Finally I was left alone. The gloomy silence of the room under the stands contrasted sharply with the noise, bustle, bright colors Olympic Stadium. And everything that I experienced in these last hour and a half - the agonizing wait for the start, the tension of the struggle, the dramatic denouement of the competition - began to go somewhere in the depths of consciousness, to lose the features of reality. This feeling was familiar, experienced many times in hundreds of competitions, and yet new. It was all for the last time.
Even the expectation of the usual and always unpleasant anti-doping control procedure now did not cause irritation. This was also the last time.
Sitting in a small room, fenced off from the rest of the world by a door, a barrier and a police post, I tried, as far as possible, to put my thoughts and feelings in order. The thoughts and feelings of an athlete who competed in his last competition, completed a long sports way.
Recent rivals - my friend Jaak Uudmäe, who became the Olympic champion, and the bronze medalist Brazilian Joao Oliveira - were released before me. Therefore, the organizers of the final press conference decided, given the late hour, to start a meeting with journalists, without waiting until we get together. I wonder what Jaak is now talking about, for whom this press conference as a winner is generally the first, and Oliveira, who so wanted to win at the Moscow Olympics and yet, like four years ago in Montreal, managed to take only third place?
I remembered how in 1976 in Montreal at a press conference I was asked the question: how long was I going to stay in big sport? Despite the outward tactlessness of this question - after all, it is probably not very logical to ask an Olympic champion when he will leave the sport - its essence was close and understandable to me. In seventy-six I was already over thirty. It is impossible, in fact, to jump to infinity! Then I answered firmly: I will try to do everything to speak in Moscow at XXII Games. I remember the astonished faces of journalists: after all, there were still four years left before the Moscow Olympiad. For a thirty-year-old athlete, the term is huge.
Time flew by quickly. As if these four years had not happened, and here I am again preparing for the Olympic press conference. True, now I have not gold, but silver medal. I wonder what journalists will ask me today?
Over the long years of communication with representatives of the press, I seem to have developed a fairly trusting relationship with them. Of course, our meetings were not always interesting. Sometimes they asked standard, insignificant questions, the answers to which did not require thought, but there were also very interesting interlocutors who were well versed in the intricacies of the sport and my type - the triple jump. Such conversations have always been welcome. For example, I always wanted to ask questions that would be interesting to answer. And although we, athletes, go to meetings with journalists with ostentatious ease, in fact, we are preparing for these meetings and for us they are a pleasant duty. Well, after Olympic competition in Moscow, I prepared for the press conference with the utmost care. This meeting was also the last for me.
When I went to the journalists after the control, on the way I tried to anticipate possible questions and formulated the answers in advance. By nature, I am a man of few words, and on this unusual day I could not even mentally compose short answers. I wanted to launch into lengthy discussions, I was captivated by memories of various episodes of a long, almost a quarter of a century long, life in sports. Only on the threshold of the press conference hall did the decision come by itself: to be extremely frank today!
I opened the doors a little. Correspondents finished the "interrogation" of Oliveira. An employee of one of the newspapers of a Western country whose athletes did not participate in the Olympics asked the Brazilian why he defiantly shook hands with the judges after the competition?
This question, seemingly harmless, was, in fact, provocative. The fact is that, in an effort to beat Jaak Uudmäe, Oliveira, in his last attempts, raced unnecessarily recklessly along the takeoff run and over and over again stood up for the restrictive plasticine roller. Naturally, jumps were not counted for him. At the same time, the judges after each spade showed the athlete the place of repulsion. But, of course, that didn't make the spade any less offensive.
The questioner was well aware of all this. He also knew how the Brazilian experienced his second Olympic failure. I knew and expected that in these first, especially bitter, hours after the defeat, endurance could change the athlete. What if he really confirms that the handshake with the referees was defiantly ironic, that he blames biased referees for his defeat?
