That was incredible! This was contrary to common sense, it was done contrary to the logic of events. And, of course, I would argue that this could not have happened if I had not seen myself how Vyacheslav Vedenin was the first to emerge from a short, rare forest, roll down a gentle slope onto a flat saucer of the Makomanai ski stadium and rush to the treasured line.

First, here's the deal! The lanky Norwegian Jos Harviken, who won the bronze Olympic medal in a 30 km race, he left for the last stage of the relay a minute and two seconds earlier than Vedenin, and now, staggering from exhaustion and despair, he was running behind. However, no, he didn’t run - he barely walked, so it would be more accurate. The Norwegian was incredibly tired, he could hardly hold on, and every step for him was a great torment. So he stumbled, fell, got up, fell again ...

Vedenin won the relay! He won a few seconds at the finish line, eliminating the head start - a minute and two seconds, that Harviken had at the start. Vedenin won, and to us, standing on the podium and already resigned to defeat half an hour ago (“In the end, silver medals are also not bad,” we consoled each other), everything that happened seemed fantastic.

Probably there is no point in arguing who was the hero of the winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, the Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk, our skiers Galina Kulakova and Vyacheslav Vedenin, or the courageous 17-year-old skier from Switzerland Maria-Teresa Nadig. The Spaniards are probably special work will prove that Francisco Ochoa, who won the special slalom, became the hero of the Games, the Poles will be right in their own way, highlighting ski jumper Wojciech Fortuna.

That is why, refusing to try to place the winners of Sapporo on the Olympic podium in order of ranking, I would like to make one remark. Young Nadig was excellent in the most difficult alpine disciplines - in downhill and giant slalom. But her victories were won in one breath. They are perceived as "ah!". A little more risk, a little more courage. "Oh!" for a minute and a half - and one gold medal in your pocket. Another one and a half - and another in the pocket ... Ard Schenck looked like a gentleman in Sapporo in white gloves. The opponents he met in the races were much weaker than him. Overcoming lap after lap, Schenk fought only an invisible struggle with the stopwatch. He was great in this fight. But who knows if he would have remained so, having come face to face, say, against Keyes Ferkerk? ..

Vedenin also worked on skis until a sweat. He fought for hours - furiously, stubbornly and for a long time, every second feeling the hot breath of his rivals behind his back. And in Sapporo, he managed to do what none of the many generations of our skiers have been able to do in the 16 years since we entered the Olympic orbit: win an Olympic gold medal in the individual race. It was Vedenin who, starting at the last stage, saved what seemed to be a hopelessly lost relay race.

And the time has come to give praise to Vedenin. But loud phrases somehow did not fit with his name. He didn't love them. Not at the time of his triumph at the World Championships in the High Tatras in 1970 and the Olympics in Sapporo. Neither in the years of preparation for Innsbruck, nor after he ended his career as a racer and became a coach.

As far as possible, the owner of so many titles, he tried to avoid everything that created unnecessary noise around his name, believing that fuss could interfere with the main thing - training, could upset the balance in his spiritual world. He preferred to remain a stern man who, in the choice between allowances and prohibitions, constantly has to give preference to the latter. And everyone knew his favorite trick - to disappear unnoticed after the finish line, fleeing from journalists and reporters. Disappear and somewhere in silence, alone with yourself, calmly think about how the race went. Once again, suffer and endure every meter of distance, honestly answer the question: “Has everything been done to win?”

That is why not immediately and not simply attributed to the category of great racers Vyacheslav Vedenin. But they took it anyway. And if we know the Olympics of Veiko Hakkulinen, Sixten Ernberg, Eero Mäntyuranta, then, undoubtedly, the Olympics in Sapporo were the Olympics of Vyacheslav Vedenin, because there was no more striking victory than Vedenin's victory at the final, fourth stage of the relay, at the XI Winter Olympic Games.

He was born in October 1941 in the village of Sloboda, Tula Region, when his father was already dead in the house near Smolensk. And, probably, nothing should be added to this mean and sad line of Vedenin's biography in order to get an idea of ​​his village childhood.

From the age of 14, he already earned his own bread. Along with adults, he mowed, plowed, felled the forest, did all the men's work in the house. And when today they praise Vedenin's hard work in training, I think about his childhood. In this childhood there was so much industriousness that, probably, it would have been enough for ten people, and, of course, it turned out to be enough to make one of the main character traits of Vedenin the racer in the future.

I see him as a 14-year-old teenager ... Deserted and quiet around. The ghostly disk of the moon floats in a foggy ring. Frosty. Above the snow-covered fields and copses, the twilight of the early morning froze. Slavka Vedenin runs 7 kilometers to school. He rolls with a wide stride. This style was taught to him by a certain Shurik Kazakov, a young guy who had just been demobilized from the army.

Vedenin has a stubborn forehead. And the hard, slightly sullen look, and the hard mouth with thin bladed lips, and the stocky figure, tightly braided with muscle cords - everything betrays a great stubbornness in him. Otherwise, he would not have become a racer. In order to run 40-50 kilometers every day, swing a scythe for several hours, saw and cut wood, and in winter on the ski track, drenched in sweat, tearing off your breath, overcoming boundless fatigue, again and again throwing your body into the slopes - for this you need to be stubborn and patient.

It is difficult to say when the thirst for struggle woke up in Vedenin. Sloboda lay aside from busy sports crossroads, and the echoes of the great battles on the ski track did not immediately reach it. It is only known that on one of the January days of 1957, Slava Vedenin, on his own initiative, went to Tula for the regional sports day for schoolchildren ... The night wasted on a hard seat in the car, not closing his eyes from anxiety and carefully holding seedy skis between his knees. At 7 am the train arrived in Tula. The start was given at 9. Vedenin had a ruble in his pocket and a certificate stating that he was a student, healthy and living in Sloboda.

Of course, they did not want to allow Vedenin to compete. And he went around the judges one by one, persuading everyone, until - either he bothered everyone, or moved him to pity - he was not allowed to run the distance, and he showed the best result of the day, winning 3 (!) minutes from the nearest rival.

If we reconstruct step by step all the stages of Vedenin's life, from the first successful start at the regional sports contest for schoolchildren to the victorious run at the 1970 World Championship in the High Tatras, then we should start with a description of the two years he spent in Tula. He was invited to Dynamo, got a job in the fire department, settled in a hostel, in a room where six more adult guys lived. Together with them, Vedenin sometimes worked part-time - he dug trenches for laying pipes, unloaded wagons ... The guys bought vodka and snacks with the money they earned. They walked noisily. Slavka was invited:
- Sit down at the table, new fish.

He never sat down. I put on a suit and left for training. Biking in summer, skiing in winter. He returned drenched with sweat - at least squeeze it out! - shirt, tired. And so from day to day. And gradually six unlucky neighbors were imbued with deep respect for him, feeling in Vedenin moral strength, selflessness and purposefulness - all that they themselves lacked so much.

Vedenin as a great racer was discovered by Dynamo coach Viktor Nikolaevich Buchin. And him, and Anatoly Nasedkin, and Yuri Cherkovsky, and Fedor Simashev, and many others. Buchin saw Vedenin at competitions in Sverdlovsk in 1960. He was a first-class player and hesitated in choosing between skis and a bicycle. I cannot explain Buchin's ability to guess the "vein" in a person. He may not be able to do it himself. However, coaching intuition never let him down. And she brought Vedenin into the ranks of skiers.

He didn't know how to lose. Some attribute the ability to lose with a sweet smile on their lips to signs of good taste, a kind of sports gentlemanship. In this sense, Vedenin has never been a gentleman. Losing to Anatoly Nasedkin (he was considered a talented racer, and, above all, Slava saw him as a rival), Vedenin lay down on the bed, facing the wall, and no forces could make him speak for the next two days. In 1961, in Murmansk, having lost first place to the same Nasedkin, he quietly packed his things, bought a train ticket, and in the evening disappeared unnoticed. He was in despair and drove off to Moldavia to meet cyclists, deciding to give up skiing once and for all.

Frankly, I did not see Vedenin, filled with doubts. Buchin told me about this time. I met Vedenin in 1969 as a mature athlete, confident in his abilities, when he had been training for several years under the guidance of .

The streak of bitter lessons was over. The first Vyacheslav received at the World Championships in Holmenkollen in 1966. That year he won the right to take a place in the national team, but the coaches did not want to include him in the team: they considered him “green”. The team flew to Oslo in the morning, and even the night before Vedenin did not know whether he would fly with her or not. His fate was decided at a stormy meeting of the federation, which dragged on until night. All this time, Vedenin sat in his room, without turning on the light, and gloomily awaited the verdict. At about one in the morning, Buchin called him and, giving his voice maximum indifference, said: “Go to bed. It's all right - you're flying."

And then a surprise. Vedenin, debutant of the USSR national team, leads the marathon race. His time remained the best after 30 kilometers and after 40... By the 44th kilometer, the gap from the nearest rival was almost two minutes...

That year in Holmenkollen the Norwegian Jörmund Eggen was the skiing king. No one could compare with him, and the unexpectedly protracted leadership of the unknown Vedenin in the marathon was perceived as an emerging sensation.

The thirst to prove that he is the strongest led Vedenin. They didn't believe in him. But now he was winning. The only one on the team! He rushed to the ups. As in weightlessness, failed on the descents. And he ran, he ran ... And the commentators more and more often repeated his name.

He drank the broth as he walked, snatching the plastic cup from Buchin's hand. Chewed, so as not to "starve", chicken meat. I drank strong coffee with lemon juice. He did all this mechanically. And the only thing that lived in his mind was the desire to win...

It was a little cold in the morning. The sky was in clouds. Nothing foreshadowed a change in the weather or in the temperature of the snow. The ointment with which his skis were lubricated “worked” perfectly. Everything was going well. And suddenly the sun came out from behind the clouds. Its beams rested vertically on the slope of the rise, the famous Holmenkollen rise, which starts from the 44th kilometer and stretches to the finish line. The ski track "leaked" ...

Vedenin did not immediately realize the drama of the situation. He is tired. But the rivals are also tired. Just had a little patience. Last climb. Vedenin rolled into him, took a step, then another... He felt that something was not right. He habitually pushed, unbending his leg. But the ski did not go forward, but abruptly jumped out from under the foot back. And something seemed to break inside him. Recoil!..

