Valery Kharlamov: biography. Son, wife, personal life, cause of death

Name: Valery Kharlamov

Date of Birth: 14.01.1948

Age: 72 years old

Date of death: 27.08.1981.

Place of Birth: Moscow city, Russia

Activity: hockey player

Family status: married

The biography of the famous Soviet hockey player, who died with his wife, Valery Kharlamov is still interested today. His best qualities, such as determination and the desire to win, were passed on to children. Photos from the competition are the best proof of this.

early years

Kharlamov Valery Borisovich was born on January 14, 1948 in Moscow. Father Boris Sergeevich is Russian, and mother Carmen Orive-Abad had Spanish roots. She was evacuated to the USSR during the Spanish Civil War.

Valery's parents worked together at the Kommunar plant. They were able to sign only 3 months after the birth of the boy, due to the fact that Carmen did not have a Soviet passport. Having received the document, she married Boris Sergeevich. Later, a girl was born in the young Kharlamov family. They named her Tatyana.

Valery Kharlamov in childhood

Valery has been passionate about hockey since childhood. All thanks to my father. He was engaged in this sport outside of working hours, participated in competitions, representing his plant. The boy enjoyed watching his dad play, and Boris Sergeevich, in turn, taught him to skate and use a stick.

Hockey classes had to be suspended, the parents of the future star of this sport decided to move to Spain, the city of Bilbao, where my maternal grandparents once lived. Then Valery became interested in football, but not so much as to completely forget about his native skates.

Upon returning back to the Soviet Union, Kharlamov enrolled in the hockey school of the capital's CSKA.

Carier start

After the hockey school, nineteen-year-old Kharlamov managed to get into the main team. He had a wonderful quality - determination, in every training session or game he worked to the maximum, never lowered his head. Thanks to this, in a few years he became a real star, the leader of his team, although some circumstances prevented this.

Tarasov, the then coach of the young team, did not see any special talent in the young man, and at any opportunity reminded him of his short stature. But Valery is not used to defeat. In 1966, the team went with him to the Chebarkul Zvezda. During the game, Kharlamov scored 34 goals in just one season.

The low growth of the athlete did not become an obstacle to sports glory

After such a resounding success, the coach changed his mind about the guy, began to talk about his achievements to his colleagues in the capital. A year later, in the spring, another game was held in the city of Kalinin, to which Kulagin came. Despite his short stature, Valery Kharlamov perfectly felt the court, and skillfully controlled the stick, which attracted attention. The only thing left was to convince the coach to take the athlete to the main team of CSKA.

But still, it was not easy because Tarasov, despite his successes, still doubted the young man. In 1967, in the summer, the team, together with a star from Moscow, was sent to a base in the city of Kudepsta.

Young Valery Kharlamov, whose biography and photos are now admired, at that time thought only about sports. Thoughts to find a good wife who will give birth to beautiful children visited him later.

The Magnificent Three

In the early spring of 1968, Valery Kharlamov made his real debut. April 23, he scores the first goal with the army club. It was during that period that the Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov team was formed.

The legendary trio

Thanks to this trio, Valery was able to achieve high results. Soviet athletes played at full strength, showing the spectators, judges and opponents their skills. The team won again.

Best time

Valery's dreams began to become reality in 1969, when he was 21 years old. For the first time he performed at the World Championships, and also received awards of the highest standard along with the national team.

In the USSR championship, the judges recognized him as the most successful scorer. On account of the athlete was 40 goals. In 1972, the composition of the team changed, Vikulov and Firsov were already partners with Valery. But the cardinal changes in no way prevented us from winning again in Olympic Games.

At 24, Kharlamov achieved incredible heights. But it turned out that this was not enough for him. Another dream of a young man was to play with Canadian athletes. Then they were leaders in hockey.

Kharlamov in the Union team

World victory

In the same 1972, the officials of the rival countries agreed to hold eight matches. This event went down in history, because this has never happened before. The Canadian team included world famous athletes. Montreal opened the season.

Valery Kharlamov player of the CSKA team

During this competition, Canadians began to look at the Soviet team in a different way. Although at the very beginning they were 100% sure of their own victory. At 6 minutes they scored 2 goals. Everything changed in the 17th minute. Zimin and Petrov contributed to this. After such serious turns, only one team remained.

At the 22nd minute, Valery was able to put the team ahead, and after another 5 minutes he doubled the result. Total score 7:3 in favor of CSKA.

Difficult period

In the life of a man, a turning point comes in 1976. The athlete again became the Olympic champion, European and World champion. And also for the first time, Valery Kharlamov managed to achieve success in his personal life. In May of the same year, he married his beloved Irina Smirnova. Happiness did not last long, after 12 days the young couple had an accident.

Valery received many serious injuries, doctors claimed that now the road to hockey was closed to him forever. He had to endure more than one operation, but nevertheless, after a few months, Kharlamov began to walk again.

Rehabilitation after the first accident

He could not imagine his life without his favorite sport, so he did everything possible to get back into the team's ranks. At first he was entrusted to train children, and at the end of the year he again joined the national team.

Wife and kids

Little is known about his personal life in the biography of Valery Kharlamov, he devoted all his time to sports, which is confirmed by numerous photos from the competition. The man did not plan to look for a wife and have children. But fate decided otherwise. In 1975, a true athlete met Irina Smirnova. Both of them, one might say, fell in love with each other at first sight, after a short period they began to live together. There was an 8 year age difference between them, but their love is definitely not a hindrance.

Kharlamov with his wife

They signed after the birth of their son, who was named Alexander. And in May 1976, a girl, Begonita, appeared in a young family. Valery and Irina Kharlamov, after a few years happy family life I was given an apartment located next to the Alekseevskaya metro station.

Death

In August 1981, an extremely unpleasant situation occurred for the famous hockey player. CSKA went to the Canada Cup for the first time without Valery, despite the fact that he did not officially resign. The man so hoped to play his last competition abroad with full force, but the authorities considered that they could do without him. The last conversation with Tikhonov was, to put it mildly, very tense. The family spent the day at the cottage.

On August 27, 1981, early in the morning, Valery, his wife and her cousin drove their Volga back from their dacha to the capital. Irina was still bad at driving, but she really wanted a net for the driver's seat. In the end, it did. On the way there was a small emergency situation, with which the girl, due to inexperience, could not cope. The car drove into the oncoming lane and collided with a truck. Due to numerous injuries, all passengers died on the spot.

Hockey player with his children

All the world's media talked about what happened. A civil memorial service was held at the CSKA Palace, the dead were buried in the cemetery in Kuntsevo. Due to the fact that the team was abroad on the day of the funeral, the hockey players promised to win the Cup in memory of their comrade. And they fulfilled their promise, winning back with a score of 8:1.

