fond of hockey, and therefore the son first skated at the age of 7. True, his sports career might not have taken place: a sore throat transferred at the age of 13 gave complications, doctors discovered a heart defect in the boy and forbade him from any physical activity. The father did not accept this diagnosis and enrolled the child in the hockey section. Soon Valery Kharlamov was already one of the best players in the children's and youth sports school of CSKA.
Despite Kharlamov's success in sports, at first, CSKA head coach Anatoly Tarasov did not place bets on him and even sent the player to the second league - the Chebarkul Zvezda. The coach was embarrassed by the short height of the hockey player (176 cm) - he was worried that the Soviet attackers simply could not cope with Canadian tall and powerful players. However, as part of Zvezda, Kharlamov scored 34 goals in just one season and convinced Tarasov that he was worthy of the main team of CSKA.
In the late 1960s the famous trio of CSKA hockey players was born - Mikhailov, Petrov and Kharlamov. Together they terrified opponents and turned hockey into a real art. At the age of 20, Valery became the world champion, setting a record (before him, no young hockey player had achieved such results).
The famous trio of CSKA players Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov
After a series of matches in Canada in 1972, where the Soviet team won with a crushing score, Valery Kharlamov was recognized as the best player. But the Canadians did not doubt their superiority and were shocked by the score 7:3. Canadian goalkeeper Ken Dryden admitted:
I have never seen such a striker game
After that, one of the Canadian coaches offered the athlete a million dollars to play in the NHL. The hockey player said that he would not go without Petrov and Mikhailov. Then they told him:
We take all your three
Kharlamov joked:
We are Soviet millionaires, we feel good at home
In fact, he could only be called a millionaire by the number of his fans. Everyone loved him, even fans of other teams, he was the soul of the company, was friends with the actors of the Taganka Theater Valery Zolotukhin and Boris Khmelnitsky.
Once in a restaurant, the athlete met 19-year-old Irina Smirnova. Then she thought that he was a taxi driver, as he was wearing a leather jacket and a cap. The fact that her chosen one is actually a legendary hockey player, the girl learned from friends. In the spring of 1976 they got married. In the same spring, an incident occurred that many later regarded as a sign of fate or a warning - Valery and his wife had an accident. Returning home at night, the hockey player lost control and crashed into a pole. Both received complex fractures, and doctors for a long time doubted whether Kharlamov could return to the ice. But in the fall, he was again "in the ranks."
Hockey player after an injury sustained in an accident in 1976
One of the best hockey players in the world Valery Kharlamov. Photo by Valery Zufarov
During his 15-year sports career, the hockey player scored 293 goals, became a two-time Olympic champion, a six-time USSR champion and a seven-time world champion. He was considered the fastest and most technical striker in the world, he reacted with lightning speed to all the situations that happened on the ice, which Anatoly Tarasov called "the speed of technical thinking."
Soviet hockey legend Valery Kharlamov
In 1976, Viktor Tikhonov became the coach of CSKA. In 1981, the legendary hockey player thought about ending his sports career. He wanted to say goodbye to the fans after the Canada Cup. A few days before the departure, it became known that Kharlamov was not on the lists. Tikhonov considered that the athlete, who was already over 30, should remain in Moscow due to insufficient physical condition. This decision of the coach unsettled the hockey player. Kharlamov's friend and partner in the USSR national team Alexander Maltsev said:
Without hockey, he could not, he believed that he should be in the ranks
Soviet hockey legend
Later, the hockey player's son Alexander recalled:
My sister, mother and grandmother were in the country. Dad came to us after the team flew to Canada, but he was not included in the squad. This was a big blow for him, because just the day before he was recognized as the best striker in Europe, and besides, he wanted to participate in this particular tournament, as he liked to play against Canadians, who were strong opponents. My father was very worried, he did not sleep almost all night. And in the morning she and her mother left for Moscow. Dad was supposed to have a workout. And then the accident happened
One of the best hockey players in the world Valery Kharlamov
On the morning of August 27, 1981, after a sleepless night, Kharlamov got behind the wheel, but immediately after leaving, his wife asked him to change places with him. She did not have much driving experience, and on a slippery road after rain, she ran into a bump, lost control, drove into the oncoming lane and crashed into a truck. They died on the spot. The hockey players of the USSR national team dedicated their victory at the Canada Cup with a crushing score of 8: 1 to the memory of Valery Kharlamov.