A few years later, having found himself in such a situation, Vedenin would probably have stood up. Of course, he got up and coolly put a layer of semi-liquid ointment under the block. He would spit on the time he would lose in doing so, knowing that otherwise he would lose even more. But then he had no experience. He desperately clung to every one of those 120 seconds he won. He had not yet mastered the rule that Buchin constantly taught him - always take an intermediate ointment with you in a marathon ... And he still knew little about the fatal forty kilometers in a marathon race.

He was on his last climb. Every step is a punch in the stomach. Shriveled leg muscles. He dragged his body, dried up by training, which suddenly turned out to be so heavy, “in his arms”. Tightened arm muscles. And a long time ago, seconds earned at the cost of colossal efforts were lost ... I wanted to cry from anger, impotence, pain. But he stubbornly walked. The result at the finish line was sixth. It was a defeat. But it was also a victory. Perhaps one of Vedenin's major victories is a victory over himself.

The experience that Vyacheslav Vedenin had in Sapporo, he acquired at a high price. The relay race in Grenoble during the X Winter Olympic Games is on the same path of knowledge. The relay race, which Vedenin, it was he, dramatically lost. But, most likely, without this loss it would not have been brilliant! victories in Sapporo.

So, Grenoble, February 16, 1968 ... Vedenin had to run the fourth stage of the 4x10 km relay, and by that time complete clarity had been established on the distance. In splendid isolation, the Norwegians were far ahead of everyone. Behind them are the Swedes. Also out of reach. The third was Valery Tarakanov. Finn, who held on to fourth, lost 30-50 seconds to him - a solid margin.

And yet, Vedenin, warming up before the final stage on the starting clearing, was worried. Its source was the famous Finn Eero Mäntyuranta, the hero of the Innsbruck Olympiad. Finn rode next to Vedenin all the time. Trying to show that his skis glide better. Sometimes, for greater persuasiveness, Myanturanta ran into the backs of Vedenin's skis and, when he turned around, shook his head in apology: sorry, I didn't want to, but what can you do - he carries it. The usual number from the program of psychological pressure. Vedenin understood this. And yet, doubt crept into his soul ... What if?! What if Myanturant skis glide better? Actually, the meaning of successful lubrication is to roll a little further than the opponent at each push. Let just a little. But at a distance, these “slightly *” add up to a huge head start. Vedenin knew that Myanturanta would leave the start 30-40 seconds later. But anxiety, having settled in, no longer left him. Mäntyurant could not even dream of more...

It started about four kilometers before the finish line - Vedenin felt that the Finn was getting him. At first I felt it. Finally, he could not stand it, turned around - and for sure, he saw the Finn at the end of the clearing. After a while, he turned around again - he saw even closer.

Soon Mänturanta caught up with him and they ran together.

"Why doesn't he bypass me? - thought Vedenin. - Why?

I lost the track, but the Finn did not take advantage of the offer, preferring to stay behind...

"Why doesn't he bypass me? - thought Vedenin, making another contribution to the opponent's victorious treasury. - Can't or doesn't want to?

The last climb ... Vedenin desperately rushed up. Break away! No matter what. Tired of the ambiguity. There were a couple of steps to the top. The hardest steps. It was at this moment that Vedenin heard a demanding “hop!” Behind him. Finn asked for a ski track.

Two steps to the top. Vedenin already saw and felt himself on the descent. Free flight. Wind whistle. Elbows to knees. Low stand. Sticks back up. Complete relaxation for tormented muscles. Rest. Liters of fresh air into the lungs...

"Hop!" sharp, like a blow from a whip, made him stop and, instead of stepping up, take a step to the side. An extra step ... At the top of the climb, the ski track is otherwise unyielding.

Mänturanta's back is stained with sweat. Vedenin still got it. Now - bypass. Hop. Useless. Mänturanta does not hear. Or he pretends not to hear - the finish line is close. Okay! Jerk on a parallel track on the left. Blocking the way, the Finn rushes to the left. Vedenin - to the right, and Myanturanta - to the right. And every time Myanturanta "cuts" the track, and Vedenin, in order not to collide with him, is forced to slow down, losing a grain of strength.

Last straight line. Mänturanta can no longer escape. But Vedenin cannot bypass him either. There is a second between them. Its price is a bronze medal. The expensive price that Vedenin had to pay in Grenoble for the experience of relay battles ...

Vedenin and Kolchin... They seemed to be made for each other. big fanatics skiing, supporters of heavy workloads, people are direct in defending their views, intolerant of injustice, complex characters and sometimes troublesome for leaders. When Kolchin was instructed to prepare the national team, Vedenin, unlike most, immediately accepted the new coach and unconditionally believed in the system he proposed.

Soon Kolchin left the team. It is difficult to decide who was right and who was wrong here. But much of what Kolchin did is now taken for granted. For us, it is important that Vedenin remained faithful to his teacher.

Once at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of Russia in Miass, trying to call Kolchin to a frank conversation, I asked:
- Is it true that many then could not withstand the loads?
- Nonsense, - answered Kolchin. - They did not want to work, Or maybe they did not realize their need.
- So now they know?
- I think yes. Climbed up such that they are aware. Natural selection: if you don't work, you don't run.
- Is it true that you introduced roller skates into your classes when even the Scandinavians abandoned them, and this did not suit anyone except Vedenin?
Kolchin chuckled.
- Once in Sweden, the famous Sixten Ernberg invited me and Vedenin to visit. Then everyone thought that the Scandinavians abandoned the commercials. We go into the house. In the hallway in the corner there is a mountain of rollers. Slava points to them: “Do you use it?” Ernberg shakes his head: "No, my son is skating." And I look, the videos are erased almost to the ground. The son would not have been able to cut them like that. Here the adult tried. So, Ernberg was cunning about the commercials ...

Then Kolchin and I sat leaning over an amazing book filled with colorized charts, chart waves, and columns of numbers. Kolchin explained:
- Videos. Imitation. labor processes. Run. Sport games. And here we are on skis. Rolling in. Participation in competition...

In the book, all ratios of training means were precisely formulated and calculated, the volumes of loads were determined, scheduled by days of the week, summarized in annual cycles, summarized in kilometers and hours ... And I realized that it was this book that Vyacheslav's victory was predetermined several years in advance Vedenin at the World Championships in the High Tatras in 1970 and two years later at the Olympic Games in Sapporo. Probably, it was possible to determine the victory of anyone who could read her page with the same pedantry and faith in the correctness of what was written, as Vedenin did.

More than once I have heard from colleagues that my hero is silent and withdrawn and that it is unusually difficult to get him to talk, especially to a stranger... Well, that's true. But it always seemed to me that Vedenin's taciturnity and external isolation are only a form of protection against intrusion into his world by those who cannot be explained what a race is. A sympathetic and sensitive person lives in Vedenino. Once in Pervouralsk, at the national championship, I happened to watch a touching scene. There was a relay. Desperate and eternal dispute between the army and Dynamo. And, as always, Anatoly Akentiev and Vedenin will start at the last stage.

Both are breaking up. Vedenin ran to the starting town, carefully laid the skis with the oiled surface up. A minute later Akentiev also came running, stuck his skis in the crust, stood behind Vedenin's back of the head.

And from a distance they transmit that the gap in the third stage between the Dynamo player Fedor Simashev and the army man Valery Tarakanov is only a second. This means that everything will be decided in the duel between Akentiev and Vedenin... Akentiev is standing with his arms crossed over his chest, his neck stretched out, his gaze fixed on nowhere. It is evident that he is worried, he understands: Vedenin is a very strong opponent and there is little chance of defeating him ... I don’t know how Vedenin felt the presence of Akentiev behind his back, how he caught his state of mind, but he suddenly turned around, embarrassed, awkwardly waddling, took a step forward , hugged Akentiev by the waist, poked his face into his jacket: they say, what can you do, old man, - such is sport life... But you know - I am your friend and will remain so, no matter what happens on the course, no matter how the race goes ...

Sometimes, it would seem, an insignificant act, as in the case of Akentiev, allows you to learn more about a person than a year lived with him under the same roof. Often meeting with Vedenin - we were brought together by competitions - I recognized him precisely by such actions. Before me was revealed his kindness, generosity, readiness to help a comrade, his intransigence to injustice, and even the fact that he, outwardly always maintaining equanimity, can be worried and worried.

Once in Bakuriani, at the USSR Cup, I left my hotel room late at night and suddenly ran into Vedenin. He stood in front of a wide window and looked at the night sky, dotted with a golden scattering of stars.
- Why are not you sleeping? I asked.
“Bone breaks,” he replied.
- Why is this?
- Bad weather...

There was a month left before the start of the World Championship in the High Tatras. Vedenin stood at the window and peered into the night. Maybe he was thinking about tomorrow, maybe he was worried about his son, who had just been born and whom he would see only after the victory. Perhaps he thought about this victory, about the responsibility that fell on his shoulders, because everyone knew: of our racers, only Vedenin could win in the Tatras.

Vedenin became world champion at the age of 29. In the High Tatras he won at a distance of 30 kilometers. He could have won 50, but, fighting Trimmer, he did not notice Oikarainen's breakthrough. And when the tog quickly rushed to the finish line, Vedenin could only wait for the stopwatch to say - he had already finished the run. Finally, it was Vedenin who brought the gold medals to the team in the relay race, having cunningly played the last stage. It was two years before Sapporo, two years before Vedenin's Olympic triumph.

I close my eyes and I see Sapporo, the Makomanai Ski Stadium on February 4, 1972. I see Vedenin running. Great ski run.

Vedenin walks at a variable pace. Like a big white bird fluttering its wings. Feeling the slope, just feeling it, at the same time it is repelled by sticks, on the way there is a rise - it is easy to run up to it ... And in each case its own rhythm. In each case, his strength is natural and imperceptible. And then there is the general rhythm of the race. Vedenin slowly rolls out at first. But gradually the pace picks up. And suddenly you notice that this is no longer a run, but a flight.

So it was on February 4 in Sapporo in the 30 km race, which brought Vedenin the champion's Olympic medal. For 16 years we have been waiting for this victory - victory in the individual race among men. Late the evening before, I came to the Olympic village. Kolchin was sitting in Vedenin's room. The conversation was about the tactics of the upcoming race and nutrition at a distance. Vyacheslav drew a diagram of the route from memory on a piece of paper, repeating all its curves. Kolchin said:
- We will drink at the 8th and 18th kilometers. No more.

I asked a lengthy question: "Well, how?" To which Kolchin just as voluminously replied: "We'll see tomorrow ..."