Irina's mother issued guardianship for Alexander and Begonita. Colleagues of the deceased Valery tried to provide any support in the upbringing of children who became orphans. The boy, like his father, was professionally involved in hockey, later he began to teach children this sport. After that he started his own business. And the girl liked rhythmic gymnastics, for which she received the title of master of sports.

Children of the late Valery Kharlamov, whose biography is the best motivation, and his wife, were able to achieve not only heights in a sports career, but also build a personal life. Family photos can be found at in social networks. Alexander and his wife have a son, and Begonia has two daughters.

The decision of the head coach of the USSR national team Viktor Tikhonov not to take Valery Kharlamov to the Canada Cup was a real blow for the attacker. By this time, as the interlocutors of the author of these lines admitted, Kharlamov was the most popular Soviet athlete in Canada, his talent eclipsed the glory of Pele in the Maple Leaf Country. Valery Kharlamov, having met his wife and son, who returned from the south, went to the dacha. I did not sleep all night, I was worried, but in the morning I had to go to Moscow.

From night to morning on August 27, rain charged in the Moscow region. Although it was August outside, this rain was already cold in autumn.

When exactly on the way the wife of the hockey player, Irina Kharlamova, got behind the wheel, is unknown. There is a version that Valery Kharlamov, who did not get enough sleep, changed places with his wife, who was sitting on the right in the front seat, after he taxied from the rubble onto the Leningradskoe highway. Others believed that it happened when the car disappeared around the corner from the eyes of her mother. In any case, the wife of the hockey player was already driving the Volga in Leningradka.

They said that the Kharlamov "Volga" with the numbers 00-17 MMB on the highway wet from the morning rain, they say, went at a decent speed - about a hundred kilometers per hour. But people who knew Valery and Irina said that she could hardly squeeze more than 70 kilometers per hour on a wet and slippery highway, especially on the Volga, which she hardly drove. Subsequently, this will be confirmed by a police examination. The car at the time of the collision was moving at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

As experts said, most likely, Valery in the front seat and cousin of Irina Kharlamova (Smirnova) Sergey, who had recently returned from the army, fell asleep. If so, then legend number 17 met his death in a dream, without understanding what happened. They say that meeting your death in a dream is the lot of happy people marked by the Lord. Not everyone is given this.

Moving along the almost empty Leningradskoye highway, Irina Kharlamova saw a sign - "Road work is underway" and road barriers standing in front. Where to turn at this speed? After all, you need to give aside! She decided to go around the obstacle.

"Volga" sharply spun. On this ill-fated wet asphalt, recently laid by road workers. One, two. The car spun, whirled around. Everything happened in a matter of moments. 00-17 passed into the oncoming lane. Apparently, Kharlamov woke up at that moment, experts will record that his left hand was extended to the steering wheel. So, I wanted to help my wife to taxi ...

And where did this truck come from at such an early hour, as it turned out later, heavy, stuffed to the brim with spare parts. The guy behind the wheel gripped the steering wheel with his mouth open. He understood that a collision with the out-of-control Volga was inevitable. The young man driving the ZIL turned the steering wheel to the right, trying to get to the side of the road. Late. "Volga" with numbers 00-17 MMB has already flown on a loaded and therefore less maneuverable colossus. Hit the truck sideways and rolled into a ditch.

The gnashing of iron, a terrible blunt blow and the clinking of glass. The woman flew through the windshield. "Volga" was squeezed, mangled, the metal was crumpled, grinded, and torn apart. All. In such disasters, as a rule, there are no survivors. The blow, as the traffic police officers later established, fell on the Volga from behind, where Irina Kharlamova's cousin was sitting. Kharlamov was hit in the back of the head. And his wife was thrown out of the cab. She lay on the pavement and was alive for about 10 minutes. She asked only one question: "How is Valera?". And she died.

In a few seconds, the ZIL driver will run out of the cab. Horror. Wild horror will seize him after he recognizes the people's favorite Valery Borisovich Kharlamov in the passenger in the front seat. No longer breathing and gone to another world.

Lev Maksimovich, a traffic police officer, later spoke about this and other details: “When I looked around at the scene of the incident, I almost immediately understood in detail what had happened. towards the steering wheel. Probably, at the last moment, he tried to help his wife cope with the controls. His wife, Irina, was lying in a ditch and was still alive. The ambulance was standing nearby. The doctor fussed with cotton swabs, trying to save her life. The hockey player's cousin, who was sitting in the back seat, died on the spot.

The death of the Kharlamov family, as they later wrote, became "largely a chain of random coincidences." The day before the accident, asphalt was being changed in this area. In the place where the new coating ended, a kind of ledge formed, some say five, some seven centimeters high, which caused the tragedy. As experts later dryly write, "Kharlamov's wife was an inexperienced driver and, having run into a bump, lost control." The car spun on the highway, and she collided with ZIL, who was walking towards her.

Most likely, they would have survived if they had been strapped in. If yes, if only.

But death, as you know, does not recognize subjunctive moods. In addition, the truck, as luck would have it, was packed full of spare parts. This heavy ballast added to an already powerful blow. And the slippery asphalt in this place, as if on purpose, left no chance of salvation, as if "spitting out" the car into a ditch. "The new coating, on which the Volga hit, was slippery like ice during the heat ...", they will write later. But those damned if...

An hour later, all of Moscow will know about the tragedy. This information will be confirmed to a TASS correspondent in the capital's traffic police. And later, world news feeds will be “sewn by lightning” from the Land of Soviets: “According to TASS, he died in a car accident near Moscow this morning famous hockey player Valery Kharlamov and his wife. They left behind two small children, a son and a daughter.

“I conducted a training session in the SKA Leningrad team. A dispatch came from the club duty officer that Valerka had died tragically. I assembled the team, announced to my assistants that they should conduct the training themselves. happened. She was driving. He left the dacha. She was already sitting on the track. She didn’t know how to drive. That’s all. That’s how the tragedy happened. If he had been driving, the tragedy wouldn’t have happened, "he admitted in an interview with the author of these lines is the captain of the USSR national team Boris Mikhailov.

“Before his death, I went to Holland on a flight. I then worked at Sovtransavto and was abroad at that moment. Gennady Tsygankov called me, having found the phones through the leaders. Nothing was reported on the radio in Europe yet. Gena was laconic: "So and so, be strong, Misha, such a tragedy happened! ". But I could not escape, I could not be in time - customs matters, I also had no right to leave the car, the times were like that. I arrived after, I learned everything from everyone rumors, - recalled Kharlamov's friend Mikhail Tumanov.