Already after his death, many acquaintances recalled that Kharlamov seemed to have a premonition of an early death. Vladimir Lutchenko recalled:
Valerka often uttered phrases that seemed to revolve around the number 30.
Once he said:
“Okay, why be sad. Everything is fine. We'll live to thirty, and then come what may." He said it with a sigh. As if measured out these thirty years, as some kind of milestone. I later recalled these words many times after the tragedy. Like he knew something. As if he wanted to take everything from life. And hockey and everything else. All Spanish was. And in the game. And in life
Kharlamov once said to his father:
It is strange that none of our hockey players have ever been in car accidents.
They also saw a mystical coincidence in the fact that the athlete was born in the car and died in the car. Many said that the tragedy would not have happened if he had then left for Canada. However, it was not the fault of the coach, nor the fault of the wife, nor the fault of the truck driver in what happened - a fatal combination of circumstances led to this. Ironically, Kharlamov passed away when he was about to leave hockey, without which he could not imagine life.
Children of the legendary athlete
Soon the legendary Soviet hockey player, two-time Olympic and eight-time world champion Valery Kharlamov would have turned 65 years old. The sports world will celebrate this date widely, of course, the children of the great striker, Alexander and Begonita Kharlamov, will be invited to the ceremony. How their fate turned out, who helped the kids orphaned in early childhood and who took up their upbringing, our reporter was told by the son of a famous athlete.
Alexander Valeryevich agreed to the meeting immediately, however, he warned that he had few childhood memories related to his parents. After all, fate gave him only five happy years with mom and dad. Alexander's voice on the telephone seems calm, but even today, 32 years later, it is difficult for him to remember the tragedy that turned his whole life upside down.
We agreed with Alexander Valeryevich to meet in a cafe. As soon as he entered, I recognized him: an athletic figure, a confident step, only athletes can walk like that. He smiled and became even more like his father - Valery Kharlamov. Three years ago, Alexander left coaching for business, but finds time for his favorite game of hockey.
– Charity games of teams of veterans are often held now. For example, in the summer there was a series of traditional games where famous hockey players Kovalchuk, Malkin, this year Morozov play. Of the pop stars, the brightest hockey fan is Butman. During breaks, Igor even plays the saxophone. Politicians also speak - Shoigu, Kudrin, Dvorkovich. We all calmly communicate in the locker room - everyone is equal on the ice. At first I thought that Alexey Kudrin was a reserved person, but we talked closer and I saw that he was cheerful and very wonderful. It's not the first time we played, so we even became friends.
My father was also friends with artists, singers, for example, I have known Joseph Davydovich Kobzon all my conscious life. Sometimes we call each other, we meet. Recently, I congratulated him on his anniversary: we agreed, met in his office, talked. Grandmother said that when her parents died, there were a lot of organizational problems. The 80s were a time of shortage, and Iosif Davydovich helped to erect a monument to dad and mom. Now there is a kind of monument to his father in Toronto.
In May 2005, I was given a Hall of Fame club jacket because my dad, Valery Kharlamov, was inducted into the National Hockey League's Hall of Fame. Only six Russians received this honor. The ceremony of induction into the Hall of Fame takes three days and resembles the Oscars, Begonita Dmitry and I were in tailcoats, my wife Victoria and Begonita were in evening dresses. Solemn and beautiful. We donated a few of my father's personal items to the booth dedicated to my father - his T-shirt, gloves, helmet, photographs.
- Alexander Valeryevich, the famous Kharlamov is the idol of millions today, he is known and remembered as a great hockey player. What kind of person was he, a father?
- Dad, like all athletes, spent more time at the training camp: it was necessary to train a lot, improve, keep fit. At the base they had a strict regime, special food. Sports, especially such as hockey, require a lot of effort, perseverance, and time. And when dad came home for the weekend, it was a holiday for the family! Begonita and I ran out into the corridor to meet him, he threw me up to the ceiling, took my sister in his arms.
Dad raised us differently. Me - as a future man. He treated Begonita more tenderly, she is a girl. By the way, dad chose the name of his sister himself. When I was born, my grandmother gave me the name. And the father said that he would name the girl himself. You know, there is such a flower - begonia? So he chose such an unusual Spanish name for his daughter, because his grandmother was from Spain, she was brought here in 1937, so she met her grandfather here.