The morning was horrendous. It fell and fell thick snow. At times its white curtain was so dense that it was difficult to see the huge electronic scoreboard that towered over the stadium.

We stood in the stands, generously showered with snow, surrounding the only walkie-talkie that connected us with the world of the race. Vedenin began slowly. After the first 10 km lap, he held on to seventh, losing about 30 seconds to the leader. We were worried whether the handicap was not great. Finally, from the 15-kilometer mark, one of the coaches of the national team, Viktor Baranov, reported that Vedenin had begun to close the gap. From that moment on, the name of Vedenin began to be repeated in all languages: “Vedenin! Vedenin! Vedenin!..»

In the meantime, he began the assault on a long one and a half kilometer climb, and when he rolled down from it, everyone already knew that Vedenin went to win. In fact, in the first race in Sapporo, he remained true to his favorite tactics of a weak start, to look at the rivals, determine who is worth what, and choose the main one among them. The main was the Norwegian Paul Tyldum. He resisted with incredible tenacity, keeping in suspense everyone who wanted Vedenin to win. And the tension subsided only when Viktor Ivanov, also the coach of the national team, radioed two kilometers before the finish line: “Everyone, everyone, everyone. Tildum is up!!”

And here Vedenin finishes. Lowering his arms and dragging sticks on the straps, he wearily wanders in our direction. Victory! At the house where our skiers undressed, journalists and correspondents are waiting for Vedenin. Incredible crowd. It is impossible to break through to the porch. And everyone who knows Russian at least somehow catches the owners of fur hats, believing that mostly Russians are wearing fur hats, and beg to tell something about Vedenin - about the first Soviet skier who won the Olympic gold medal in the individual race.

Vedenin went to this victory for many years. He walked purposefully, persistently. He subjugated her all his life. Learned to wait and hold back. In the year leading up to Sapporo, he remained in the background.
- Something is wrong with Slavka, - they were talking around. - Probably, he overtrained.

No, he was all right. All year he "rolled up the volume" and prepared for the battle in Sapporo. And one had to be an extremely self-confident person to ignore the saying "better a tit in the hand than a crane in the sky." While everyone was catching "tits", Vedenin hunted for "crane". He didn't chase victories, so to speak, local importance and did not start the Olympic season very successfully - at least, during the tour of Sweden, he never gave rise to enthusiastic exclamations. He built up strength and stamina. And Kolchin to the question: “How is Slava?” - every time he answered: “Normal. We are working according to plan."

They worked according to plan and on February 4 in Sapporo. Vedenin caught his "crane". Much could be said about that 30-kilometer race, if in Sapporo Vedenin had not had to endure a much more serious test - in the relay.

Let's go through it together with Vedenin. Kilometer after kilometer... The beginning was successful. Both Vladimir Voronkov, who was entrusted by the coaches with the most difficult role of a starter, and Yuri Skobov, a desperate bully who had to fight with the strong and cunning Tyldum, brilliantly spent their stages, not letting go of the Norwegians a single step. And only Fedor Simashev, easily excitable, emotional, in a duel with the young Ivar Form, who became the Olympic champion in the 50 km race four years later in Innsbruck, could not stand the tension and lost. He trembled immediately, suddenly, losing faith and strength, and the gap between him and Form at the finish line was a minute and two seconds. It was a disaster.

Vedenin was to flee with Harviken. A rare coincidence: the Norwegian - the bronze medalist of the Games at a distance of 30 km - lost to Vedenin ... a minute and two seconds. Now the distance was three times shorter, and to have time to win back such a huge head start seemed to be an absolutely hopeless affair. It seemed to everyone, but not to Vedenin.

While Simashev "suffered in distress" at the stage, Vedenin was warming up next to Harviken. He perfectly remembered the lesson given in Grenoble by Mänturanta, and now spared no effort to demonstrate to the Norwegian how well his skis glide. For greater persuasiveness, from time to time he rolled Harviken's skis on the backs and, when he looked back, of course, apologized: they say, I can’t do anything - he bears. And he sowed seeds of doubt in Harviken's soul: how well his skis are so well oiled. Although the gap is large, but the opponent is an Olympic champion.

So, Harviken left for the last stage. The stands were empty. Everyone decided that the deed was done, there would be nothing new. The Norwegians carried their hero's Uniform around the stadium, singing songs and waving flags...
- I would only see him, - Vedenin started himself at the start, waiting for Simashev, - just to see his back ...

Finally, he ran. After a kilometer and a half he was met by Vladimir Kuzin. Shouted:
Minus fifty...

Fifty seconds, a minute... what's the difference?! On the radio at the fifth kilometer, Kuzin told the head coach of the national team Venedikt Kamensky:
- The gap is maintained.

He replied:
- I collect the walkie-talkie, I go to
At that moment, Vedenin thought that he was doing quite well. I played 12 seconds, however, all the work is still ahead - on the rise. But he will die, and will do this work.

Kamensky walked to the finish line, feeling annoyed. In principle, silver medals are also not bad, but there could have been gold ones. And the roar grew louder and louder behind him. "Heya! Heya! - it was the Norwegians who drove Harviken forward.

At the sixth kilometer, Kamensky stopped to let the Norwegian through. Nearby is an American coach. I saw - Kamensky without a walkie-talkie, wrote in the snow: 32. He shook his head: they say, it's bad business. And Kamensky suddenly realized that things were going great, that Vedenin would get the enemy - there were three climbs ahead ... Harviken rushed ... The American wrote in the snow: 25. And here is Vedenin.
- Now you will see him, Slava, - Kamensky shouted, realizing that the main thing is precisely this - to see.

In the starting town, the Norwegians no longer sang. Formu stood opposite the starting line and, with his neck stretched out, peered intently into the whitish distance from which Harviken should have appeared.

Vedenin saw him at the beginning of the penultimate ascent.

“Look around,” he thought. “Well, look around!”

And Harviken looked back. From that moment on, he was doomed.

Vedenin exhaled "Hop!" at the very top of the last climb, as Mäntyuranta once called out to him, knowing how difficult it was to give way to the track here. Harviken almost stood up to step aside. It was a kilometer from the finish line. Alexander Privalov - the coach of our biathletes - yelled on the radio: "Bypasses, bypasses!" At the start, Viktor Ivanov and the team doctor Boris Sapronenkov - they had a walkie-talkie - started dancing. He punched the form angrily in the palm of his hand, turned abruptly and walked away.

And then Vedenin jumped out of a sparse sparse forest - a tiny white lump - rushed to the last descent and famously rolled down onto a flat saucer of the Makomanai ski stadium. First. Harviken, staggering from exhaustion and despair, ran behind. However, no: he did not run, he could hardly hold on, he could hardly rearrange his legs.

Vedenin won the relay. That was incredible.

And I would never have believed that on the 10-kilometer segment of the bronze medalist of the Olympics, you can win back a minute and two seconds, if I had not seen everything with my own eyes.

Yes, it was a great victory for Vedenin and, unfortunately, his last big victory. Preparing for the next World Championships in Falun, Vedenin was seriously injured in one of the training sessions - he tore his Achilles tendon. The operation, a long inactivity, the arrival of a new galaxy of young and talented racers on the ski track, and finally, the technical revolution in skiing, as a result of which athletes got on plastic skis - all this did not allow them to return to the rank of leaders. He did not want to remain in another role. Now Honored Master of Sports Vyacheslav Vedenin - holder of the Orders of Lenin and the Red Banner of Labor - Main coach"Dynamo" in cross-country skiing. Under his leadership, the skiers of the society after long break at the 1980 USSR Championship in Krasnoyarsk, they again regained the title of the strongest in the country.

Vedenin retired from the race. The work is continued by his students.

Olympic champion in cross-country skiing (1972), four-time world champion, champion of the USSR (1966-1973). Later an employee of the Tax Police.

One of the heroes of the 1972 Winter Olympic battles. was the Moscow skier Vyacheslav Vedenin. He became the first Olympic champion in Sapporo, winning gold medal in a 30 km race. Before Vedenin, none of the Soviet athletes managed to win the men's individual race on the Olympic track.

But the real feat was accomplished by Vedenin in the 4x10 km relay. In this competition, the great skiing powers put up the strongest teams: Norway - Oddvar Bro, Paul Tyuldum, Ivar Form and Jos Harviken, Sweden - Thomas Magnusson, Lars Åslund, Ingvar Sandström and Sven Oke Lundbek, the USSR - Vladimir Voronkov, Yuri Skobov, Fedor Simashev and Vyacheslav Vedenin. Behind every thousand kilometers covered on skis, there are many wonderful victories. Nevertheless, the chances of the Norwegians were regarded a little higher, their quartet seemed to be more evenly matched ...

The teams passed the first stage with the same speed. Voronkov had a task from the coaches - not to fall behind, and he basically fulfilled the plan, losing a few moments to Bro and Magnusson. Skobov, having started his journey third, tried to immediately catch up with his rivals. It didn't work out. Having gained patience, he “checked” Oslund, and the Swede failed to respond to the Soviet athlete’s jerk. Tyuldum turned out to have stronger nerves and more strength, but in the end he too gave in to Skobov. After the second stage, the USSR team took the lead.

How it happened that Simashev failed to keep the advantage, no one understood. And he himself only shrugged after the finish line. . . Went to the stage first. And then the news came from the track that by the beginning of the 5th km Form was won by 21 seconds. The gap increased with every kilometer. And by the end of the stage reached a minute. It is, of course, impossible to win back so much on a 10-kilometer segment. The inexperienced Vyacheslav Vedenin (he was in his 32nd year) thought: if you do not believe in victory, there is no need to go to the start. But does this motto apply when the opponent has a huge head start?

Vedenin started as if he had not heard the advice of the coaches “not to miss the silver”. He started the race for Harviken, which he did not see: the Norwegian managed to hide in the forest, into which the ski track went. A message came from the 3rd km: Vedenin played 6 seconds, after 6 km the gap was reduced by 24 seconds .... But there are only 3 km ahead!

In the stands of the stadium, the spectators could not believe their eyes when an athlete in a white uniform appeared first on the ski track coming out of the forest. Vedenin still managed to get around Harviken! His onslaught was so swift that the Norwegian lost the track. So the USSR team in the relay became the Olympic champion.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the famous Russian athlete Vyacheslav Vedenin. The first Soviet skier to win gold in the individual men's race, two-time Olympic champion, two-time champion world champion, 13-time champion of the USSR - in an interview with journalists of Channel One, the hero of the day told how victories were given to him, and why he never fell at the finish line, as modern athletes do.