As I understand it, as a result of the heavy rain that had passed the day before, the pads of the Volga got wet. The asphalt on the Leningrad Highway, along which the car was moving, was slippery like a skating rink. Under heavy braking, there was a sharp skid. And Irina could not cope with the management. Moreover, she had little experience driving the Volga, and she learned to drive in another car, in the Moskvich, ”Mikhail Tumanov admitted in an interview.

On that fateful morning, by a lucky chance: they wanted an extra portion of the same barbecue that their grandmother promised to cook, the Kharlamov children remained in the country. Remained alive. Left orphans.

“On August 27, Tatyana Mikhailova called in the morning and said: “Come to me quickly. Valera crashed. Come soon. "I'm flying out of the house. As luck would have it, no trolleybus, no bus. No taxi. I found a private trader. I'm all crying. I can't believe what happened. The driver asks what happened to me. They told me that my brother crashed. I'm coming to Tatyana's home, and there her youngest son says to me: "Aunt Tanya, and they have already left for the morgue for identification. You sit here and wait." I waited, then Tatyana called from the morgue and said one phrase: "Yes, this is Valera." Then the information went on the radio right away. Then dad came, we all came home. And the next day mom to come," recalled the hockey player's sister Tatyana Kharlamova.

The hockey players of the USSR national team, who played at the Canada Cup, among whom were several very close friends of Valery Borisovich (what can I say in general: he himself was a long-term favorite and the soul of the national team, how could one not love him), could not come to the funeral. That's why they, the players, were offended. They could not salute, throw a handful of earth, as it should be during burial, into the grave of the one who was so respected and loved. They could not be near the cemetery and at the same time in grief with the whole country.

The news of Kharlamov's death in a car accident near Moscow, according to his best friend Alexander Maltsev, was a "terrible blow" for him, from which he could not recover for years. The USSR national team at the time of the disaster was sent by plane to the Maple Leaf Country to prepare for the Canada Cup. “At the Winnipeg airport, approaching us, the Swedish judge said that Kharlamov had died. For us, the death of such an original player and an amazing person was a terrible blow. I realized that I had lost my soul mate,” recalls Alexander Maltsev. everyone loves when North America declared a moment of silence for Valery, then, I think, all of Canada and the United States stood up to honor his memory.

“Fate took my closest friend away from me,” Alexander Maltsev says quietly. “If Valera were alive now, everything would have turned out quite differently. No one could replace him for me ...”.

Alexander Nikolaevich often remembers his friend. At these moments, the pain of loss is visible in his eyes, which has not subsided, despite the years lived. For these three and a half decades. Maltsev perks up when he is asked to talk about the happy days spent with Kharlamov, when warm words are said about his friend.

On August 27, 1981, the players of the Soviet team at first perceived the information about the death of the national team’s favorite as nothing more than a provocation - Kharlamov’s portrait, framed by a black mourning ribbon, was shown on the news on TV when the team players checked into a hotel.

We decided to call home. This tragic news was confirmed after the head of the Soviet delegation, Boris Mayorov, made a call to Moscow directly from the reception. From his instantly whitened face, the hockey players of the USSR national team guessed that the irreparable had really happened.

“It took us almost two days to get to Canada on the bedstead. We flew to Winnipeg, it was night there, we slept. In the morning, when we turned on the TV, photos of Valera in a black frame began to appear in the news reports. Then no one spoke English much. We didn’t understood what was happening. Everyone ran downstairs to the hotel lobby. Then someone came and said that such a tragedy had happened. There was a noise. We told the management that we would fly back to Moscow for the funeral. The head of the delegation from the Central Committee, an instructor who called home , said that a team meeting would take place in the near future, - Vyacheslav Fetisov recalled in a conversation. - As a result, we were convinced that we would not have time to get to the funeral. I could not believe that this happened. Only yesterday he was next to us and ... suddenly he is no more. When we left the stadium in Canada, a lot of people came up to us, everyone expressed their condolences and everyone said the name Kharlamov. Only when we flew to Moscow and came to his grave, only then did I realize that Valery Borisovich is not with us. I didn't want to believe it until the last minute, but it was the bitter truth. It was a shock. It was the loss of a friend."

Tretyak, Vasiliev and Maltsev came to Tikhonov with a request to let his friend go to the funeral. Tikhonov did not let him in, although the players literally begged the national team coach to give them the opportunity to say goodbye to their best friend. They were ready to fly to Moscow at their own expense. On the first flight, the Canadians would help. We were ready immediately after the funeral to return back to the Canada Cup. Tikhonov was adamant.

“We came to Tikhonov and at our own expense asked to fly to Moscow for the funeral. Tikhonov categorically forbade us to do this. All the guys gathered, remembered, drank 100 grams of vodka each. We all took up arms against Tikhonov. that Kharlam did not take. If he had gone, then there would not have been this terrible accident and such grief for us. Secondly, that he did not let us go to the funeral. After 1972, Valera made a revolution in hockey in Canada. He was there popular as a national hero," admitted Alexander Maltsev.

Bobby Hull entered the locker room of the Soviet team after one of the matches at this tournament. In his hands he held a bouquet of red carnations. "I know that red carnations were Valery Kharlamov's favorite flowers. Please take them and bow on behalf of all Canada to the great Hockey Player and Man," Bobby Hull asked.

At the 1981 Canada Cup, the hockey players of the national team played for two: for themselves and Valery Kharlamov. One can only imagine how hard these matches were for them. When every second the pain of irreparable loss burned, when the thought was constantly tormented that they could not pay their last tribute to the memory of a friend and comrade in Moscow, but should these days be far beyond the ocean.

The situation in the ranks of the USSR national team was really oppressive. It was especially hard for those who played with Valery Kharlamov in the national team and the club for many years, for whom he became a friend and brother. "Three decades have passed, and the events of those days are still in my memory. And most importantly, the question is why did it happen so suddenly? Not after some kind of illness, but this is how the life of one of our best athletes, our friend, ended," recalls Boris Mikhailov.

The players then, in Canada, held their own meeting, separate from the coaches and heads of the delegation. "Valerka Vasiliev, team captain, all the guys said that the victory should be dedicated to the memory of Valery Borisovich. We swore that we would fight to the last and try to win the Canada Cup, which he himself wanted to win. Before the final, we gathered again, all together, without management, without coaches and said that we would do everything to win the final match against Canada," Vyacheslav Fetisov admitted.