In general, I don’t remember much about my father, he was small. It was on the ice that he was the star and pride of Soviet hockey, but in life he was ordinary - very cheerful. From childhood, I remember summer holidays more. Dad had a vacation in July, we all went to the dacha together. And on the weekends we went for a walk. We often walked to VDNH, fortunately we lived nearby, at the Shcherbakovskaya metro station, which is now called Alekseevskaya. Also, my mother and I went to my father’s home games, because after the match, until the hockey players left for the base again, there was one of the few opportunities to approach my father and chat. So we did not miss the games that were held in Moscow. Then dad left for work, and my mother, grandmother and sister drove home. And so on until the next game.
We watched all international games on TV. True, my father often called my mother (there were no mobile phones then, but there was a landline phone at the base), and the parents talked for a long time, dad was aware of all domestic events. At home there was always my father's uniform, skates, sticks, which aroused my particular interest, and at the age of three I got my first skates.
My sister also fell in love with hockey, Begonita and I arranged our home competitions at home - with a puck, sticks, everything was as it should be. We lived on Mira Avenue, and in the yard we had a hockey box, the boys were constantly spinning there, playing hockey. And then one day, teammates came to my father, and world-famous athletes went out to play in the yard. What started here!
A huge crowd of people gathered, adults and children ran home for skates, because not everyone gets the chance to drive the puck with such legendary hockey players as Kharlamov and Krutov! My father never had a star illness, he always communicated on an equal footing. For example, in the summer on Saturday and Sunday, ordinary men played football, and my father also got ready and went to the field.
Many of our neighbors today remember my father with kind words. When he was at home, many people always came to us. My father was very fond of cooking himself, cooked meat perfectly, often treated guests. In our house there were not only famous athletes, but also popular artists - Kobzon, Vinokur, Leshchenko. My father met them when there were international games and Soviet pop stars supported the national team.
Now this practice also exists, together with the Olympians there is a support group that represents the Russia House. I think that even now athletes and artists get to know each other there and become close friends. So dad was friends with Joseph Davydovich, Lev Valerianovich. Even together sometimes went to rest somewhere in the south. It was always fun and noisy in our house, dad and mom loved to receive guests ...
Trouble came to the house on Thursday, August 27, 1981. Then it will become known that the accident that claimed the lives of three people happened at seven o'clock in the morning on the 74th km of the Leningrad highway. The Kharlamovs were returning from their dacha, Irina, Valery's wife, was driving the Volga. On a road slippery from rain, the car swerved into the oncoming lane, the car crashed into a truck and rolled into a ditch. Irina, Valery and Irina's cousin Sergey Ivanov died on the spot. They say that the day before the accident, asphalt was changed on this site. Where the new coating ended, a ledge five centimeters high formed, which caused the tragedy.
The memorial service was held on August 31 at the CSKA Weightlifting Palace. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the dead. The players of the USSR national team could not attend the funeral: the team was in Winnipeg. In memory of a friend, hockey players decided to win the Canada Cup at all costs. The athletes kept this promise, beating the Canadians 8:1 in the final.
But no victories could return the parents to the young children of the Kharlamovs. The kids did not understand that they were orphans ...
- At that time I was five years old, run three. When our parents died, we were brought up by our grandmother - my mother's mother, Nina Vasilievna Smirnova, her sisters helped her. And of course, the entire CSKA team showed their participation, but due to the tight schedule of games, the athletes, of course, could not engage in our education.
Sometimes Aleksey Kasatonov, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Vladimir Krutov came to visit. They also helped financially, they brought things from trips, at that time it was difficult with children's clothes. And the whole burden of responsibility fell on the shoulders of grandmothers. And then another tragedy happened - five years after the death of our parents, our beloved grandmother, father's mother, also died. She could not survive the loss of her son, and it was as if we were orphaned for the second time. And Nina Vasilievna still lives with Begonita, and I wish her good health with all my heart. They are still in the same apartment where my sister and I spent our childhood, where our friendly family once lived, in that happy far away.
- Your love for hockey has gone through your whole life. Where did you play?
- First, at the CSKA youth sports school, then I was invited to play in America. I went, lived there for about six years, played in the NHL with the Washington Capitals. But as the contract ended, he did not renew it, he returned home. He was a player in the capital's Dynamo, CSKA, as well as Novokuznetsk Metallurg. Then he tried himself as a general manager of the Vetra hockey club in Vilnius. He was also the coach of the Vityaz club in Chekhov. And two years ago he became chairman of the executive committee of the trade union of hockey players and coaches.