Even outwardly, it was noticeable how concentrated, looking for the right words, Oliveira tuned in to a worthy answer. I tuned in as if I was performing one more, last, attempt. He spoke very clearly, deliberately slowly, shaking in time with the words. index finger, as if giving a lesson to a dull student:
Yes, I shook hands with the judges after the competition. Soviet judges were extremely objective and correct. Their actions contributed to the fact that the competition was interesting and fair. wrestling. After the jumps, the athletes always shake hands. And since I consider the judges to be the same participants in the competition as the athletes, I felt it necessary to thank them.
Oliveira's response to this statement was a round of applause from all those present at the press conference.
After a short pause, Joao continued:
Of course, I am very upset that I did not manage to climb the podium higher than in Montreal, but the opponents were stronger today. And congratulating Jaak Uudmäe on the Olympic gold medal, I would like to point out that absolute champion among the jumpers, I still consider Viktor Saneev. I told him about it in the sector (indeed, immediately after the competition, despite my objections, Joao congratulated me on my victory) and I can repeat it now.
How about this statement? Olympic champion- asked one of the journalists to Uudmäe.
I agree with Oliveira, - Yaak answered, - none of us can repeat what Saneev did.
Here again there was applause, under this noise I entered the hall. He quickly went to the microphone and immediately said, as if in cold water jumped:
Today you saw my last performance in competitions. I have completed my journey in sports and am ready to answer all your questions.
The hall became very quiet. Everyone looked with curiosity at the jumper who managed to "survive" four Olympiads. Nobody asked me anything. And then I decided to help my listeners a little:
Probably, if I had not said that I had finished my sports career, then they would immediately ask me about how much longer I am going to compete? But is it really only this question that journalists care about?
But either all those gathered had already satisfied their curiosity in a conversation with Uudmäe and Oliveira, or they were simply tired at this late hour, but I did not manage to stir up the correspondents. True, I was asked a few questions, mainly about the peculiarities of the struggle in the Moscow sector. These questions were common, I answered them without difficulty, already realizing that no “confession” would work today. And suddenly, when the host was about to close the press conference, the well-known journalist from the GDR, Eberhard Bock, asked to speak.
Not forgetting to demonstrate his awareness - Bokk scrupulously listed the results of my performances at the Olympics, European and USSR championships, European Cups, Universiades - he asked me:
How does Viktor Saneev explain his numerous victories, what are the secrets of his successful performance at the Olympics and such longevity in big-time sports?
On Friday, October 3, the legendary Soviet athlete, three-time Olympic triple jump champion Viktor Saneev turns 69 years old. Correspondents of the agency "R-Sport" Maria Vorobyeva and Andrey Simonenko got through to distant Australia, where an outstanding athlete now lives, about whom nothing has been heard for many years. And just asked him: how are you?
The idea to contact Viktor Saneev was suggested to us by the bronze medalist of the European Championship in triple jump Alexei Fedorov. "We have been calling Sydney for the last years and wishing Viktor Danilovich a happy birthday, but in general they seem to have forgotten about him," he told us, and this was a guide to action. Moreover, in fact, no interviews with Saneev, who left for the Green Continent in the early 1990s, have appeared for a couple of decades.
Viktor Danilovich, the first question suggests itself: how are you? Nothing has been heard from you or from you for a long time.
I have been retired for three years now. Once a week I go to school, I train children.
You once said that in Australia it is very difficult to get children interested in athletics, and in particular in the triple jump. Is the situation changing now?
Athletics is generally difficult to captivate. Not only in Australia, but all over the world. This is not such a commercial sport, and besides, in order to achieve serious results here, you need to train a lot. And have the desire to be an athlete.
- you Athletics captivated me at the time.
This is true since childhood. But not only athletics attracted me. I, if I may say so, have come a long way in sports. Started playing football at the age of five. Until the end of school, until the age of 15-16 he played it. I also played basketball, I was good at volleyball. It's just that he was a player by nature. But when I tried to jump in length, in height, I liked it, and it turned out fine. 1.65 meters high jump at school.
- Are you serious about heights?
Rather, at the school level. Then he switched to a triple, and when he performed at the Spartakiad of schoolchildren in 1963, he took third place in this form. Although he trained in the triple jump by that time for only six months.
- And at that moment you decided to jump triple and further?