The USSR national team really rallied, and won the 1981 Canada Cup, but with what score, 8-1! Leaving no stone unturned from the Canadians and dedicating this victory to the memory of Valery Kharlamov. Upon arrival in Moscow, the players of CSKA and the national team visited both the parents of Valery Kharlamov and the cemetery. “Upon arrival in Moscow from Canada, we were met by our wives and relatives. We got on the bus and went straight from the airport to the Kuntsevo cemetery. We couldn’t believe in his death until the last, but when we arrived at the grave, we realized that neither Valera nor Ira there will be no more," Vyacheslav Fetisov recalled in a conversation.

The funeral of Valery Kharlamov took place on August 31, 1981 at the Kuntsevo cemetery. First, it was decided to bury the great hockey player at the Vagankovsky cemetery, where the corresponding letter from the Moscow City Executive Committee went. A responsible "party comrade" came to Vagankovo ​​with a letter in his hands and absolutely stupidly chose a site in the far, near the fence, then still undeveloped, part of the cemetery. When the hockey player's friends came to look at the site, they immediately refused: it was simply difficult to get to the burial place. “If you had arrived earlier than this frame, I, of course, would have identified the best site, closer to Vysotsky’s grave, now I can’t, the order has already been approved,” the director of the cemetery shrugged.

As a result, it was decided to bury the great hockey player at the Kuntsevsky cemetery of the capital.

Farewell to Valery Kharlamov and the burial was organized by the CSKA hockey club. It was painful to look at the mother of the legend, Begonia Kharlamov. She was constantly sedated. Thousands and thousands of people came to say goodbye to the people's favorite. Like a year earlier. On the death of Vysotsky.

Farewell to Kharlamov was extended for two hours, after the organizers saw what a huge line of people stretched into Ice Palace CSKA. People climbed over the fence. The queue stretched right from the Aeroport metro station, so there were a lot of people.

The funeral was indeed very crowded. Officers, generals with golden stars of Heroes of the Soviet Union, artists, athletes, women, adults and children passed by the coffins in deep sorrow. The gray-haired old woman, heartbroken, knelt down and laid a modest bouquet at the feet of the inconsolable mother of Valery Kharlamov. The Spanish ambassador expressed condolences to Begonia Kharlamova, bent over her, said something, then stood on the guard of honor.

The people kept coming. Everything was intertwined together, streams of tears merged, overflowing into a huge, forgive me, reader, I won’t pick up a suitable comparison, “a sea of ​​\u200b\u200bwoe.” And this ridiculous death itself, and this death in the prime of life, and the fact that such a phenomenal person left so early and unfairly. Indeed, a people's favorite, who would live and please people with his sparkling gift ...

“On the territory of the army sports palace, everything was crowded with people, many of whom were crying. We were army men in military uniform. It was an unbearable feeling. Mikhailov, Petrov, Lutchenko carried the coffin of Valera. I carried a wreath. It was most painful to look at his mother. It was a shock. The pain of loss was felt for years. They talked a lot about this, this topic was constantly touched upon. If he went to Canada, then he could stay to live. But, this is fate. I am not one of those who support this topic. Kharlamov is a unique person. And his loss was very heavy," Sergey Nailievich Gimaev recalled in a conversation with the author of these lines.

In the end, they decided to take the coffin to the cemetery, despite the fact that people were still walking towards the palace. “I remember that there were a lot of people at Valera’s funeral. Thousands and thousands of people. A continuous stream of people went to our army weightlifting hall. It was like going to the mausoleum. From the entrance to CSKA and there. There were a lot of people. "because of the endless stream of people. Then we went to the Kuntsevo cemetery. We drove in a separate car. It's not clear who got on there. There were several buses to get there. Everything was also jam-packed at the cemetery, it was impossible to break through. At Kuntsevo, it was raining, as if from buckets, then suddenly the sun came out sharply in a second. Tarasov, the chairman of the sports committee of the Ministry of Defense, was such a good general. The leadership spoke, and people spoke, "recalled Olympic champion Alexander Gusev in an interview with the author of these lines.

It so happened that on the eve of the fateful day of the death of his friend, Kharlamov's friend, the famous Vladimir Vinokur, went to Kursk to visit his parents. “Then Leva Leshchenko called me and said: “Volodya, there is trouble with Valera. He crashed in a car." I ask by inertia: "Is he in a military hospital or in a civilian clinic, remembering the accident that he had in 1976?" Then Leva told me that the most terrible and irreparable had happened. I immediately went to Moscow," Vinokur recalled in an interview with the author of these lines.

“Valera’s funeral became a tragedy for us, which no words are enough to describe. I didn’t feel anything: there was no legs under me, no head. I just remembered that when we left the CSKA Sports Palace with a procession, everywhere, despite the pouring rain , crying people were on their knees and so saw him off on his last journey, "recalled Tatyana Blinova, who knew Valery Kharlamov from childhood.

“On the day of Valera’s funeral in 1981, when we left CSKA, it was raining, we were traveling by bus. I recall a symbolic episode. A funeral column is going and suddenly an absolutely amazing picture appears before our eyes. right on the Leningrad highway with a bunch of roses, kneels, right into the water in front of the hearse driving towards him with the coffin of Valera and Irina, and then the whole column, and puts these flowers, this bunch of gorgeous roses right on the wet asphalt. ". And then, when we arrived at the cemetery, the dazzling sun shone. When I talk about Valera's funeral, I always see this symbolic scene: a man, roses, downpour and a shining sun," Vladimir Vinokur recalled. "When I go to the cemetery to brother, and the father lies nearby, and 50 meters from them is the grave of Valera and his family. I always go there, there are always flowers lying there. I’ll wait, think, remember. You can’t blame anyone for his death. yat. But this is fate. Every person. We are guests on this earth."

The rain stopped and the sun came out. At that moment, Anatoly Tarasov approached the coffin. Suddenly thunder rumbled and it began to rain again. Then Tarasov said: "You see, all of Moscow is crying for Valera." And then, suddenly, the sun came out. “In a farewell speech at a funeral rally in front of thousands of people, in front of true friends of hockey and Kharlamov, who gathered at the Novokuntsevo cemetery, I said that Valery “did not know his greatness,” Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov would write later. “Valery was a really great hockey player, ... he did not know the true extent of his amazing talent, in no way, never, nothing and no one emphasized his exclusivity and, in general, was a rare decent, clean and honest person.

What Kharlamov did on the ice is really beyond the control of a simple craftsman and even a hockey master. So the artist played, closed in himself, vulnerable, subtly feeling falseness. So Kharlamov, usually cheerful and cheerful, is remembered by everyone who knew him.