Begonita was a sickly child from childhood, so figure skating did not work out. And her grandmother took her to rhythmic gymnastics, where her sister reached the master of sports, performed at small competitions. After school, she entered a sports institute and trained as a coach. When I was in America, my sister came to me for the holidays. We missed you and I wanted to see that Begonita was all right. Once my grandmother was visiting me. By the way, my sister did not just sit at home, but even studied at a language school for some time.
- Athletes do not have time to arrange their personal lives.
- Our Begonita is beautiful, bright, like her mother, she has always been a success. And one fine day she married Dmitry, gave birth to two beautiful girls - Daria and Anna. And she dedicated herself to her family. I really like to come to their hospitable house and, of course, I am happy to communicate with my nieces. I love them very much.
I was also lucky, I managed to meet my future wife in my youth. We have known Vika for a long time, but we did not communicate closely. We have a mutual friend, at whose birthday party we met every summer. It was like this for several years, and then somehow it happened that Vika and I noticed each other. And so slowly, slowly reached the wedding. I was 22, my fiancee was 19. And a year later, our son was born, whose name was not even thought about, named after his father - Valery. He is now 14 years old, he does not play professional hockey, but he goes to the gym, goes in for swimming, and this year he is graduating from a music school in the guitar class.
By the way, my dad also loved music very much, but he didn’t play, but listened. He brought vinyl records from every trip, and his large collection is still in perfect condition. Father listened to his favorite tunes both at home and in the car. He himself did not play, but he wanted to, he just did not have time to study. After all, my dad devoted his whole life to hockey.
Ice Hockey Legend - Legend #17
On this day, January 14, 66 years ago, the brilliant hockey player and great man Valery Kharlamov was born in Moscow.
More precisely said about the extraordinary sports talent Valeria Kharlamova composer Dmitry Shostakovich: "What an amazing talent, what a combination of thought and movement, what a diamond among diamonds!" And words are best suited to the fate of Valery Vasily Shukshin about Sergei Yesenin: “They are sorry: Yesenin lived a little. Exactly - with a song. If it were, this song, long, it would not be so poignant. There are no long songs ... ".
Valery Kharlamov was born on January 14, 1948 in Moscow, into an international family. Father, Boris Sergeevich, worked all his life as a test fitter at the Moscow Kommunar plant. Since the 1940s, his mother, Aribe Abbad Hermane (Begonita), a Basque from Bilbao, worked as a revolver turner there - one of the many Spanish children taken out in 1937 from Spain engulfed by the civil war and raised in an orphanage in the USSR .
They named their son after the legendary pilot Valery Chkalov. Later, Valery had a sister, Tatyana.
Valery was addicted to sports by his father, who played Russian hockey for the factory team and often brought his son with him. And when in 1962 a summer skating rink opened on Leningradsky Prospekt, he, secretly from his wife, took his son there and enrolled him in the hockey section. Kharlamov himself recalled: “I was not a very healthy child. My father believed that sports should help me become stronger. He did not think that I would be a hockey player when he was chasing the puck with me in the yard and even when he brought me to CSKA. They accepted 13-year-olds, and I was 14. I had to deceive - the good thing was that the growth was small ... ”. Valery became the first coach Vyacheslav Tazov, and later Andrey Starovoitov.
The hockey talent of young Valery was seen by his first coaches early and recommended him to the adult team of CSKA, but Anatoly Tarasov at first he was not impressed by Kharlamov - mainly because of his small stature. However, in the spring of 1967, Valery flashed in Minsk in the final tournament of the junior championship of the USSR, and upon returning to Moscow he was invited to CSKA. After the team's summer camp in Kudepsta, a completely different Valery returned to Moscow. Vladimir Bogomolov, Kharlamov’s partner in the youth team, recalled: “Upon returning in 1967 from Minsk, when they began to try Valera in the team of masters ... I encouraged him not to hang out among the masters, wherever there was a hockey player, then a team player. It was hard for him - neither impressive physical data, nor a sonorous name even at the junior level. Later he left for a training camp in Kudepsta. And when they saw each other again, they did not recognize their friend. Powerful legs and arms. And what a back, what abs! Muscles played all over the body. The athlete returned home, at least sculpt an ancient hero from him.