No. I jumped long and ran a hundred meters well. I left the height because my knee hurt a lot. In 1967, at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, he became second in the long jump after Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, the world record holder at that time. But this is a tough sport - long jump. It's easier to get hurt there than anywhere else. So I decided to train only in the triple jump for two years before the 1968 Olympics. Yes, and the differences between the long jump and the triple are significant. Different repulsions, different rhythm in jumps. Completely different technique.
We watched a film about you, where your coach Hakob Kerselyan said that when you asked if you would go in for athletics, you answered: what should be done there? He said to run. And you asked again: will we jump? It turns out that jumping was in the scope of your interests from the very beginning?
Yes, it was interesting all at once. Indeed, in athletics one must be fully physically developed, otherwise one will not achieve success in any of its types. I went through the training system as an all-rounder. Long jumps, high jumps, shot put ... I did a little bit of everything in training to be physically strong.
- But the jumps themselves did attract you - by the fact that they turned out better, or by flying?
I loved flying, of course. The triple is the only kind of jump in athletics where you actually fly! Amazing feelings.
In your letter to the head coach of the national team, Witold Kreer, after you were injured in the mid-1960s, you said: “How you want to accelerate with all your might and jump! Yes, so that they don’t find you.” It was before your first Olympics.
Yes, the injury was so severe that not everyone would find the strength to return to the sport. He treated her for two years. And I did not train this time, and did not load. This is probably one of the most difficult stages of my sports career.
Have you thought about finishing?
Almost no one believed in me at all.
- Did you believe in yourself?
Believed. I believed that I could return. And endured.
At the first Olympics, he was bolder than the others. But don't be bolder
Viktor Danilovich, when you were asked earlier which of the Olympic victories is most valuable for you, you especially singled out the first Olympics. Probably, and simply because the first, and thanks to the incredible heat that was in the competition in the triple jump. How do you remember the 1968 Games now?
I fought in Mexico until my last try. Until the very end, it was not clear who would become the champion. It so happened that I became one. fought like a real man, perhaps, what else can you say.
You have been repeatedly called the king of the last try. How did you manage to get ready for the final jump so often?
I had this technique: I always thought that the last attempt is the first. I tuned in to the last jump as if it was my first. And I performed it easily, naturally and freely, without thinking that I would no longer have another chance in these competitions.
How long did it take to learn this skill? In general, it is impossible to imagine that at the Olympics it is really possible to set yourself up like this for the last jump, when exactly it is decisive ...
It's really difficult. And how to do this, perhaps, it is impossible to explain. But I psychologically prepared for the starts in training. I simulated competitions and before the last attempt I inspired myself that this was the first. And the feeling that you are tired and can no longer, left, the jump turned out to be better.
- Did you pay attention to your opponents when you competed?
In general, yes, I watched how someone jumped, learned from those who did it well. Some things I tried to adopt and use in my technique. And at the competitions themselves, of course, I didn’t pay attention to the jumps of competitors. I just followed the results. And I always knew: as long as you have attempts, you can’t get upset, even if something doesn’t work out. Nothing is over yet.
If someone told you that five world records would be broken at that 1968 Olympics, and you would break two and jump 17.39 meters, would you believe it?
I also believed in a higher result. When the Italian Giovanni Gentile jumped 17.10 in qualifying and set a world record, my friends and the coach asked me: what will be the result in the final? Well, I answered them - 17.50. They say you're laughing, right? No, I answer, I'm not laughing. So I prepared to jump far. I just didn't tell anyone that I could. He told himself that he should.
- Due to what exactly did you manage to set two world records at that Olympics, what do you think?
He must have been smarter than the others. Not bolder, but bolder. This quality must be.
- Many athletes at the Olympics are lost - the situation is pressing, responsibility ...
This is true. Before my third Olympics in Montreal, many athletes at the training camp asked: tell me what is Olympic Games? I answered like this: it is impossible to explain. Get out there and find out.
- For you, after all, what is the Olympic Games? Scary? Interesting? Scary interesting?
It has never been scary. I generally loved performing. The only thing I was afraid of was getting hurt. Because it's hard to jump with an injury.