On August 27, 1981, the famous Soviet hockey player Valery Kharlamov died. Despite the fact that many years have passed since his death, there are still several versions of why the star of Soviet hockey actually went down.

In 1981, Kharlamov announced that he was ending his sports career, and the only goal he had left was to win the first Canada Cup. The tournament was to be held in Winnipeg at the end of August. But at the last training session, the team coach Tikhonov said that Kharlamov was not going to Canada. This news was for Valery like a bolt from the blue. As his teammates recall, Kharlamov tried his best, trained beyond the norm. After talking with the coach, Kharlamov wished victory to the guys on the team, shook hands with everyone and left. As it turned out later, Tikhonov punished Kharlamov for some of the past violations of the regime. According to some hockey players, if Tikhonov had not acted this way towards Valery, he would not have gone to the dacha, and would have remained alive. Tikhonov insisted that he did not take Kharlamov to the national team because of poor functional training.

On August 26, Kharlamov met his wife and son from the airport and took them to a dacha in the village of Pokrovka near Klin, where their four-year-old daughter and mother-in-law were waiting for them. Kharlamov did not sleep all night, as he was very worried about the fact that he was not taken to the national team. In the morning it was necessary to go to Moscow, so Kharlamov's wife, Irina, worrying about his physical and moral condition, offered to drive.

The tragedy happened on the Leningrad highway (74 km). The road surface that day was wet due to rain, and this, according to one version, was the cause of the tragedy. Irina simply could not cope with the management. In addition, she learned to drive in another car - Moskvich, and her driving experience was not great. Their Volga drove into the oncoming lane and crashed into a truck. Everything happened very quickly, and the truck driver did not have time to react in time, and the fact that he was also loaded did not allow the driver to quickly make a maneuver and move into a ditch.

Sergei (Irina's cousin) and Valery died instantly from their injuries, and Irina flew onto the road through the windshield and died a few minutes after her husband and brother. The arriving policemen recognized Valery Kharlamov in the deceased. The news of the tragedy spread throughout Moscow in just a few hours.

The cause of the accident could also be the recently laid asphalt, on which a small oil film remains for some time. Combined with the rain, the asphalt became slippery and driving was difficult. At the time of the accident, the car's speedometer was jammed at 110 km, but the official record says 60 km. Friends of the Kharlamovs also agree with this figure, because Irina was an inexperienced driver and did not drive fast.

By coincidence, the asphalt was being changed near the accident site, and one of the wheels of the Volga turned out to be on the new protruding asphalt, and the second on the old surface, which was 7 cm lower than the new surface, which caused a skid and the car drove onto the lane oncoming traffic.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Valery Borisovich Kharlamov (January 14, 1948, Moscow, RSFSR, USSR - August 27, 1981, near Solnechnogorsk, Moscow Region, RSFSR, USSR) - an outstanding Soviet hockey player, striker of the CSKA team (1967-1981) and the USSR national team (1969-1980), Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1969). 2-time Olympic champion (1972, 1976) and 8-time world champion. The best hockey player of the USSR (1972, 1973). One of the leading hockey players of the USSR in the 1970s, who received recognition both in his country and abroad.

State awards
Order of the Red Banner of Labor - 1975
Order of the Red Banner of Labor - 1978
Order of the Badge of Honor - 1972
Medal "For Labor Valor"

The death of Valery Kharlamov

Valery Kharlamov was born on the night of January 13-14, 1948 in Moscow into a working-class family. His father, Boris Sergeevich, worked as a test fitter at the Kommunar plant, his mother, Aribe Orbat Hermane, or Begonita, a Spaniard by nationality who arrived at the age of 12 in the USSR in the late 30s, worked at the same plant . In addition to Valera, there was another child in the Kharlamov family: daughter Tatyana.

Ironically, V. Kharlamov was born in a car: the young mother was taken to the hospital, and the contractions began right in the cab of the car.

Boris Kharlamov left his wife in the maternity hospital, and with a bundle in his hands, where her clothes were, he went on foot to the hostel where he and his young wife then lived (the metro was no longer working by that time). On one of the streets, a lone traveler with a suspicious bundle was noticed by a police patrol. He was asked to go to the department, with which he gladly agreed: the frost was terrible and it was already unbearable to stomp home. In the department, Boris Sergeevich warmed up and treated the policemen to shag.

My son was born today, - he told his interlocutors once again. - They called Valery, in honor of Chkalov.

B. Kharlamov recalls: “Valerik was born very weak. He weighed less than three kilograms, and where was the hero to be expected with the then-card nutrition. I washed my legs with the guys in the hostel, as usual. a quarter of a large room, fenced off from other families by a plywood partition ... "

At the age of 7, Kharlamov first skated and went to the rink with his father. Ice hockey by that time had already firmly established itself in our country and was not inferior in popularity to football. Many boys of that time dreamed of being like Vsevolod Bobrov or Ivan Tregubov. Valera also dreamed about it. However, on the way to this cherished dream, an obstacle-health suddenly arose. In March 1961, Kharlamov fell ill with a sore throat, which gave complications to other organs: doctors discovered he had a heart defect and practically put an end to any activity of the child. From that moment on, Valera was forbidden to attend physical education classes at school, run in the yard, lift weights, swim, and even attend a pioneer camp. Otherwise, the doctors said, the boy might die. However, if Valery's mother resigned herself to such a diagnosis, then his father thought differently. Therefore, when a summer ice rink opened on Leningradsky Prospekt in the summer of 1962, he took his son there to sign up for the hockey section. That year, the boys of 1949 were accepted, but Valery, with his small stature, looked so young that it was not difficult for him to mislead the second coach of CSKA, Boris Pavlovich Kulagin, about his age. Kharlamov then turned out to be the only one of several dozen boys who was accepted into the section. And when the deception nevertheless came to light, Valery managed to please the coach so much that there was no question of expelling him from the section.

A. Maltsev recalls: “Valery once admitted in moments of our special spiritual intimacy: “As a boy, I seriously cried only once. It was when I started playing in the children's team of CSKA and for the first time the referee sent me off for two minutes. Here I sobbed - it became bitter that the guys left in the minority. And when they were pressed against the board, they were knocked down on the ice - they endured it as if nothing had happened.

Behind a short time Kharlamov has become one of the best players in the Youth sports school CSKA and became B. Kulagin's favorite. But the head coach of CSKA Anatoly Tarasov at one time treated the young hockey player with some prejudice. And it was to blame for this ... V. Kharlamov's small stature. Tarasov in those years relied on tall and powerful hockey players, never tired of repeating: "All the outstanding Canadian hockey players are giants compared to ours. How can we defeat them if our attacking dwarfs are literally a meter with a cap?" In the end, Kharlamov also fell under the heavy hand of Tarasov: in 1966 he was sent to the second league, to the army team of the Sverdlovsk military district - the Chebarkul Zvezda. And there a miracle happened.