He still remembers every second of that legendary race. Until the finish. Next is darkness. Champion Vyacheslav Vedenin did not hear the applause of the stadium and the jubilation of relay partners. I arrived, losing consciousness from fatigue. He came to his senses when the doctors tried to unclench his teeth, clenched from tension.

“I was knocked out, I don’t remember. But did not fall, as now. I told myself to stand. We are Russians, we should not fall, ”recalls the champion.

He is the first in the Soviet Union who was able to leave behind the seemingly invincible Scandinavians. First, an attempt at the Olympics-68 and a silver medal. Two years later, Vedenin becomes a two-time world champion. The third "gold" then, in fact, was stolen from him. After the "Prague Spring" at the competitions in Czechoslovakia, local working tracks did everything so that the Soviet athlete would not win.

“I only see that it is difficult to go, then I looked - washing powder. The ointment stopped working. On one hand, I worked so hard that the sticks bled, ”says the athlete.

Championship perseverance already off the track nearly cost Vedenin his career. At the Olympics in Sapporo, he is the flag bearer of the national team. And according to the protocol of the opening ceremony of the games, the flag of the country was supposed to bow before the box of the emperor of Japan. Refused. An international scandal erupted.

The next day, the Soviet flag was again higher than the rest. Vedenin wins the 30 km race. Norway's Harviken was a minute and two seconds behind. Already in the relay, everything is repeated exactly the opposite. Now the Norwegian ran to the last stage for all the same 1 minute and 2 seconds earlier. It seemed like a disaster. After all, the distance is three times shorter. Vedenin started the chase even before the start. Cheated. Several times, next to the opponent, he pretended to change the ski lubricant.

“I put it in my palm, moved it around the edges with sticks, rubbed the ski without ointment. Nerves failed, and he greased. Consider, I beat him for 20 seconds,” says Vyacheslav Vedenin.

Already on the track, he won the remaining seconds to muscle cramps. It was possible to catch up with the Norwegian only on the last climb. It remained to come forward. And here the teammates helped.

“How they shouted in unison - “Vedenin, Vedenin!” And the nerves... He turned around, and what is turned around - three seconds, ”recalls the skier.

In anticipation of the denouement, the audience at the stadium craned their necks. The first on the descent is Vedenin. But his triumph was never seen by Soviet fans and reporters. They left earlier, did not believe in a miracle. We hurried to spend the currency before the shops closed. The only photo was presented by a Norwegian journalist. In a modest frame - the last moment of one of the most incredible minutes in the history of sports, a minute that makes you believe in victory to the end.

FRIDAY TALK

E th legendary relay race in Sapporo-1972 - as an illustration: there are miracles in sports. The impossible happens. At the 10-kilometer distance, Vedenin played a minute and became a two-time Olympic champion! Today, the great skier of the twentieth century lives quietly in a village near Tula.

* * *

- Is it difficult to find you in Moscow?

Unless I come for a pension. I have nothing to do in Moscow.

- Is the pension good?

35 thousand. I'm a lieutenant colonel, I have a long service. Plus an increase for Olympic champions. There were 15 thousand, now - 32. It is a sin to complain, there is enough for the village.

Did you grow up in this village?

Yes. True, our mother sold our house a long time ago. People still live there. And I bought a plot opposite.

- Look - the heart aches?

I got sick. And before often came to his home. I even asked to spend the night. They let me in.

Your youth was not the most cheerful.

That's for sure. Father died in 1942. I never saw him. He sent a photo to his mother from the front, and added: "Kiss your daughter." I left to fight, not knowing that my mother was pregnant with me.

- Has the funeral survived?

Yes. No details: "He died a heroic death near Smolensk..." In the neighboring village, the Nazis shot four, but in ours they all hid. About six Germans walked through the streets - and moved to Dubna. Where is the iron foundry. I had terrible rickets from hunger. There was no nettle to be found in the village, they ate it all, so they ate the old quinoa. The only delicacy is teruny.

- What is it?

No matter how you pick potatoes in the field, there will still be something left for the winter. You take the frozen one, and it is soft. You remove the skin and bake pancakes. They also smoked a lot. In the second grade, I already lacked a pack for a day. Once, they stole shag from my grandfather - they smoked so much that they climbed onto the wall! To hallucinations!

- Can not be.

I won't lie to you. Drinking milk. And I gave up smoking in the sixth grade. A front-line artilleryman was sent to us to teach physical education. A hefty man, baptized himself with two-pound weights. Caught us with cigarettes in the toilet. He took me by the legs and held my head over a hole in the floor: "Maknu!" How I roared!

- Where there is a smoke, there is a drink?

When my uncle-colonel came on vacation, my little grandfather put me on his knee. He poured a stack of moonshine: "Drink at the table, not around the corner!" Then he threw the drunk on the stove - so that he slept, did not interfere.

- Moonshine for a kid - not too much?

Yep, overkill. They grew up fast in the village. All childhood is work! I went to school at night, for mowing. You work so hard that you can't get up after dinner. One day, I almost collapsed. He was in the hospital for two months. Yes, I stayed for the second year.

- Why?

I didn't want to learn German. You have to be a fool to give us this language. When fathers were killed in the war. We arranged for a dark German teacher. Behind the guys sneak up - a bag on her head. And the legs will be cut with nettles. She's not to blame for anything. But since the German language - so German.

- Did she put you in the second year?

Yes. The paper was issued: "with satisfactory behavior, I completed 7 classes." A real "wolf ticket", you won't get anywhere with this. Only sport saved me. And I quit smoking and drinking. I started riding a freight train to Tula, for cycling training. He lifted two-pound weights 30 times with his teeth.

- What is it like?

You tie a rope to the weight, grab it with your teeth and pull. Great for back and neck development. I read this exercise in a book about Ivan Poddubny. And somehow I climbed onto the crossbar, I wanted to spin - and head down. They picked me up and took me in a cart to the paramedic. The queue is huge. Suddenly, his head began to spin, and he slid down the wall. Woke up in the room. I look - beds around, someone's voice: "Well, he will live!" From all sides they pulled me honey. Saying: "Son, eat, I did not touch." Well treat - I eat.

- Sober.

And my sister explained to me where I was lying. Death row, with the last stage of tuberculosis. Every morning you look - one more bed is filled. They took it to be buried. Not a night went by without someone dying. I persuaded the nurse, gave my rags. And he ran away.

- Long away?

In sneakers and tights, I watched for three hours, which freight train would slow down. I jumped into one, and he completely stops. I want to jump back, I see - two are walking with sheep dogs. I'm on the other side - and there are soldiers. I think: what's the deal?

- AND?

Zeks were transported! The shadow darted - they pulled the stop-cock. It was decided that the prisoner had run. And this is me. Caught in the police for a long time. Some time later, he enlisted in Kotlas to saw wood. He knew how to manage Friendship-2. I took the passport to the office that collected hard workers, I received 420 rubles in return. I rushed to the market, there pies with meat, liver ...

- The beauty.

I'm going - I'm dying! Hungry! Towards the coach, who won the championship of the region in cycling: "Why don't you go to training?" I told him about Kotlas. He took money from me, added his own - he took my passport back. And sent to Dynamo. By the way, here's the story. At the age of 13, I dug up six bags of potatoes. Mother sent to sell to the market in Tula: "All that you earn is yours." With this money I bought an accordion and a white T-shirt with blue stripes with the letter "D". With what pride he wore it! I did not suspect that soon the whole life would be connected with Dynamo.

- You became famous in skiing. Not on a bike.

I am a master of sports on the highway and track. But winter came, and the cyclists were not released from the army.

- Why?

A lieutenant on a bicycle was hit by a car - and to death. The general ordered: "A cyclist? Don't let him over the fence!" I didn't want to serve. And I ended up at Dynamo with a well-deserved, well-deserved man, 14-time USSR champion in cross-country skiing Vasily Smirnov. He gave me the equipment. Drives in a circle, shouting: "Ra-a ..." I run. Again the cry: "Lower your leg, and roll on it until I say" one "".

- If you hadn't left cycling and achieved outstanding results there?

Not excluded. I am hardy, stubborn. I drove 25 kilometers along the Georgian Military Highway without getting up from the saddle. On one thigh. Legs are healthy. In Tula, I argued with the villagers that I would overtake a lorry.

What were they arguing about?

For two bottles of vodka. We start at the same time. The truck jumps in the pits, and I go around on a bicycle. And I win!

- You say you stopped drinking.

Not to the same extent. If you get enough work - in the evening it’s not a sin to wave with the peasants. Everyone in the village drank! Even denatured alcohol! Bred with steep tea - it goes well. Believe me.

* * *

- The legend goes, as at the 1972 Olympics you answered a Japanese journalist with a mother tongue. and he wrote that your "Dahusim" is like a spell ...

This is before the "thirty". Blizzard. He approached, asked: it snowed, how to run? And I muttered "Yes x ... with him." It is now that no one will be allowed near the athlete before the race, but then the correspondents wandered freely. They climbed into the soul. To poke them with a stick.

- From whom did you learn that history went for a walk around the world?

They sent me a newspaper from Japan, and they translated it here.

- We read about the ointment trick during the relay in Sapporo. How did you think of it?

Once, at a competition, he asked Finn Mäntyuranty: "There is a problem with the ointment. What do you recommend?" He pointed out, "Here's a good one." Foolishly listened. She didn't drive at all! I remembered that episode and before my stage, with the Norwegian Harviken, I allegedly began to wipe the skis with ointment. At the same time, he held the tube in a centimeter, drove with a clean finger. Guessing: bite or not? I even managed to congratulate him on the gold medal: they say, I have no chance. All this worked.

- Guess what will play?

The Norwegian was one of those people that I studied. If a guy is a little spoiled in his childhood, everything worked out for him without stress - rotten inside. You just have to find the place where this rotten thing is. Press there. And I groped - he really wanted fame. I already imagined how the country would be delighted with gold.

- He ran to smear?

Whispers to the coach: "For the third time, Vedenin greases up ..." They look askance at the blue Swix in my hands. And your skis from toe to heel! Consider I played 15 seconds. Then on the descent - 12. He cheated again. I told our guys in advance: “Stand there and shout“ Vedenin! ”So they did. Harviken turns his head, loses two seconds on this. The stick slips - and you win back three. And he turned around several times.

- If not for the trick, would you still win?