- Were the second, third and fourth Olympiads easier for you than the first?
Of course, I grew up, I went to my first Olympic Games at the age of 23, and to the last - already at 35. Age and experience matter. But still, all the Olympics were different for me. Each had to be prepared in a special way.
I won the Olympics to prove to myself that I am no worse than others
We read that an injury prevented you from preparing for your second Olympics, so you were determined to show the best jump in the first attempt. Was it really a tactic to knock out opponents right away?
Honestly, no. It just so happened that the first attempt was very good (laughs) - at 17.35. And I didn't think she would win. I was ready to add. Actually, it happened that in the last attempt I jumped somewhere at 17.50. But with a spade. Kreer later said that there was no spade, but now it doesn’t matter, what’s the difference ...
In Munich, at first glance, there was no such gambling struggle of several participants at once, when people broke world records one after another. As if everything went smoothly. Or is it a false feeling?
For the audience, maybe it was really calmer. And for an athlete, the Olympic Games are never calm. This is such a stress, from which it takes a very long time to move away. If this is a real athlete, of course.
- What were your emotions after the second Olympic gold?
I thought that winning the Olympics twice is great, but three times it will be out of the realm of fantasy. After the third Olympic gold, I thought: maybe I'll be lucky and win the fourth (laughs). Kidding. Thought I had to fight.
After the first Olympics, you said: how tired of going to meetings and awards, rather to the sector - and train.
This happened after the second and after the third Olympiad. I just wanted to forget about these victories, to feel like an ordinary person. And move on. I did not think that I would break records. I was interested in jumping.
Now Olympic champions in Russia receive huge prize money, expensive cars… Were your victories encouraged at that time?
By today's standards, those incentives, of course, look frivolous. They received a hundred rubles for that money. Yes, of course they did state awards athletes, it was very nice. But they didn't pay much money.
- And there was no talk of Mercedes at that time ...
What a Mercedes! "Volga" could not be bought! It was necessary to go to the authorities, to beg. I don't like asking anyone for anything. And never loved.
Did you set a goal in advance to perform at four Olympics, or did it just happen, one after another?
I just didn't want to stop there. If at some point I began to think that I am so outstanding, then I would have to finish and leave the sport.
Why didn't you want to stop? Did you want to win more and more medals or set records?
No, I just wanted to constantly prove to myself that I am no worse than others. Everything else didn't matter much to me.
- Can an Olympic champion feel that he is worse than others in some way?
So my rivals are the same people as me. What difference does it make how many medals I have won before. I have never flaunted medals or titles.
15 years after the Moscow Olympics, I determined something for myself
Speaking of records: there was a moment when the world achievement was taken away from you. And you, shortly after the Munich Olympics and a couple of days after your own wedding, returned it back to yourself by jumping to 17.44.
I just felt at that moment that I could set this record. At the Olympics, the conditions are different, there is a struggle, it crushes. And here he knew he was ready. I went to Prague and jumped 17 meters at a temperature of plus three degrees. I'm frozen there! And then, at home in Sukhumi, I think the weather is good, we need to try to set a record, the competitions are just taking place. Tried. Installed!
- Is it true that you promised to give this record to your wife as a wedding present?
What are you! Inventions of journalists. How to make such a gift - to tell someone: here, I will now jump on the world record? This is impossible. I could only say that to myself, but not to anyone else.
By the way, speaking of your wife - she once said that after each Olympic victory you started training as if from scratch, because only by forgetting about past successes can you move forward. That is, it turns out, was on your wave, understood you?
No, it was completely impossible to understand me (laughs). It is very difficult for a person who has not been engaged in such work to understand what it is. How much sweat I shed ... Only my mother knew. But I have never complained about my fate, and I do not complain now.
You mentioned your mother, and she once said this about you. "As my husband ordered me, so I raised my son. In strictness. I never kissed and did not feel sorry for him. And my son was grateful to me for this." Maybe your character is due to such an upbringing?