Kharlamov, a first-rate player, “put on his ears” the whole of Chebarkul, having managed to score 34 goals in one season. Team coach Major Vladimir Alfer immediately reported on the success of the young “Varangian” from Moscow Kulagin. At first he didn't seem to believe it.

However, in the spring of 1967 in Kalinin, Kulagin himself saw Kharlamov in action and realized that his place was in the main team of CSKA.

The only thing that was embarrassing was how Tarasov would react to this proposal.

They say that that conversation between Kulagin and Tarasov about the future fate of the talented hockey player was long and difficult.

Tarasov continued to doubt the capabilities of Kharlamov, considered his take-off in Zvezda to be accidental. But Kulagin continued to insist on the transfer of the 19-year-old hockey player to Moscow. And Tarasov gave up. So in the summer of 1967, Kharlamov was called to the CSKA training camp at the southern base in Kudepsta.

In the national championship of 1967-1968, the CSKA team became the champion. Together with her, V. Kharlamov rightfully shared the joy of victory. It was then that the famous army trio Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov was born. In December of the same year, she was included in the second national team of the USSR, which replaced the team of Czechoslovakia in the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper (she did not come to Moscow after the August events). In 1969, 20-year-old Kharlamov became the world champion, thereby setting a record: before him, not a single hockey player in the Soviet Union knew such a take-off at such a young age.

"I like to play beautifully," Valera often repeated. What is true is true: hockey performed by Kharlamov was a true art that amazed millions of people. When he appeared on the ice, the goalkeepers trembled, and the audience enthusiastically expressed their delight.

By 1972, Kharlamov was already unconditionally considered the best hockey player not only in the Soviet Union, but also in Europe. He became the champion of the USSR four times, three times the world champion and twice the European champion. At the USSR Championship in 1971, he became top scorer, throwing 40 goals into the opponents' goal. In early 1972, as part of the USSR national team, he won the Olympic "gold", became the tournament's top scorer, scoring 9 goals. And in the autumn of the same year, Kharlamov conquered North America.

The famous series of matches between the hockey teams of the USSR and Canada started on September 2, 1972 on the ice of the Montreal Forum. Not a single inhabitant of the North American continent then doubted that the entire series of eight games would be won by their compatriots with a devastating score for Soviet hockey players. If someone objected, he would be called crazy. But what really happened? In the very first match, the devastating score overtook not us, but the Canadians: 7:3! For the "maple leaves" it was a shock.

They unconditionally recognized V. Kharlamov as the best player in the Soviet team, who scored two goals in the match. Immediately after the game, one of the Canadian coaches found Valery and offered him a million dollars to play in the NHL. Kharlamov then laughed it off: they say, I won’t go anywhere without Mikhailov and Petrov. But the Canadians did not understand the humor and immediately declared: we take all your top three.

Naturally, no one went anywhere, and could not go anywhere. Those were not the times then.

A. Maltsev recalls: “By the standards of Canadian hockey, Valera was a “baby”, and the rivals were especially angry when it was Kharlamov who over and over again beat them, powerful and huge, on ice. And after the historical “series-72”, even NHL professionals recognized that such a "kid" as Kharlamov - an athlete, all cast, of muscles - can be a star in the game of powerful men.

Kharlamov became the only European hockey player whose portrait adorns the stands of the Museum of Hockey Glory in Toronto.

By 1976, Kharlamov was already a six-time champion of the USSR, a six-time world champion and a two-time Olympic champion. He was probably the only hockey player in the country who was loved by all the fans without exception. Kharlamov was loved even by the fans of Spartak, despite the fact that the rest of the army Spartak "fans" did not digest the spirit. Kharlamov was an exception.

In 1975, a girl entered the life of Kharlamov, who would soon be destined to become his wife. It was 19-year-old Irina Smirnova. Their acquaintance happened by chance.

On that day, Irina's friend invited her to her birthday party in one of the capital's restaurants. The birthday girl with the guests settled down in one part of the establishment, and a cheerful male company was walking in the other. At one of the moments, when the music started playing again, the young people crowded up to the table of the birthday girl and began vying to invite the girls to dance. Ira was invited by a swarthy short guy in a leather jacket and a cap. "Taxi driver, probably," Irina thought to herself, but accepted the invitation. After that, the young man, who introduced himself as Valery, did not leave her all evening. When everyone began to disperse, he suddenly volunteered to give Irina a lift to her house by car. "That's right, a taxi driver," the girl came to the final conclusion when she got into the brand new "Volga" under the number 00-17 MMB.

Arriving home, the girl, as expected, told her mother, Nina Vasilievna, that she had met a young man in a restaurant, a driver by profession. “Look, daughter, it’s still unknown what kind of driver he is there ...” - Nina Vasilievna considered it good to warn her daughter. But the daughter ignored her remark.

Kharlamov's meetings (and it was he who was this "chauffeur") with Irina continued for several weeks. Finally, the girl's mother could not stand it and asked to show her her boyfriend. "I must know who my daughter is dating," she said. "But he's afraid to come here," Irina replied. “Then show it to me from a distance, on the street,” Nina Vasilievna found a way out.

This show took place in the park near the Bolshoi Theatre. The mother and daughter hid in the bushes and began to patiently wait for the gentleman to arrive at the meeting place. Finally, his "Volga" stopped near the sidewalk, and Nina Vasilievna fixed her eyes on her master.
She looked at him for several minutes, but apparently she was not too satisfied with this and said: "I need to go up to him and talk." And then her quiet daughter literally boiled: "If you do this, I will leave the house. You promised only to look at him." And the mother had to come to terms.

Soon after this incident, Valery's incognito was finally revealed. When Irina's mother found out that her daughter's boyfriend was a famous hockey player, she felt a little better: after all, not some obscure driver. And after some time, Irina announced that she was pregnant. In early 1976, a boy was born, who was named Alexander.

The most surprising thing is that until that time Valery's parents had never seen their daughter-in-law, and Irina's mother had not met her future son-in-law in person. Their acquaintance took place on March 8. On that day, Valery's friends stopped by Irina's house and took her and her son to meet the groom's parents. And after that, Kharlamov came to get acquainted with the future mother-in-law.

Meanwhile, this joyful event was soon overshadowed by an incident that almost led to tragedy: in the same spring, Valery and Irina got into a car accident.