Do not know. But there was a lot of evil!

- On whom?

For our fans. 800 people sailed on a ship from Vladivostok. They left the stands without waiting for the end of the relay.

- Why?

They didn't believe in success. And most importantly - the last day the shops were open. I had to spend my daily allowance. Correspondents followed. Not a single photo of me from this race has survived, not a single interview! Before the start, I ran into coaches Kamensky and Kuzin. A flat bottle of cognac is sipped from the throat: "Slava, second place is also a place!" What is it?! As a result, my only shot from Sapporo is at fifty dollars. And then they didn’t take pictures of me, but shoes.

- ???

The famous racer Ernberg opened a company, launched the production of boots. I ran in them. They clicked, well, me at the same time. If there were no shoes, there would be no photo.

Where does such luxury come from?

I had a personal fan in Sweden, millionaire Kurt Lucel. In 1965 they were sent there - without money, without anything. The local federation had to accept. The delegation is small, professor Agranovsky was appointed the leader. They shouted to me on the track: "Rusish spy!"

- Why?

Because I trained with Swedish teams - and for me in Moscow later they calculated their readiness. Before leaving, they were instructed: "Write down everything. And encrypt the records."

They didn't give you any money. What about skis?

Two pairs and one pair of shoes that fell apart on the third day. And the shoes were my coach Kolchin. He performed there for twenty years. And here I am sitting in the room, patching. I am stitching. A Swede comes in: "Oh, Vedenin!" I immediately remembered the notebook in which I signed.

- What kind of notebook?

From the KGB. 37 items that are prohibited abroad. It is impossible, for example, to give autographs at the bottom of a blank sheet. Accept gifts, cash prizes. Get to know someone. And here on the threshold is some uncle. Takes my working skis by the toe - once, and broke off! He sees an unfinished shoe in my hand - he exclaims: "Museum!" He snatches it out and, together with the fight, throws it out the window. Then - heavy Estonian sneakers with kapron insoles. With two fingers, squeamishly...

- Didn't they beat him?

Wanted. This is pure provocation. Everything, as they taught in the KGB - threw out the sneakers, broke the skis. He grabbed him and pinned him against the wall. He squealed: "Know, know, satellite ..."

- Satellite?

Yes. For some reason, he called me a companion. He says: "Tomorrow at 7 in the morning everything new will be brought to you." He left - and I trudged off to look for my goods under the windows in a snowdrift.

- Did you find it?

And found, and finished. At 7 in the morning there is a knock on the door - a stranger is on the threshold. He brought three pairs of skis, poles, sneakers, boots, a training suit. I'm in panic. You can't take it! I signed up!

- Yes. Situation.

I'm to Agranovsky. Allowed: "Just don't ask for more!" - "Yes, I don't need it anymore, now everything is there." Kurt loved me. He warmly treated both Klava Boyarsky and Vanya Utrobin. I brought skis for our entire team to the Olympics in Grenoble.

- Selflessly?

Absolutely. On his bmw the roof has sagged! Everything for the Soviets! And once a unique case occurred. In 1969, he bet Swedish journalists that I would win the Olympics. The next day the newspapers came out with a headline: "Lucelle puts a million and a half crowns on Vedenin!"

- Did you miss something?

In Sapporo, Kurt brought a check for a million and a half. I refused - so he went to the chairman of the Sports Committee Pavlov. So I can officially take the check. He sent to Goncharov from the Central Committee, who oversaw the team. Goncharov forbade it - and he told me: "Glory, your homeland will mark you like that!" Kurt hissed, "Satellite, dunkel..."

- What's this?

Fool, please. I don't understand why I refuse. But Kurt helped us with the prize money. Previously, the coaches took the currency that the national team earned from commercial competitions. They handed over to the Sports Committee, received five percent, and skiers - shish. We didn't realize how fooled we were until the Finns promised everyone 250 marks before the race. Waiting - silence. We went to sort it out and heard: "So they gave it to the coaches."

We looked at each other and drew conclusions. The next step is in Sweden. Through Kurt, we agreed with the organizers: "To the coaches, no, no - everything to the guys in an envelope." And so what's the difference? And in one race we got so many that we felt like millionaires! They never held that kind of money in their hands!

- How?

I received two and a half thousand crowns for the first place. Others are smaller. There was also a sweepstakes. They bet on skiers like horses. Our bonuses, as Kurt explained, depended on revenue.

- What are the coaches?

Came: "Where is the currency?" We answered: "What? We don't know anything." Everyone, of course, was silent.

* * *

How was Kurt's life?

Tragically. Died at 53. Because of me.

- I.e?

He suffered three heart attacks, swallowed handfuls of pills. Came to the Olympics in Sapporo. As one of ours wins a medal, the coaches pour champagne for Kurt. Now for me, then for Galka Kulakov. He got sick and flew home. And now his daughter recalled how she watched my relay race on TV. He poured champagne into the samovar, which I gave him. After the victory, he drank a full glass. He was told - it is impossible! And he: "Vedenin. Sputnik. Mine!" And he died in the morning.

- You mentioned the Boyarskys, three times Olympic champion. Alevtina Kolchina, who played with her for the national team, told us: “Sex control did not exist in those years. And Klava was between“ a woman and a man ”. didn't go..."

Yes, great aunt! I did not notice any male features in her, her face was clean. One skier even had a short affair with Klavka. Although she never married. The girls did not like her, so she talked with our team more often. With Kurt on the eve of the race I could drink a bottle of vodka, and in the morning I calmly ran and won.

- Does Kulakova still live in the countryside near Izhevsk?

This is not a wilderness, but a chic cottage village. Udmurt Rublevka. Kulakova settled there with Nina Paramonova. They have been friends for a long time, not married, so they decided that the two of them are more fun. Jackdaw signed with our masseur Vladimir Volodchenko before the Innsbruck Olympics. I was going to move to Moscow with him, we bought a car. But three months later they were divorced.

- Who?

Coaches. Viktor Ivanov, who led the women's team, was noisy: "Galya, the Motherland needs medals! What if you get pregnant and don't get to the Olympics ?!" They were not given life. On trips, they did not settle together. She cried, and he was soon transferred to the skaters. The family was broken up, forced to file a divorce. Galka had no more husbands. We sometimes meet in Moscow. Do you know what pension Kulakova, Mukhacheva and Olyunina have, who won the relay race at the Olympics?

- Which?

9 thousand! They represented the "Trud" society. Those who spoke for the unions are in the same position. Shame and shame! It's easier for us, Dynamo players. For long service runs a decent amount. Olya Danilova thanks me for convincing me to return to Dynamo. Her coach dragged her to Trud. But I reminded Olya of the words that I heard from the Dynamo chief when I myself wanted to demobilize many years ago: "I have not met a person who would have been crushed by shoulder straps." And I subscribed to the officer. He flew to Sapporo as a senior lieutenant; I think I'm wrong, right? And he raised my rank ahead of schedule with his power.

- Great.

How many sports societies have collapsed, in Dynamo, thank God, order. It is important that the leaders were "not exempt from physical education." And those who love sports.

- There is a museum near Kulakov's house. Why don't you open yours? Trophies are no less.

There are almost none left. The first wife, when they divorced, threw cups, vases, diaries, knives out of the window ...

- What kind of knives?

Hunting. I had a collection. It is especially a pity for the unique homemade knife that was presented by the Yakut, three times Hero of Socialist Labor. He completed the five-year plan in two years - for the extraction of sable, for furs. He has stitches as thick as a finger on his back - a memory of a meeting with a bear.

- Got off easy.

He said that with this knife he cut the bear from the groin to the throat, when he "hugged" him.

- Where did you meet?

There is the village of Sangar - from Yakutsk two hours by plane. Somehow I was invited there to the republican competitions. Sasha Tikhonov was with us. I bet him champagne on that trip.

- How?

Sasha said that he would stick a knife into sour cream - and he would stand. I didn't believe. It turns out that Yakut cows give milk with a 6% fat content. Therefore, sour cream is so thick that it can be cut with a knife like butter. Tikhonov knew about this, he traveled to those parts, shot mink when money was tight.

* * *

- Were you unloved tracks?

After the Prague spring of 1968, the most disgusting exit was the High Tatras. We were hated there! Czech skiers, when we entered the hall to anoint the skis, yelled: "Invaders, get out!" The windows in the hotel where we lived were pelted with stones. We went to the kitchen for a kettle or a saucepan - they didn’t give it. To drink tea, water was heated in the sink. You plug the hole - and you cut in two boilers. Madhouse! Yes, and in the race there were provocations. Workers stood on the slopes, waving their shovels at us. Tried to hit it on the back. You intercept the shoulder blade with your hand - and swear at them. But you're wasting seconds. And in 1970, at the World Championships in the Tatras, they stole my gold medal from me!

- How?

At a distance of 50 km, I beat Finn Oikarainen for a minute, everything is under control. Suddenly, around the corner near the barn, the boys began to stir, ran up and poured washing powder. I looked around, and they leveled the rear with a rake, sprinkled with snow. Everyone stopped skiing! I somehow finished second on my hands, wiped my palms to the blood.

- Was there a protest?

How to prove? Skis are dirty. Then the circle was 25 km, cameras are not everywhere. Today they are stuck everywhere, the circles are smaller - 7-8 km. It was a shame in Sweden at the Vasaloppet super marathon. Finn Siitonen and Swede Bieling were taken away from the main group for nine minutes. We started on green ointments at a temperature of minus 8. And at the finish line, when we passed through the pass, it was plus 3. They don’t hold skis. At the 78th kilometer I see the inscription " Servi with e fix ". I think - I'll put it on, and it's fine. The Swede, who is already barely holding on, suddenly accelerates. The first one rolls up to the backpack, pulls out a red Rex , smears skis - and throws a tube into the forest. Moreover, an infection, he waved his hand at us.

- Here's the bastard.

Sitonen and I open our backpack - there's nothing there but semi-liquid soap. Again on one hand had to run. In the end, I beat the Finn. I lost six kilograms in this race. When he began to undress, the skin on his legs from sweat and salt was removed like a stocking.

- Which of the hockey players threatened you, the flag bearer, at the opening ceremony of the 1972 Games?

The fittest were at the head of the column - Ragulin, Romishevsky ... A couple of minutes before going to the parade, an instructor of the Central Committee approached me. He reminded me: they say, etiquette obliges to bow the flag near the box of the Japanese emperor. Hockey players buzzed with displeasure: "Slava, before whom will you bow our banner?! He raised it on outstretched arms - and with a marching step! Got it ?!"