In the 1967/68 season, Valery was sent to the second league - to the Chebarkul Zvezda, the "army" team of the Ural Military District. As the head coach of Zvezda admitted Vladimir Alfer, he received strict instructions from Tarasov: “You must create conditions for him to train three times a day. In calendar meetings, Valery must spend at least seventy percent of the time on the ice, regardless of how the game goes.
The coach appreciated the game of Valery, and informed Anatoly Tarasov about it. On March 8, 1967, Kharlamov returned home and on the same day was called by Tarasov to CSKA training.
He managed to gain a foothold in the main team of CSKA only in the next season in the top three with Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Petrov. In December 1968, Kharlamov was invited to the second USSR national team to participate in the international Moscow tournament (later it became known as the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper), and immediately after the tournament, Kharlamov, Mikhailov, Petrov were invited to the main team for two exhibition games with Canada. It was from these games that the three Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov appeared in the USSR national team. It was not just a brilliant hockey trio, they all became real friends. Valery Kharlamov spoke warmly about his friends: “It's great when real friends are next to you! Those who will not dissemble, seeing that you are wrong, will not be afraid to offend by saying this in your face. I appreciate in my friends honesty, directness, frankness, desire to help, help out ... They are sometimes cheerful, sometimes harsh, but do not lose heart under any circumstances. You know, it rarely happens that players of the same trio are friends. Others, if they get together - except perhaps on the site. We almost never part with Mikhailov and Petrov, although everyone is different. Volodya Petrov has a difficult character: he is quick-tempered, stubborn, and there is no person in the world who could outguess him. In serious matters, Petrov is principled and will express his point of view to any, the most recognized authority, including Tarasov, and will defend it to the end. Well done! Mikhailov enjoys special respect in the national team and in CSKA. I appreciate in our extreme right the selflessness with which he gives himself to the game, justice and modesty. Once Boris said: "A person in any situation must remain himself." And he himself strictly follows this rule.
This trio of CSKA forwards was created over the course of three years. First, Boris Mikhailov appeared in CSKA, since 1967, Vladimir Petrov began to appear at the base of the “army men”, who was seen as a replacement for Alexander Almetov, who was leaving hockey, and after the CSKA team went to games in Japan, Kharlamov joined the trio.
Each of the players of the legendary trio had his own unique style of play: Mikhailov was passionate and scored the most goals in the trio, Petrov, who was unusually physically developed, knew how to conduct a power struggle, and Kharlamov stood out for his unique stroke, scored less than his partners in the trio, but gave them a lot of assists gears. This trio became the first in Soviet hockey to play in a power manner. Kharlamov himself described the game of the troika as follows: “We understand each other not from a half-word, but from a half-letter. I know what they can do at any given moment, I guess their decision, even if they are looking somewhere else. More precisely, I don’t know so much as I feel what they will do in the next second, how they will play in this or that situation, and therefore at the same moment I rush to where the puck is waiting for me, where, according to my partner’s plan, I should appear. Without saying a word, only by looking at each other, we immediately find a solution that suits everyone - having lost the puck, we know who should run to the aid of the defenders, we know when the partner is so tired that it is you who should “work” back, although he is closer to his goal , at any moment of the match we know who to fight, who to attack the player who owns the puck.
Since the early 1970s, Kharlamov has become one of the leading hockey players in the country. His greatest strengths were superb technique, flawless skating, puck possession, and striking goalscoring qualities.
In the USSR championship in the 1970/71 season, he became the top scorer, having thrown 40 goals into the opponents' gates. At the 1971 World Cup, it was thanks to him that the decisive goal was scored in the match with the Swedes, which led to the victory of the national team.
On the eve of the Olympics in Sapporo, Tarasov decided to transfer Kharlamov to another trio - to Vikulov and Firsov. And in this trio Valery played brilliantly. He became the top scorer of the Olympics, he managed a hat-trick twice (in matches against the Finns and Poles). During the Games, Kharlamov scored 16 points, scored 9 goals and gave 7 assists. The gold of the USSR at the Olympics in Sapporo is largely the merit of Kharlamov.
Valery Kharlamov said: “I can’t play against the weak. I don't know why. I guess I feel sorry for them. Here to fight again with the professionals! You play against them - you feel like a man. How they fight with power, how they fight until the last second! Canadians spare neither themselves nor their opponents. But when you beat the team of Phil Esposito or Bobby Hull, you feel that you didn’t take the stick in your hands for nothing. And in the super series of the USSR - Canada in 1972, Kharlamov demonstrated all his best sports qualities and received universal recognition in world hockey.