N.V. Smirnova says: “For some time after the wedding, Ira and Valera lived separately from me. One day they call me at work: will you sit with little Sasha tomorrow - they are going to visit somewhere. "The next day I'm waiting for a call, I think maybe they found someone to be a nanny, when suddenly a friend calls and says that they crashed on their Volga. Valera treated fractures of the legs and ribs for more than a month. And Ira also had a broken leg, crushed heel and severe concussion."

And here is what V. Tretiak recalls about this: “Returning home by car at night, Valera could not cope with the controls and ... the car crashed to smithereens, and Valera and his wife were taken to the hospital. Kharlamov’s affairs were bad: broken ankles, ribs, concussion. As soon as a man got married, and here you are - " Honeymoon to the army hospital. For a long time doctors were not sure if Kharlamov would be able to play hockey again. He spent two months in a hospital bed.

Only in August Kharlamov got up and took his first independent steps around the ward. But to go on the ice, before that, he was still oh so far away ... "

And yet, in the fall of 1976, Kharlamov returned to the ice. Many then doubted that he could become the former Kharlamov, and not his pale copy. But Valery did the impossible. After the very first game, with the “Wings of the Soviets”, the coach of the “wings” B. Kulagin said: “We should be proud that such a person and a hockey player as Kharlamov lives in our country!”

In 1977, as part of CSKA, Kharlamov became the seven-time champion of the USSR. In the same year, a new coach, Viktor Tikhonov, came to the leadership of this illustrious club. Here is how he talked about his impressions: “Like all people associated with hockey, I heard a lot, of course, about the “iron” Tarasov, about his unheard of hard character, about the “iron” discipline in the army club.

However, I not only heard about Tarasov, but I have known him for many years.

I assure the reader that none of this was in the CSKA, which I got into. There was not only "iron" discipline, but also elementary - from the point of view of the requirements adopted in modern sports ... "

Among the main violators of the sports regime in CSKA, Tikhonov further names Alexander Gusev, Vladimir Petrov, Boris Alexandrov. Kharlamov is not on his list, but in fairness it should be said that he sometimes allowed himself to "relax". His colleague in the USSR national team Valery Vasiliev recalls: "Here's the case: we are flying across the ocean. Boris Pavlovich Kulagin was the coach of the national team ... Well, Valery Kharlamov and I "tapped" right on the plane. Kulagin caught red-handed, took one hundred dollars and I didn't stage the first game, but then I forgave him... We began to ask him: "At least take away all the money, just let me play.

We are not for money - for the Motherland. "And by the way, he returned the money ...

We were almost always forgiven. Why not? We drank professionally. They knew when and how much. The game was not reflected - that's what's important. Here is another case. Shortly after Tikhonov headed the team (1977), Kharlamov and I again had an embarrassment. We drank, and a lot ... The next day we play with the Czechs. The score along the way is 0:2 not in our favor. Viktor Vasilievich, all white with anger, walks along the bench and mutters through his teeth: "Enemies, enemies ... I withdraw from the game." But the guys stood up for us with Kharlamov:

"Leave it, Viktor Vasilyevich, let them try to rehabilitate themselves." Tikhonov surrendered. And what? Valerka and I came out, and then we were named the main characters of the match. Kharlamov scored two goals, I made a pass ... As a result, the team won.

Tikhonov later said: "I have an idea: maybe let these two drink? As an exception, huh?" And the then Minister of Sports Pavlov made an even more interesting proposal. He came up to Kharlamov and me and said: “Listen, guys. If you feel like it, take the keys to my dacha, drink there. But it’s still not worth it at the training camp. True, they thanked, but refused.

In 1978 and 1979, Kharlamov, as part of the USSR national team, once again won gold medals at the World and European Championships. In the same years, CSKA twice became the champion of the country. However, Kharlamov and other “veterans” of Soviet hockey were increasingly pressed by talented youth. And the forces of the "veterans" were not unlimited. At the Olympic Games in Lake Placid in 1980, the famous trio Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov played below their capabilities. Not leaving before ice rink, without scoring at least one goal, this trio then spent almost all the games "dry". Even in the decisive match with the Americans, they never managed to hit the opponents' goal. At that Olympics, our team took silver, which at that time was considered a tragedy.

In 1981, Kharlamov announced that this season would be his last. He wanted to complete it with dignity, and in many ways he succeeded. As part of CSKA, he became the champion of the USSR for the 11th time and the owner of the European Champions Cup. At the last tournament, he was named the best striker. Now, in order to finish his hockey career on a high note, he needed to win the first Canada Cup, which was supposed to start at the end of August in Winnipeg. And then the unexpected happened: Tikhonov said that Kharlamov was not going to this tournament. For all hockey specialists and fans, this news was incredible.

V. Fetisov recalls: “Valera trained furiously, he was in great shape, and it was felt that he was really looking forward to a tournament of such a high rank, realizing that it would be his last. We were packing our bags, when suddenly Tikhonov called Kharlamov to him. Half an hour later Valera left the coaching room. Without explaining anything, he shook hands with the guys, murmured something about the victory, turned around and left. As it turned out later, Tikhonov "unhooked" Kharlamov for some past violation of the regime ... "

And here is how V. Tikhonov himself explains what happened: “Valery was not on the list of candidates for the national team of the country when we held a training camp. However, he brilliantly played the final match of the European Champions Cup, and therefore we invited Valery to Scandinavia, knowing, of course, in advance that the cup matches in Italy cannot be compared with what we have to endure in Canada.

Kharlamov did not train as part of the national team, he was preparing according to the CSKA plan - not by the beginning, but by the end of September, when the national championship starts. However, according to the level of skill, according to the strength of his character, his courage, Kharlamov is always worthy of playing in the national team, he has a character, as they say, for three. But in terms of functional readiness ... Valery has not yet gained form, and his backlog from his partners was great. There was not yet that motive power, thanks to which this brilliant striker had time to act everywhere.

We talked to him in detail. Valery concluded:

Viktor Vasilyevich, I understand everything. I'm really out of shape...

Then came Vladimir Vladimirovich Yurzinov. The conversation continued with the three of us. Valery complained that he did not have enough strength to play. We told him what to do, proposed a program of action:

You need to run for twenty to thirty minutes every day. Then in November-December you will already be in good shape. You will play at the Izvestia tournament and start preparing for the World Championship...

Kharlamov replied:

I understand everything, I gave you my word... Why are you entrusting me with work with the youth, I understand... I will do everything to make them play..."