Or maybe just because I'm a Cossack? (laughs) It's really hard to develop character, I think. Somehow one Australian, my student, said to me: "Here is your character!" I just gave him some moralizing, I won't say now about what. And he answered me: "Yes-ah-ah ... Of course, you were right."
If we go back to the Olympic Games, then I would like to ask: what happened at that fourth, Moscow Olympics?
At home, of course, it was very difficult to perform. And it was doubly difficult for me. I approached the Moscow Olympics with an injury. The mood was either pan or gone. I think that my result was influenced by the participation in the fire lighting ceremony. If it wasn't for that, it would have been better. It's my opinion. This ceremony took away a lot of emotions from me. Two days - first a dress rehearsal, then the opening itself. And then I have competitions. It was very difficult. Nervously, I was completely exhausted.
There are many different opinions about your last attempt. In your opinion, did you jump far or not enough?
It was a distant attempt. But the Brazilian Oliveira was further. He just stood up noticeably. And I…
- Have you reviewed those competitions?
After 15 years, I have defined something for myself.
Did you come to any conclusion?
Yes, I just saw on the cinematography that the champion (Jaak Uudmäe) had a spade in his best attempt. In 15 years, give me, I think, I'll take a closer look. And there it was filmed from one point, but it is clearly visible that his foot is behind the bar. But I'm not a judge, I don't want to speak badly about anyone. My job was to perform.
Did you have a hard time with that defeat?
And I didn’t consider it a defeat, but I was just glad that I did my best. He fought to the very end, to the depths of my heart. All feelings, emotions then gave. And the rest did not depend on me.
- But is this really the point in your career that you dreamed of?
Before the last attempt at the Olympics in Moscow, I knew that I would not jump again. And so he did. At 35, it's time to rest and lead a normal life.
- And how did this normal way of life seem to you?
After the stormy emotions of the competition, it was boring, of course. I continued to play sports for myself, constantly doing exercises. And now I do it too. I had three surgeries hip joint, but even after them I lead an active lifestyle. I walk a lot, jogging. I play tennis. Yes, for yourself.
When we tried to arrange an interview a couple of days ago, you said that you should go to bed at 9 pm. Do you follow the regimen?
No you! I just had to get up at 4 am to watch the Champions League (laughs). Match "Atletico" - "Juventus". I follow football very closely. And not only for football - for tennis and other sports.
- Do you support any club?
There's no such thing. Behind good game I'm sick. Here, "Atletico" with "Juventus" good football showed.
- Do not follow our football?
I watch matches when they show. Here, “Zenith” with “Monaco” looked. I also follow Shakhtar.
- What about athletics?
Followed the Moscow World Cup last year. On TV, of course. I follow my native triple jump. It seems to be not standing still, but on the other hand, the world record has not been beaten for 19 years. It's long (laughs).
Why didn't you go to Moscow for the World Cup? Not invited?
I would come to Russia, but they would rather invite me to Georgia
- Viktor Danilovich, do you have any connection with Russia?
We have friends, we communicate. Evgeny Chen, Igor Ter-Ovanesyan.
- Last time Have you been in Moscow for a long time?
In 1995, almost 19 years ago. Invited to Moscow for the 50th anniversary. They organized competitions, they did everything beautifully.
Three Olympic golds and one silver you won as a citizen Soviet Union. But then the USSR broke up into 15 different countries. What do you consider your homeland?
My homeland is Georgia, I was born and raised there. My mother has lived there all her life.
- Are you bored?
Certainly. But fate decreed that I am in Australia. Therefore, you do not need to be bored - you need to do business. Sports, farming - do what you can. Then it won't be boring.
- Do you have something at home in Sydney that reminds you of your homeland - a tree, for example, some kind?
I graduated from the Sukhumi Institute of Subtropical Cultures. Therefore, I understand this topic (laughs). I planted two lemons, two tangerines and one grapefruit here. They have grown so big in five years! They give a rich harvest, just like me at the Olympics (laughs).
They wanted to ask a completely playful question, the answer to which is probably of interest to those who know about Australia only that kangaroos are found there. Are kangaroos jumping into your yard?
No, what do you mean, I live in a big city. More Moscow! That's why I don't have kangaroos. But a joke is a joke, and the press once called me a "Georgian kangaroo."