- The emperor was upset?

I didn't look at him. The newspaper "Evening Sapporo" accompanied the photo from the parade with the caption: " Soviet Union challenged everyone!" And this is a political issue, so the officials from the Sports Committee attacked me: "What have you done?! You will answer at home!" But after two gold medals, thank God, no one remembered this. Including the emperor, who personally congratulated on the victory in the relay race. He presented a wooden Japanese mask. He brought it home, so his son was terribly afraid of it. Somewhere lost .

- Did the Chinese stamp with your portrait survive?

Some of my friends are playing. But the brand is not Chinese - Japanese. They sent it to me from Sapporo. In the photo I'm wearing a kimono. The story is like this. At the Olympics, me and Volodya Voronkov, who ran the first stage of the relay race, were invited to a local bathhouse. It has nothing to do with Russian. Room for fifteen people. Smell like a stable. You are buried in a hot mixture of sawdust and grass. One head sticks out. You lie there for about ten minutes, a Japanese woman in what her mother gave birth to, wipes sweat from her forehead with a napkin.

- But.

And in the locker room they give out a towel, a hat, a kimono. Voronkov and I dressed in it - and at that moment we were secretly clicked. Volodya received the same brand. And the girl sent perfumed letters to Fedya Simashev from Japan for six months.

- The one from the bath?

Another. Don't know where he met her. Fedya was a master at flirting with girls. Here is a Japanese girl and fell in love.

- Do you know the poem dedicated to you by Robert Rozhdestvensky by heart?

- "Report about the ski race"? Just a couple of lines: "Please, run. Be patient, dear! Hold on, stop, wheeze ..." He was at the Games with a support group. True, he didn’t stay on the relay either, he rushed to the shops. In Sapporo, we didn't really talk. We met at the Palace of Congresses when I was awarded the Order of Lenin. Rozhdestvensky came up to the banquet, drank a glass.

- The poet was not jokingly reproached: they say, why did he leave the podium?

What for? That's what I told the coaches. Kamensky bit his lip. And Kuzin cried. He must have been heavily drunk.

* * *

- What prevented you from getting to the third Olympics in 1976?

I dreamed of winning the fifty dollars in Innsbruck. But I was deceived. I agreed to drain the blood. Now it's called blood doping. It was officially banned in 1985. And in our team they offered to use it in front of Innsbruck. When the team refused, Zakhavin, deputy chairman of the Sports Committee, and the coaches took me into circulation. They pressed on the fact that I was the only communist in the team, I had to convince the guys. By the way, he became a member of the CPSU under interesting circumstances. They called after Sapporo to the KGB: "With the Order of Lenin, non-party travel abroad is closed." And the party card was issued in a day! Without any experience, meetings.

- Did you donate blood?

Yes, 680 grams. First. Acted as a guinea pig. Those who trained in the Kolchin group arrived at the blood institute - I, Volodya Lukyanov, Tolik Shmigun ... And others managed to evade. Ivan Garanin said: "Vedenin has nothing to lose, he is an Olympic champion. Why should we take risks?"

Three weeks later - qualifying championship country. The coaches say: "Petrovich, don't worry. In any case, the 50 km race in Innsbruck is yours." On the "tag" he lost 11 seconds, on the "fifty" - 8.

- Didn't pass formal selection?

Yes. And I was unfastened from the Olympics. Before that he was in great shape, fluttered through the mountains. Previously, in general, skiers were hoo! Sourdough rustic, strong, hardy. I remember that in the summer in Alakhadze we trained at the hippodrome. It's hot, and we have a 30-kilometer cross. Vitya Kruglov says to the jockey: "I bet that I will run 20 laps faster than you on a trotter?"

- So what?

At first, the jockey pulled ahead. Vitka caught up with him on the eighth lap. Just then the senior groom jumped out. In front of our eyes, he whipped a boy with a whip.

- For what?

So after all, the horse almost drove! She is in foam. And Vitka is fresh. He also calmly gave 18 laps with us. Wow, what preparation! And no doping! I didn't need it either. And after the transfusion, the opposite effect occurred. Either the blood did not take root, or another reason. But when climbing uphill, as soon as the pulse reached 180, I was suffocating. I felt a lump coming from my stomach to my throat - and that's it, I was not able to take a step. Finished career.

12 years as head coach women's team"Dynamo". When the Union collapsed, the chairman of the Central Council "Dynamo" Bogdanov gave me a pack of anonymous letters. I read a lot of interesting things about myself.

- For example?

They wrote that Vedenin sleeps with all the athletes he trains. Although by that time I was already with Larisa. We did not immediately sign - the first wife did not give a divorce for two years. He achieved it through the court on the fourth attempt, and the ex-wife did not appear at the meeting. There was no relationship for a long time, but I was waiting for my son to grow up. To understand - I'm leaving not from him, but from my mother. A couple of years after that I spent the night in the garage.

- In what sense?

In direct. Most of the time I spent at the training camp. And when he returned, he slept in the Volga. Or friends. Then he decided to move to Larisa in Syktyvkar. In Sanduny, he arranged a dump. Among the friends there were the secretary of the Deputy Minister of the Interior and Andropov's adjutant. They didn't know what the reason was. When they heard that they had soaped themselves in Syktyvkar, they clutched their heads: "Forget it! We will help." And Larisa and I were given an apartment in Belyaev.

- Is she younger?

For 17 years. Skier. As I saw in the team, I fell in love. The boys warned: "Do not touch this girl!"

- Did you listen?

Yes, the team respected. At the training camp, all the girls are friends with someone, only Larisa is alone and alone. Lyuba Zykova, future wife Kolya Zimyatova says to her: "Tell Petrovich thanks for going without a boy..." - "How?" - "And so! He forbade you to approach." Well, we got busy.

- What does the wife do?

Leads the ski section. At the veteran world championships. Yes, and in training with the boys, she constantly runs 10 kilometers a day.

- Do you ride?

Skiing every winter! For me it is always a joy. True, a year ago he suffered a stroke. Got it in the village. A month spent in the local hospital. Right hand did not unbend, the doctors said - it is necessary to amputate. I realized it was time to quit. I collected the little things and quietly tear through the hole in the fence!

- As in childhood.

Well, yes. Friends recommended a chiropractor in the Tula region. Well, the car is "automatic", I got to it myself, I steered with my left hand. And he put me on my feet. If at first the fist did not unbend, now I raise the dumbbells with this hand and carry a bucket of water. And most importantly, I can ski again!

Yuri GOLYSHAK, Alexander KRUZHKOV

Victory is victory. And yet each of them has its own color. Your price. Its own special context. Paradoxical as it may seem at first glance, there are "ordinary", "ordinary" victories, or something, and there are those that remain in people's memory forever. Attracting everyone's attention. Making their authors the heroes of world sports. Such were the victories of Vladimir Kuts in Melbourne, Yuri Vlasov and Viktor Kapitonov in Rome, Vyacheslav Ivanov on three Olympic lakes, Boris Lagutin in Mexico City. Now the name of Vyacheslav Vedenin is forever included in this glorious list of great athletes.

In order to understand the true value of the accomplishment of a person, it is necessary to know the path he traveled from zero to the top.

Vyacheslav Vedenin was born on October 1, 1941 in the small village of Sloboda, forty kilometers from Tula. War rumbled all around, an ordeal and a huge, incomparable grief that fell on people. It did not pass the Vedenin family either: two and a half months before Slava was born, somewhere near Smolensk, in desperate battles with the Nazi invaders, his father, a private in the Soviet Army, died.

Hard childhood. Work on a par with adults from the age of 13.

Difficulties ... It is not easy to endure them, but, apparently, it was they who tempered the character of the boy, taught him to fight and endure, gave strength to what he had to accomplish in his life. Where is the starting point of his dedication to sports? At the school doorstep. The village teacher Leonid Kharitonov himself was an ardent fan of sports and in every possible way instilled love for him in his students. Every lesson is a hard workout. Every Sunday is a competition. Yes, not simple ones, but with encouragement, with unpretentious but welcome prizes, with the same question:

Well, today who wins?

Slava learned from Kharitonov the art of setting the body, a wide ski step, bold turns ... But most importantly, the school teacher conveyed to him his broad, serious look at sports and the mandate: never be content with what you have achieved, dream and fight for your dream.

After graduating from ten years, Vyacheslav went to study in the regional center, successfully entered the railway technical school, and two days later - in sports section to the famous Tula coach Pavel Smirnov. It was at the very beginning of autumn, and the main training was on a bicycle. And how could it be otherwise in the city of Tula. Slava fell in love with this simple car, he was the first to come to class, the last to leave, trying to accurately fulfill the task of his mentor.

Everything seemed to be going well. But it is not for nothing that they say that life, like the sky, is never always cloudless. Mother got sick. To help her, I had to return to my native village. But Slava came here with his bicycle, which, at the insistence of Smirnov, was assigned to Vedenin in the section.

Time for training was running out, but even here, in the village, deprived of any constant control, Slava trained a lot and selflessly. And in the early hours of quiet rural dawns, and in the hot midday "clearances", and in the evening twilight one could see him on dusty winding and difficult country roads. Two or three times a week I went to training in Tula. Eighty kilometers there and back, and an hour and a half of intense training, which not all city residents could withstand, but he did.

In a word, the first passion of childhood - skiing - receded into the background, giving way to a new one. And in the year when Viktor Kapitonov became the hero of the Rome Olympiad, Vyacheslav Vedenin won the title of champion of the Tula region and the right to receive the silver badge of the master of sports. Pavel Smirnov said to his beloved student:

About five years ago, Victor also did not think that he would defeat Trape himself. And here you go...

But we do not always do what we want: very often our actions are guided by circumstances.

In the fall of 1960, a boy from a Tula village, the son of a soldier, was enrolled in the Moscow Higher Red Banner School of the Border Troops. He liked everything here, except for one thing: this famous educational institution did not have a bicycle section. And this at first upset the young man very much. He stood in front of the head of physical training, who told him this news, upset, and no longer believing that he would hear anything pleasant, but rather, for the sake of order, he asked:

And no skiing?

What are you, our skiing is beautiful. And it is led by one of the most talented Soviet coaches Viktor Buchin ...