Kharlamov always strove to play against strong opponents, "to carry" the weak - not for him
Along with Tretiak and Yakushev, he was one of the leading players in the USSR national team in these games. Goalkeeper Ken Dryden said about Kharlamov after the first match: “It was Kharlamov who broke our mighty team, removed the question of the winner. I have never seen a striker like this.”
Another significant sporting event in Kharlamov's career was the USSR Super Series - Canada in 1974 - in 8 games he scored only 2 goals, but both of them are recognized as masterpieces. On September 17, 1974, in Quebec, Valery scored a goal that delighted both fans and professionals. Canadian defender Tremblay recalled: “When Stapleton and I rolled back, I was calm: not a single WHA or NHL forward would risk wedging between us. Without false modesty I will say that it is less dangerous to find yourself between two millstones. However, this Russian attacker rushed straight at us. What happened next? I saw that the forward was going to go around me from the outside, on the left. Pat Stapleton, as it turned out later, noticed the exact opposite: they say, the Russian wants to bypass him on the right and also from the outside. When we parted to catch each "his" Kharlamov, he slipped between us. And to this day I don't understand how he made a fool of us. But one thing I know for sure: there is no other player like him.” Canadian journalists called this puck "a gourmet goal."
On October 3, in Moscow, Haralamov scored the puck, about which Anatoly Tarasov enthusiastically responded as follows: “He circled the first Canadian with his signature feint - a deceptive nod of his head to the side, which is why he rushed across, where Valery was not going to move. He beat the second, who intended to collide on a sliding tackle, by braking sharply and at the same time turning his torso, so that the enemy missed and flew past. And to the third, he showed that he had lost the puck, deliberately releasing it from the hook of the stick, and when the Canadian touched the puck, already tasting the joy of having taken it from Kharlamov himself, Valery ran into him, pushing him with his shoulder, knocked him over on the ice, and again mastered puck and found himself face to face with goalkeeper Chivers.
As if jokingly, even playfully, Kharlamov approached the most experienced Canadian goalkeeper, swung his club and lunged to the left with the clear intention of punching into the goalkeeper's right corner. His feint was so natural that the goalkeeper began to shift to the right, but Valery played differently - with an elusive movement, he sent the puck on top into the left corner of the goal.
Team doctor Oleg Belakovsky noted the extremely aggressive and sometimes unsportsmanlike game of the Canadians: “It would seem that an imperceptible poke with a club - and Kharlamov’s bridge of the nose is broken. I have a hard time stopping his bleeding. A blow to the bridge of the nose is a very painful thing, but now it’s not up to pain, and Valery is again torn on the ice. Canadians set themselves the task of breaking this stubborn at any cost. And then, in front of thousands of indignant spectators, something disgusting happens. Rick Lay, a Canadian defender, overtakes Valery and punches him in the face out of the blue. He punches in the nose! Lay's blow serves as a signal, and the real carnage begins. Most of all goes to Kharlamov, Yakushev, Maltsev, Vasiliev, Lutchenko. All of them are seriously injured. I barely have time to bandage, grease, glue. I barely have time because the guys are literally eager to fight. They are torn, despite the danger of new collisions. It was truly a great fight." In fairness, it should be noted that after the game, Lay publicly apologized to Kharlamov.
At the end of 1975, the first games between the USSR and the NHL took place at the club level. The Army Men were to play four games in North America. Kharlamov in the USA and Canada was greeted as a superstar - only he and Tretiak were given a long standing ovation by the audience during the presentation of hockey players before the start of the games. And Kharlamov lived up to the expectations of the fans in every match - all his goals were skillful and beautiful. In the games of this super series, Canadians often used techniques that were far from sports. So, in a match with Philadelphia, Canadian Ed van Imp hit Kharlamov with a stick in the back in the 12th minute of the first period, after which the Soviet hockey player lay on the ice for a long time. Kharlamov himself recalled this as follows: “The blow was so strong and unexpected that I crashed onto the ice ... It darkened in my eyes. I think I even lost consciousness for a few seconds. And the first thought is that you must definitely get up ... For several seconds the muscles did not obey me, but somehow I got up. After that, the leadership of CSKA took the team off the ice, but this did not lead to anything. The team “burned out” during this break and eventually lost 1:4. At the end of the tour, Kharlamov was the best in the CSKA team in the "goal + pass" system, scoring 4 goals and giving 3 assists.