- Why did you leave Georgia? You lived and worked there after the end of your sports career.
So the war began, so he left. I ended up in Australia rather by accident. I gave lessons here for a month and decided to stay and work. Started from scratch. At one time he was a school teacher. Basically, there have been successes.
- What happened to your house in Sukhumi, you know?
There is no more. But there was not a house - an apartment. It's in everyone's house now.
After all, the war ended a long time ago, and as far as we know, you have been visiting Georgia in recent years. There was no desire to return there?
To do this, I would have to start a new life again. And I already started it so many times ... After the end of my sports career - new life. After moving to Australia - a second life. Now the third one is probably on its way. And I'm getting old. I am already 69 years old. No matter how you flip this number, it will be 69.
- Do many wish you a happy birthday?
Whoever remembers, he congratulates, who does not remember, does not congratulate. I try not to think about that day. Who cares.
- Viktor Danilovich, the last question. If you were invited to Russia now, would you come?
Of course he would come. Only I am from Georgia, so they will invite me there sooner. But to Russia - no, I am an antagonist for Russia. Although I am an athlete, not a politician. And I want to convey through you to my fans in Russia, and in Georgia, and everywhere - a huge hello, wishes of health and all the best.
Victor Danilovich Saneev(October 3, 1945, Sukhumi, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR) - Soviet athlete, the only triple jump Olympic champion in history. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1968).
He played for the Dynamo sports society.
Awarded the Order of Lenin (1972), the Order of the October Revolution (1980), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1969), the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1976)
Sports biography
He began his athletics career in 1956 in Gantiadi (Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR) as a high jumper, but in 1963 he retrained for a triple jump. He lived in Sukhumi, where he trained under the guidance of Akop Samvelovich Kerselyan.
Three-time Olympic champion in the triple jump (1968, 1972, 1976). Silver medalist Olympic Games 1980. Two-time European champion (1969, 1974). Six times European Indoor Champion (1970-72, 1975-77). Eight-time champion USSR (1968-1971, 1973-75, 1978). Three times he beat the world record in the triple jump (17.23 m, 17.39 m, 17.44 m).
At the end of his career as an athlete, he worked in the apparatus of the Dynamo sports society in Tbilisi (Georgian SSR). After the collapse of the USSR, he left for Australia, where he worked as a physical education teacher at a school, a pizza delivery man. Subsequently, he managed to get a job as a jumping coach at the New South Wales Institute of Sports. Lives in Sydney.
Olympics in Mexico City
All the strongest athletes in the world came to the 1968 Olympics. Viktor Saneev had only about a year of experience playing for the USSR national team.
Already at the qualifying stage, the Italian athlete Gentile set a new world record of 17 m 10 cm. In the first round of the final, he also improves his record to 17 m 22 cm. In the third round of the final, Saneev exceeds this result by a centimeter. In the fifth round, the world record is again updated by the Brazilian Prudencio to 17 m 27 cm. And only in the last sixth attempt, without reaching the bar of more than 20 centimeters, Victor Saneev sets the winning point - 17 m 39 cm.
This is a unique case in history. athletics when, during one final, the world record was broken four times and twice by the same athlete.
world records
- Triple jump 17 m 23 cm - October 17, 1968, Mexico City, Mexico
- Triple jump 17 m 39 cm - October 17, 1968, Mexico City, Mexico
- Triple jump 17 m 44 cm - October 17, 1972, Sukhumi, USSR
When the legendary triple jumper Viktor Saneev, the owner of three gold Olympic medals, recently lost his job, he turned to Primo Nebiolo, President of the International Athletics Federation, for help. The now deceased famous Italian exclaimed in bewilderment: "God, for the glory that you, Victor, brought to your country, you are owed a million dollars."