A year later, the Central Council of the Order of Lenin of the Dynamo voluntary sports society, of which Vedenin is a member, held a meeting of generations, a meeting of the old sports guard with talented youth. The release of a special issue of the newspaper was timed to coincide with this event, in which the “newbies” answered a kind of questionnaire, where there was also such a question: “Who is your ideal in sports - name him and explain what your respect, your love for him is based on? "

Before me is the answer of the master of sports Vyacheslav Vedenin. I rewrite it verbatim: "For me, Pavel Kolchin has always been a model, or, as we now say, a beacon, in sports. I like his determination, will, diligence, modesty and devotion to skiing." Several years passed, and in Sapporo, at a press conference after the 30 km race, Honored Master of Sports, Honored Coach of the USSR Pavel Kolchin described Vyacheslav Vedenin with exactly the same words.

They really have a lot in common - they were born in the village, and had a difficult childhood, and boundless loyalty to the cause they choose.

Probably, the commonality of characters and the commonality of dreams eventually determined that they became not only a teacher and student, but also true like-minded friends who knew how to understand each other in everything.

Loud, parade victories have not yet come to Tula, but experts in skiing more and more often call his name when they dream of future victories. And when in December 1966 the USSR Ski Federation received an invitation from the Union of Scandinavian Skiers to send one of the Soviet athletes for joint training, the choice fell on Vedenin.

Not accustomed to special attention, not spoiled by glory, the young border guard officer accepted this honor without much enthusiasm.

Why? I asked him.

To explain for a long time, - he waved his hand, and nothing more.

But then Kolchin explained everything. It turns out that Vedenin was very worried about whether he would be able to properly justify the trust placed in him, to translate it into real values.

But, as soon as the decision was made, he went there, in foreign countries, already being himself a proven master, a strong tournament fighter, he behaved with the attentiveness and diligence of the most diligent student. This was one of the most characteristic expressions of his nature: a deep respect for other people's experience, a thirst for knowledge, new information that would help move at least one step towards the intended goal.

When Vyacheslav achieved his biggest victory in distant Sapporo, journalists from all countries vied with each other to write about his high fighting spirit, indomitable will, constant striving forward.

He showed these qualities much earlier, at the 1966 World Championships in Holmenkollen. He arrived there as a green newcomer, whom no one - neither the participants nor the journalists - took seriously. But after the 10th kilometer, his name sounded on all walkie-talkies:

Vedenin! shouted the controllers.

Vedenin! - nervously repeated to their students astonished, who did not understand anything mentors.

Vedenin! Vedenin! Vedenin! - rushed along the distance as a signal of alarm and joy.

It seemed to many that the leader's extraordinary pace was just a whim of a debutant, that he would not stand it and turn sour before he had time to scare anyone. But twenty, thirty, forty kilometers and forty-five passed, and he still showed best time, still kept the race under high voltage current. And it was not his fault, but his misfortune, that for the last four kilometers he did not have the reserve of strength he needed - he still did not know how to accurately and expediently spend them in tournaments of this rank.

He could have been the first even then, but literally before the finish line, he was bypassed by five "whales" of modern skiing. However, the name of Vyacheslav Vedenin was included in the notebooks of the coaches of all the strongest national teams with the heading "particularly dangerous". And all the well-known sports publications devoted their reviews to him, unanimous in their opinion that now everyone will have to reckon with this Russian!

There is still a lot of work to be done. And a lot to learn.

Two more seasons have passed. During this time, Vyacheslav replenished his collection of medals: he twice received "gold" for victorious finishes in the fifty-kilometer race at the USSR Championship and one - in the 4 X 10 relay. And without any doubt or hesitation, he was awarded a "ticket to Grenoble".

He arrived in the capital of the X Olympiad as a famous, popular master, and all the famous ski aces greeted him as an equal. And popular observers, when compiling their "horoscopes", did not forget to include his name in the list of possible candidates for victory.

And yet ... The same observers believed that the Muscovite still did not have enough chances to fight on equal terms with such famous "stars" as the Norwegians X. Grenningen, P. Tildum, U. Ellefseter, the Finns K. Laurila and E. Mäntyuranta, Swedes G. Larsson and M. Risberg. It really was a cohort of unusually strong, experienced, wise athletes, and it would be an honor to even lose to them in an equal fight.

Vedenin left everyone behind him, and only W. Ellefseter managed to get ahead of him by 16.7 seconds. Moreover, this insignificant gap was formed as a result of the battle that they fought without seeing each other, participating in essence in an absentee duel. In a duel where the advantage was on the side of the Norwegian: he started a dozen numbers later.

Knowing a little French, every morning in Grenoble I bought the French sports newspaper Equip. I also have this issue of the newspaper. On the first page there is a huge portrait of our racer, and across the entire page Vedenin's name is printed in bold letters and at the bottom of the phrase, which in translation sounded literally like this: "Vedenin is a sensation! Vedenin is a hero!"

The whole world recognized him as a hero of the Olympiad, except ... us. We, the journalists, did not try, we could not properly explain the greatness of what they did, and in the homeland Vedenin was met very reservedly. We met not as a great stayer, who won Olympic silver for the first time in the history of our sport, but rather as a member of a losing team. Vedenin was not offended.

Since people demand more, then I must achieve it!

And in this answer, in this conclusion, there was the whole person, who knows how not to submit to fate and consider any demand made of him as completely fair and logical.

The people entrusted me to speak on his behalf, the people and the judge to me, - he once said.

But the strictest, most furious and implacable judge of Vedenin was himself. He passes every performance, every race through a critical sieve, and after every start, no matter how it ends, he says to himself:

We need to work even harder! Need to work!

"The work of a skier! How I would like some courageous poet to get to know her and describe her. Yes, this is a topic for a heroic saga. Work in the truest sense of the word! Cutting wood, mowing, sawing firewood. Many kilometers of daily cross-country runs The roar of the bar, and the silence of the track, the daily passage of difficult distances, where there are exhausting "pulls", where there are whirlwind descents, where the snow cuts the eyes, the wind blows or the thaw knits the legs.

And then you come to the base - to a small house, lost somewhere in the forest, hang out your soaked through uniforms and lie on a bunk, knocked down by heavy fatigue. And you think about a big city, where crowds flow along the brightly lit streets, where a smart audience fills the halls of theaters and concert halls, where your wife and children, your relatives and friends are left. And you are lying, listening to the howl of a snowstorm, to the creak of swaying boards and thinking that tomorrow you have to go even more, work even harder. Because your highest goal is to justify the trust placed in you and perform better in the upcoming race than in the previous one."

These wonderful, inspired and at the same time marked by strict truth words belong to one of the famous skiers of the past, Honored Master of Sports Ivan Ragozhin, the author of an essay dedicated to Vyacheslav Vedenin.

I would like to add a few specific facts and figures to this lyrical reasoning. We somehow calculated with Pavel Kolchin, and it turned out that in ten years of practicing "big sports" Vedenin at least twice circled the globe on skis along the equator, twice ran around it along cross-country trails and at least three times swept on a bicycle. I think that all this will be quite correctly perceived by your imagination and will help all of us to imagine the price of his championship awards even more clearly, more visibly.

In 1970, in the High Tatras, a colossal success by modern standards came to the Moscow Dynamo. It's no joke: at the World Championships, he won a gold and a silver medal in individual races and another gold in the relay. Now everyone was forced to admit that in his person the world has one of the most outstanding racers.

But the victory not only pleased - it made me think about many things. There, on the snowy slopes of Czechoslovakia, a guy from the Soviet team seriously provoked many giants, just like him, who dreamed of a ski crown. Both Vyacheslav and his coach Pavel Kolchin were well aware that it would be much more difficult in Sapporo than in the High Tatras. Someone, and only they, was well aware of the wisdom of the seemingly banal phrase that it is much more difficult to keep what was won than to get it.

After the High Tatras, after his victory at the World Championships, Vedenin seemed to have faded into the shadows. He occasionally took part in competitions, but he did not finish first, as if tired of the constant repetition of his name, from the outbreaks of journalistic "blitzes" and numerous interviews. He "rested", if one can define with such a word that colossal, incomparable amount of work that he performed under the guidance of Pavel Kolchin. And this mental rest of his, this tactic, built on preserving as much nervous energy as possible for the Olympics, was perceived by some foreign observers in their own way. They began to write that "The Upper Tatras were the highest point in Vedenin's sports biography, that it was there that he crossed the peak of his sports form." Well, maybe they really thought so, or maybe they just dreamed that it would happen.

It was a warm winter evening. Evening the day before ski race for 30 kilometers. Quite recently, the celebrations on the occasion of the opening of the XI Winter Olympic Games, a holiday littered with thousands of colors, ended, and the next morning was supposed to be their working start.

By special permission of the leadership of our team, we penetrated "for a minute" to our skiers. They knocked on Vedenin's room. Pavel Kolchin was also here. The coach told us:

We have already discussed the whole race. Slava has just sent me an "excellent" theory: he knows the track like a path to his own house. Not like every climb - every bump, every turn. Tomorrow we will take practice.

Asking questions seemed tactless. Vedenin himself suggested: read the telegrams. Interesting.

They lay on the table in a fairly noticeable pile. News from the Motherland. Wishing you success. From the village of Sloboda, Tula region, where a seven-year-old teenager first skied. From the command and cadets of the border troops school. From the workers of the famous weapons factory... And suddenly - "You must win the first race on the first working day of the Olympiad. Your Alexei Maresyev!"

I also know all this by heart, ”Vyacheslav suddenly said. - Good, kind words. I will take them with me on the road.

When we woke up, for a moment it seemed that the doomsday had begun: incessantly, inexorably, thick snow fell. He began to fall, it seems, even at night and knocked down even harder when we arrived at the stadium. It was a pity to look at our coaches. Particularly worried was Venedikt Kamensky, who seemed unperturbed to me before. He kept repeating:

Scandinavian weather...

Lucky Norwegians.

At some point, Pavel Kolchin could not stand it, he made a noise:

We'll see who's lucky!

The clock shows exactly 9 am local time. And now, at the signal of the judge, the first participant dived into a thick white veil - a cheerful, carefree Frenchman, Gilbert Fort, who managed to please everyone. Thirty seconds later, our young skier Fedor Skobov broke into the distance. And he knew, and we all knew that he was unlucky with the draw, but in skiing someone is always unlucky.

The distance of the race consisted of three ten-kilometer rings. Three identical in length, but completely different in the degree of difficulty of the ring. The first is the easiest. Like an overture to the symphony of courage that the participants were to play. But the second one is a real hell: a difficult two-kilometer climb at the beginning and a few more of these, but less steep.