At the Olympics in Innsbruck, Kharlamov performed in the same trio with Mikhailov and Petrov. In the last, decisive game with the Czechoslovaks, it was Valery Kharlamov who scored the winning goal, outplaying goalkeeper Jiri Golechek. In total, Valery scored three goals and gave six assists in the tournament. The victory in Innsbruck was his second and last Olympic gold.
In 1976, Valery Kharlamov got married and in the same year, together with his wife, got into a car accident on the Leningrad Highway. The hockey player received a fracture of the right shin and two ribs, a concussion and many bruises (the wife was not injured). Some doctors recommended that he end his sports career, but two months later Valery took his first steps in the ward, and in the fall, on the advice of Tarasov, he began to train with the boys at the rink. At the cost of incredible efforts, overcoming pain and weakness, Kharlamov returned to big sport and already on November 16, 1976, he entered the match against Wings of the Soviets. He recalled it like this: “I played then in a fog. And not because he was weak. Functionally, I have already restored the form. I just saw that the guys protect me - both partners and opponents. And it really touched me. So I need. So they appreciate it. It feels like I'm about to burst into tears. Barely coped with the nerves ... ".
Kharlamov returned to the USSR national team in December 1976 at the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper, and in the very first match against the Swedes - a hat-trick. And although he didn’t score again at the tournament, he became the best in the “goal + pass” system (3 + 3, 6 points) together with Boris Mikhailov.
In 1977, at the World Championships in Vienna, the USSR national team became only the third, but Petrov's trio was recognized as the best in the championship in goals scored and points scored.
In the summer of 1977, CSKA and the USSR national team were headed by a new coach, Viktor Tikhonov, who tightened discipline and increased training loads. And this gave its results - in 1978 and 1979 the world championships were won, the 1979 Challenge Cup in the USA. But after the unsuccessful 1980 Olympics, in which the USSR national team lost to American students, the trio Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov was disbanded. Kharlamov has repeatedly said that the 1981/82 season will be his last. He dreamed of becoming a children's coach. Tikhonov did not take him to the Canada Cup - 1981, and Valery remained in Moscow, where he died on August 27, 1981 in a car accident, on the same Leningrad highway, where the first accident occurred. His wife Irina died with him. He left behind a son, Alexander, and a daughter, Begonita.
Valery Kharlamov, one of the best hockey players in the world, was only 33 years old. He was buried at the Kuntsevo cemetery in Moscow. At the funeral there were no players of the USSR national team, which at that time was in Canada. But they gave their word that they would win the Canada Cup in Valeria's memory. And they kept their word, destroying the superstar Canadian team in the final - 8:1.
In 1991, on the eve of a decade after the tragedy, a 500-kilogram puck made of marble and a hockey stick were installed on the 74th kilometer of the Leningradskoye Shosse, on which the inscription was engraved: “The star of Russian hockey went out here. Valery Kharlamov".
One of the divisions of the Continental Hockey League and the main trophy of the Youth Hockey League are named after Kharlamov. The Kharlamov Cup is made of precious materials by the famous sculptor Frank Meisler. For the first time the Kharlamov Cup was awarded to the champions of Russia in hockey among youth teams in 2010 - the Magnitogorsk team "Steel Foxes".
No. 17 is forever fixed in the Russian national team and CSKA. No one else can play in its composition under this number. The only exception was the son of a hockey player - Alexander.
Stanislav Shatalin, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, said of Kharlamov: “Someone said that Socrates created philosophy. Aristotle - science. Undoubtedly, Kharlamov is one of the creators of hockey. As Valery convincingly proved, for this it is not at all necessary to stand at the origins. At any stage of development, you can create something that will allow you to get an unofficial, but eternal title.
Anatoly Tarasov noted the extraordinary modesty of Kharlamov: “Valery Kharlamov never, I emphasize, never felt like a sort of prospector on the placers of sports luck. He fought not on his stomach, but to the death for the victory of the national team of the Land of Soviets. And when our anthem sounded under the arches of the ice palaces, not by his contribution, although sometimes he was oh so great, Valery was proud - he was proud, first of all, for the state, because the natural feeling of patriotism was always characteristic of Valery Kharlamov to the highest degree!