And before his first Olympics in Mexico City in 1968, Victor did not think about it. The opponents were strong and ambitious. They came from all over the world for the Olympic laurels. Jozef Schmidt arrived with the rank of world record holder. Since 1960, he has been the only jumper in the world to clear the 17-meter line in the triple jump. Brazil claimed the third gold medal in the person of light-footed Nelson Prudencio. Sports Africa straightened its shoulders. Senegalese Mansour Dia, as if carved from a huge piece of ebony, struck with a dazzling smile and long jumps in training. A tall Phil May arrived from Australia, who is not inferior to sprinters in running. The fragile-looking American Arthur Walker and the powerful bearded Italian Giuseppe Gentile did not hide their ambitious hopes. There were three of us. Representative of the "old guard" USSR record holder Alexander Zolotarev and young Nikolai Dudkin and Viktor Saneev. All of them were Olympic debutants. And by that time, Victor had only one year of experience in big-time sports ...
Viktor Saneev recalls: "... Giuseppe Gentile already broke the world record in qualifying - 17 meters 10 centimeters. What will happen next? We played chess with Kerselyan (Viktor's first coach), and Kreer (coach of the USSR national team) kept walking side by side and He insisted that Giuseppe would burn out and everything would fall into place, and that there really was no point in worrying about this jump at all.
I didn't worry. I suspected that Giuseppe was unlikely to burn out. And if it burns out, then others will remain. And they will jump like hell. And that this is just the beginning.
Despite the state - all of the nerves - the head is quite sober. I understand that this is the Olympics, that I have to jump now, and the cry is like at a bullfight. I think: why are you screaming like that? I watch the Italian, our yesterday's record holder, jumping ... 17.22 - again a world record! Behind him is the Brazilian Prudencio - 17.05.
My third attempt. I run. I'm jumping. 17.23. New world record. The stadium is roaring. And I'm waiting for what's next? Who will be the first to stop? Prudencio goes to the start of the jump, it takes a long time to get ready. Outwardly, he is calm. Starts run - 17.27. The world record has been broken.
And then something happens. The Italian Gentile immediately somehow darkens, withdraws into himself. American Walker, the most capable guy, can't get himself together. Fails attempt after attempt. Someone is nervous, someone from excitement puts their foot wrong, someone droops - 17.27 do not jump over!
I have one last try. And the result of Prudencio is 17.27. It's a lot, too much. But you still need to jump further.
Best of the day
I have a strange condition. They scream all around, but I'm quiet inside. And only in the head it knocks coldly: legs, like a string! Just keep your feet up. I ran...
Already leaving the pit, by the cry of the audience, I realized that the result was improved. But how much? 17.39. Everything was like in a dream. They shouted, clapped on the back, congratulated, kissed ... And I was silent. Lips dry, chapped. He knew that he won, but the meaning of this somehow still did not reach ... "
He played for the Dynamo sports society.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin (1972), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1969), the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1976).
Sports biography
He began his athletics career in 1956 in Gantiadi (Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR) as a high jumper, but in 1963 he retrained for a triple jump. He lived and trained under the guidance of Akop Samvelovich Kerselyan in Sukhumi.
Three-time Olympic champion in the triple jump (1968, 1972, 1976). Silver medalist of the Olympic Games 1980. Two-time European champion (1969, 1974). Six times European Indoor Champion (1970-72, 1975-77). Eight-time champion of the USSR (1968-1971, 1973-75, 1978). Three times he beat the world record in the triple jump (17.23 m, 17.39 m, 17.44 m).
At the end of his career as an athlete, he worked in the apparatus of the Dynamo sports society in Tbilisi (Georgian SSR). After the collapse of the USSR, he left to work as a coach in Australia, where he currently lives.
Olympics in Mexico City
All the strongest athletes in the world came to the 1968 Olympics. Viktor Saneev had only about a year of experience playing for the USSR national team.
Already at the stage of qualification for the main competitions, the Italian athlete Gentile broke the world record of 17 m 22 cm. In the final, Saneev exceeded this result by a centimeter. In the next attempts, the world record falls again, the Brazilian Prudencio is 17 m 27 cm. And only in the last sixth attempt, having missed the bar by more than 20 centimeters, Victor Saneev puts the winning point - 17 m 39 cm.
This is a unique case in the history of athletics, when during one final the world record was broken three times and twice by one athlete.