When the position after the top ten was reported to the local press center, where we were waiting for news from the track, I remembered Vedenin's quiet room in the Olympic village and the telegram from Alexei Maresyev, which is lying on the table there.

"Does Slava remember her?" For some reason I thought at that moment. I confess, it seemed to me that the world champion would not be able to fulfill the request of the famous war hero. The best time was with our Fedor Simashev (30.24), then Dolganov, the Norwegian Harviken, the Swiss Kelin, the Swede Larson, the Norwegian Tildum, and only then, though losing a little to him, our Slava. But it was necessary to take into account that Pal Tildum, a formidable and highly experienced opponent, comes behind and can correct his actions with the help of his numerous "retinue" placed along the distance.

And then I remembered Grenoble and our failures in the first starts, which, perhaps, eventually determined the mood of the delegation and became the cause of the general failure. I approached the chairman of our ski federation, Vyacheslav Petrovich Zakhavin, and asked him:

Do you think Simashev and Dolganov will hold out?

Have you already discarded Vedenin? he asked in turn. - Early. Too early.

Second round. It starts, like the first one, right here, at the stadium. And we had the opportunity to see in the face of all the participants in this extraordinary snow drama. They made a big U-turn and left along parallel straight tracks to a new challenge.

We know how hard it is for them. But, believe me, it was hard for us, the spectators, or rather, the listeners of these competitions. After all, we didn’t see the fight, we didn’t see what was happening there, in the white boil, but we eagerly listened to what the coaches were transmitting, huddled at the walkie-talkie associated with the distance. And then, when the deadline came, we just as eagerly peered at the light board to see how the forces were placed after twenty.

But if we did not see the struggle, then we felt all its nuances. Each news that came to the stadium became the subject of general discussion, disputes, conjectures and unrest. Believe me, we experienced them no less than the spectators in the stands of a hockey stadium, who have the opportunity to catch every detail of the match.

So, the "twenty" ended. First we see Simashev's time - 1.06.23. But it doesn't say anything yet. Only when the intermediate finish passes the Swede Larsson (1:05.56), we understand that our skier has passed. We are silent. We know that he is not to blame, in fact it fell to his lot in this race to lay a ski track, on which fluffy snow fell for so long. Dolganov also passed (and after another two kilometers he broke his ski and practically dropped out of the fight).

And suddenly the name of Vedenin lights up on the scoreboard, and in front of her is the best time of the day - 1.05.39.

Hooray! someone shouted, but one of the trainers cut him off sharply:

Wait. Tyldum is on his heels.

And just then someone else ran up and said in a half-whisper:

You want to jinx it, damn it?!

Everyone immediately fell silent. And I only prayed to myself:

Slavochka, dear, don't let me down. Now the only hope is you.

And Vedenin, as it always happens lately, did not deceive our hopes. He confirmed that the success that came to him in the High Tatras was not accidental and that he really is the strongest rider on the planet in the "thirty".

But to say about a man that he has won is to say nothing yet. His excellent physical conditioning won, his will, his tactics, thought out to the details instead of with the coach. The first third of the way is reconnaissance and, to some extent, disorientation of rivals: they say, look, Vedenin is not ready for a real battle, he is trudging somewhere in the middle.

The second third is a decisive breakthrough, exhausting all the main competitors. A rare and unexpected advance. And the final one is a tactical game with those who still have the ability to fight. Accurate comparison of their schedule with yours. And winning decisive seconds.

So years of work, self-sacrifice, courage of an athlete and coach brought the first outstanding success - the first gold Olympic medal in the history of our national skiing in the individual competition. And this alone would be quite enough to remain forever in the memory of people. Be an example for generations. But Vyacheslav had already "earned" so much that he was destined to be here, in Olympic capital to accomplish new feats. It was destined, although neither he, nor his coach, nor even millions of our fans knew anything about it yet.

On that day, Sapporo reminded me with its general tone of distant Innsbruck. Great joy settled in the houses of the Olympic village assigned to the Soviet delegation. Vedenin not only won himself. He gave a winning spirit to our entire Olympic team. At the same time, he turned the weather vane of everyone's attention in our direction. Again, as once in Innsbruck, we found ourselves under attack by numerous of our colleagues. Right at the finish line of the thirty-kilometer race, Karl Mater, a correspondent for the Swiss sports newspaper, ran up to us and begged:

Tell us something interesting about your Vedenin...

We tried to help as best we could. The Swiss thanked him and shouted goodbye:

This guy did a great job. Tomorrow oh sports Russia the whole world will speak. Congratulations!

So the white weeks in Sapporo began for us with congratulations. And every day there were more and more congratulations.

I remember Grenoble again. Last day of the ski tournament. The Norwegian team, which has already produced two Olympic champions before, wins the 4 X 10 relay with unusual persuasiveness for such competitions. at the finish line, shouting into the microphone:

Yes, today the whole world takes off his hat to the skiers of Norway. They do not have and will not be equal in the world for a long time.

Sapporo. February 13, 1972 Last day of the ski tournament. From the second stage, they report that the Norwegian team is ahead - with a lead of one minute from the nearest rival. Journalists, including many Soviet ones, leave the ski stadium one after another - some rush to Mount Teine, where slalom competitions are taking place, others rush to keep up at all costs for the final periods of the hockey battle. Here, nothing delays them: everything is very clear!

Of our journalists, I remain on the podium almost alone. I won’t say that I was held back by some kind of premonition, I just wanted to watch everything to the end, to personally get an impression of this battle of our team. I stand and listen as the indefatigable Brenden is reporting in a voice in which the delight of Grenoble has reappeared.

Minutes rush by. Skiers are running somewhere in the forest. We are all looking at the point where the Norwegian racer should appear. And suddenly, like the sound of a mountain collapse, frantic screams reach us. And then we saw how a skier appeared with the first number on his chest. And how Harviken, still trying to fight, still trying to catch up with him, fell.

When Vyacheslav Vedenin crossed the finish line, victoriously and proudly bringing the baton first, I accidentally saw Brenden with a microphone in his hands. His voice was not heard in the general confusion. I came close and asked the translator:

What he says?

He listened and smiled.

He tells Norwegian radio listeners that what the Russians have done now, no one in the world is capable of doing. He speaks of the true greatness of Vedenin. It is a great honor to hear such words from his lips.

The victory of the Moscow Dynamo player in the thirty-kilometer race, his bronze medal at 50 km were received with enthusiasm and once again strengthened the glory of the "star" of the first magnitude for Vedenin. But it was on February 13 that he secured true glory for himself at the last stage of the 4 X 10 relay.

Here I want to make a small, but, it seems to me, a very important digression. When what I just told about happened, many journalists, including our observers, began to write about Vedenin's speech as something bordering on a miracle. I no longer take newspaper reports, which can be forgiven for some haste and emotional excitement. But here are the lines from a sports magazine that came out a few months after the end of the Olympiad. Here is how Vedenin's performance in the relay is characterized there: "He, in whose victory in the "thirty" we did not see even a shadow of a sensation, on the last day he won such a sensational victory that it still does not fit in the mind and seems incredible."

These are beautiful but imprecise words. Two years ago, in the High Tatras, Slava proved that he was capable of such a thing. In Sapporo, he did not perform a miracle, but only repeated it. In order to confirm this, I will allow myself to quote one of the descriptions of Vedenin's performances at the 1970 World Championships.

“Vyacheslav Vedenin won the gold medal in the race on the “thirty”. He courageously behaved in the race for 50 kilometers. However, one practical miscalculation was made here: focusing all his attention on the Trimmer, Vyacheslav lost sight of the experienced Finn K. Oikarainen. The result here is a silver medal."

And yet, Vyacheslav, in my firm conviction, accomplished the greatest feat in the relay race 4 X 40 kilometers.

When three of its stages were completed, when Vladimir Voronkov, Valery Tarakanov, Fedor Simashev had already finished the fight, it turned out that we were losing to the GDR team for almost a minute. This is a huge gap. And no one doubted that the victory for the German racers.

This confidence was reinforced by the fact that the GDR team started on final stage Klause is one of the strongest sprinters in the world, taking fourth place in the individual 15 km race, while Vedenin was only fifteenth at this distance.

So, few people believed in a miracle, but Vedenin did it. He snatched the "lost" minute from the German rider and finished first.

Isn't it a very similar situation? And its repetition raises even higher the significance of what Vyacheslav Vedenin accomplished and what he did in Sapporo. What some of my colleagues forgot about was remembered very well by the Norwegian Harviken. And one Japanese newspaper correctly wrote that "the horror of the inevitability of defeat in any dispute with Vedenin hovered over the Norwegian and deprived him of the necessary moral strength to fight this giant."

I am writing all this so that the image of our leader appears before us with the utmost precision. I am writing all this because the High Tatras and Sapporo are included in his biography as a whole. Two gold medals in the "thirty", "silver" and "bronze" in 50 km, two gold medals in the relay races, which in fact belong to him more than anyone - such baggage puts him forward among the great riders.

And now let's return to Sapporo, on that day of February 13, which, no matter how distant it may be, will always be memorable, dear and close to us.

In moments of joy, friends and compatriots of the winners are characterized by excessive enthusiasm, and they reward their idol with loud epithets and often overestimate the significance of the perfect. But imagine a person who almost held gold in his hands and lost it. A man who is extremely tired and extremely disappointed. I'm talking about Olympic champion in the race for 50 km Norwegian Pale Tildum after the relay. That's who, of course, was the least inclined in those moments to exaggeration and sentimentality. I confess that we - several journalists - did not even dare to approach him for a long time. But work is work, and we dared. And they asked him what he thinks about the ended competitions.

This is the triumph of the Russian team. And, above all, the triumph of your Vedenin, who secured sports immortality for himself today.

In conclusion, I will say that, while in Sapporo, I had the opportunity to talk with many famous Russian and foreign skiers and asked everyone what, in their opinion, especially distinguishes the Moscow Dynamo player from his comrades and rivals. The answers, oddly enough, were very similar, but, perhaps, Vedenin's friend and mentor, Honored Master of Sports, Honored Coach of the USSR Pavel Kolchin, formulated the general idea more precisely and more vividly:

He leaves at a distance all his strength - to the last drop. He never spares himself for the sake of struggle and for the sake of victory.

This is the quality that made an ordinary Tula boy, the son of a soldier, a Soviet officer, a hero of world sports and a favorite of his people.