And he also noted the versatility of his sports talent, willpower and dedication: "... Valery was talented in many areas of activity, but he was still created for hockey, for this speedy, ingenious and fighting game of real men. And no matter what stars among rivals and among partners did not surround Kharlamov on the ice, he remained the strongest among the strongest, the first among equals.Valery brought to an extraordinary degree of perfection the possession of three speeds - the explosive speed of movement and maneuver on the court, the speed of reaction with a stick to the slightest change in the game situation and, finally, the speed of thinking, which, I think, is not inferior to the most modern computers.Each of these speeds can be found - however, only separately - in other class forwards, but their fusion was, as it were, only Valery Kharlamov's trademark.
The possession of these three speeds allowed Valery to develop a stroke, which can be called not only Kharlamov's, but also legendary - he bypassed not one, but several opponents over and over again and even recognized masters of power martial arts, whom some of our aces are still afraid of. Kharlamov could not be stopped even by outright rudeness. Moreover, the famous Bobby Clark in 1972 in the first series of matches of the USSR national team with NHL stars, who frankly hunted for Valery, later wrote: “I was filled with such respect for this great forward of the Russian team that I am ashamed of those moments when I caused him pain. But we simply were not able to stop Kharlamov by other means ... "
Unfortunately, sometimes hockey players who are not half as talented as Valery imagine themselves to be almost the centers of the universe - they require special treatment, special conditions, they look at partners as “cartridge carriers”. And here I especially want to recall how such an attitude towards people, towards life was alien to Valery. That's who did not require anything for themselves! That's who knew how to rejoice in the success of a comrade! And not just rejoice, but help the birth of this good luck!
For the sake of this, Kharlamov climbed into the thick of it. He forced the enemy to rush - in fear for his own goal - at him, thereby freeing Valery's partners from the guardianship. It was here that Kharlamov, with a secretive throw, redirected the puck to a teammate who was in a favorable position to complete the attack. And he was the first to congratulate him on his success.
There was nothing above the interests of the team for Valery. And when, before the White Olympics in Sapporo, we, the coaches, asked Kharlamov, in connection with the developed fundamentally new tactical arrangement, to part, albeit for a while, with Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Petrov, his partner friends who understood him perfectly, he did not argue. And having come to a new link, he managed to infect with his incredible energy, inexhaustible optimism and Alexander Ragulin, and Anatoly Firsov, and Gennady Tsygankov - players who were already famous by that time. All of them, as well as Vladimir Vikulov, whose best game falls on the season when he played on the same line with Valery, were grateful to fate that brought them (as they themselves told me more than once) into one game company with Kharlamov ...
In 1976, it seemed that Valery would part with hockey - after the first car accident, which ended in a broken leg and ribs, he began to limp. And although Kharlamov with monstrous persistence returned himself to hockey, he was truly hard on himself, valued every minute, but he could not catch a moment of psychological confidence in difficult game situations. For several days I puzzled over this problem and suggested that Valery play alone against six 10-15-year-old boys in additional training.
We did not tell the guys anything about the purpose of the experiment, otherwise the training could turn into a giveaway. At times it seemed to me that such a diabolical load could not be sustained. But Valery survived and as a result returned faith in himself, became the former Kharlamov, a hockey knight without fear and reproach. But, alas, some kind of automobile fate hung over him - on August 27, 1981, Valery Kharlamov died.
Valery Kharlamov did not know his greatness! Or rather, I didn't want to know. He didn’t want to stand out among his comrades, partners, he even refused the captain’s armband (and we, both coaches and players, offered it to him more than once), preferring to remain, as psychologists say, an “informal leader”. Speaking about the future, he dreamed of working with boys. It is with the boys, and not with the masters of hockey, although the latter is considered much more prestigious.
But the prestige of Valery never worried. And where other masters puffed out their cheeks, as they say, Kharlamov always remained himself ...
Unfortunately, we have to talk about all this in the past tense, but I, who have been closely acquainted with Valery Kharlamov for almost two decades, cannot but emphasize once again that both Valery Kharlamov’s talent as a hockey player and his purely human qualities - honesty, integrity, decency “These virtues will be a role model for young people for a long time to come.”
He did not know his greatness. But we know and will always remember who Valery Kharlamov was - a brilliant hockey player, a decent and modest person, a good friend, a true patriot of his country. In his character, the breadth and generosity of the Russian soul and the temperament of passionate Spain are so harmoniously intertwined.