Thus, according to Tikhonov, Kharlamov did not get into the national team due to poor functional training. To be honest, it's amazing to hear about it. For that Canada Cup, several players got into the national team, whose preparation and level of play caused much more criticism from specialists, but they went to Canada. And the super-class player V. Kharlamov remained in Moscow. And as it turned out - to his death.

On August 26, Kharlamov went to the airport to meet his wife and young son, who were returning from a vacation in the south. A few hours later, he brought them to a dacha in the village of Pokrovka near Klin, where his mother-in-law and four-year-old daughter Begonita lived then.

I. V. Smirnova says: “Ira came from the south with a little cold and went to bed early. At that time, my older sister’s family lived in the country, so we had to stay in another room all together. But Valera didn’t go to bed right away, something else then he fiddled with the guys, and then settled down next to Sasha on the bed.I offered to take my grandson to my sofa, but he did not agree.

He slept badly, got up several times, but did not drink or smoke. Just sit, sit, and lie down again.

In the morning we got up early, had breakfast. Ira and Valera were going to Moscow. Ira says: "Valera, you didn't get enough sleep; let me drive the car." Then I heard, protested: "Don't give her the steering wheel, she has no license, and the weather is so gloomy." Valera reassured me: “I won’t let you, I have to hurry, I want to be in time for training by eleven, so I’ll take it myself. And I also need to bring Seryozha home.” Sergei went with them - my nephew, he was already a family man, he had recently returned from the army. In short, Valera got behind the wheel, and they left.

I soon went to the store for fresh bread. I also had my sister with her grandson. We are walking down the street, when a police car suddenly drives up, and they ask my sister where, they say, Kharlamov's mother-in-law lives. I realized that something happened."

The tragedy occurred at seven o'clock in the morning on the 74th kilometer of the Leningrad highway. Today it is already difficult to establish why, having barely left the village, Kharlamov suddenly allowed his wife to drive the Volga, but the fact remains: Irina was driving in the fateful minutes. The road was wet, and the woman apparently lost control. The car swerved into the oncoming lane, along which great speed truck sped by. Everything happened so unexpectedly that his driver could not really react, only turned the steering wheel to the right. And the Volga crashed into his side. The blow was so strong that Valery and Sergey died almost instantly. Irina was still alive for some time, and when the drivers who came to the rescue took her out of the car and laid her on the grass, she moved her lips. However, she died a few minutes later. Ten minutes later, the police arrived at the scene of the tragedy, who identified the man sitting in the front seat of the Volga as Valery Kharlamov. Within an hour after that, the news of the death of the famous hockey player spread throughout Moscow. And in the evening of the same day, world agencies reported: "According to a TASS correspondent, the famous hockey player Valery Kharlamov, thirty-three years old, and his wife died in a car accident near Moscow this morning. They left two small children - a son and a daughter ..."

Hockey players of the USSR national team learned about this tragedy in Winnipeg.

V. Fetisov recalls: “In the morning they turned on the TVs, and there were portraits of Valerka. But then none of us really understood English. and to say something about Kharlamov, we understood: trouble happened to Valera. In the evening, our hockey boss Valentin Sych flew in and said that Kharlamov had died. We were in shock. Everyone gathered and at first wanted to throw this tournament to hell and go to the funeral. But then somehow it happened that they decided to stay, by all means win the Cup and dedicate the victory to Kharlamov. And so it happened in the end. "

The funeral of those killed in a car accident took place a few days later at the Kuntsevo cemetery. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the great hockey player. Soon after, Kharlamov's mother passed away, unable to bear the death of her beloved son and daughter-in-law.

R. S. On August 26, 1991, on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy, a memorial sign was erected on the 74th kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway:

A 500-kilogram marble puck on which was engraved the inscription: "Here rolled the star of Russian hockey. VALERY KHARLAMOV." The most surprising thing is that this sign was put not by the state, but by a private person: a certain Mikhail, who is a passionate fan of hockey and the talent of V. Kharlamov.

Father - Boris Sergeevich Kharlamov - a test fitter at the Moscow Kommunar plant. Mother, by nationality a Basque from the city of Bilbao, full name Aribe Abbad Hermane (Begonita), in 1937 the girl was brought to the USSR among the refugees from the Spanish civil war engulfed in the civil war, since the 1940s she worked at the same plant as a revolver turner.

Boris and Begonia met at a dance at the club of the Kommunar factory. Kharlamov came to the club with a Spanish friend whom he knew before the war, and left already with a girl. At the same time, it turned out that the girl was a work colleague. Valery Kharlamov was born in Moscow on the night of January 13-14. Boris and Begonia that day were in the hostel of the Kommunar plant. Closer to the night, Aribe felt that labor was beginning. The factory ambulance was urgently called, which took her to the hospital. In the morning, a young couple had a son. The son was named Valery in honor of Valery Chkalov. Boris and Begonia were not scheduled due to the fact that Begonia only had a residence permit. Only three months after the birth of their son, they officially registered the marriage.

Later, a girl was born in the Kharlamov family, who was named Tatyana.

Childhood and youth

Among the sports childhood hobbies of Valery Kharlamov were football and hockey. He first started skating when he was 7 years old. The father often played Russian hockey at the rink for the factory team and took his son with him, and so that he would not freeze in unheated locker rooms, he put him on skates. In 1956, when the Spaniards, who arrived in the USSR in 1937, had the opportunity to return to their homeland, Valery left for Spain with his mother and sister, where he lived in Bilbao for several months and went to school there.

In March 1961, Kharlamov fell ill with a sore throat, which gave complications to other organs: doctors discovered he had a heart defect and diagnosed him with rheumatic heart disease. From that moment on, Valera was forbidden to attend physical education classes at school, run in the yard, lift weights, swim, and even attend a pioneer camp. However, his father thought differently, and when a summer skating rink opened on Leningradsky Prospekt in the summer of 1962, he took his 14-year-old son there to sign up for the hockey section (they did this secretly from their mother, carefully hiding it for a long time).

That year, the boys of 1949 were accepted, but Valery, with his small stature, looked so young that he easily misled the second coach of CSKA, Boris Kulagin, about his age. Kharlamov then turned out to be the only one of several dozen boys who was accepted into the section, into the group of coach Vyacheslav Tazov. After a short time, the deception was revealed, but Kharlamov was not expelled, as the coaches liked him. The hockey player was transferred to the group of the head of the school, coach Andrei Starovoitov, who worked with him for about four years.

At the same time, once every three months, the father and son visited the Morozov hospital, where Valery was examined by doctors. As a result, young Valery coped with all diseases - the doctors recognized him as absolutely healthy - and began to seriously engage in hockey.

Talent Recognition

The talented young man began to be recommended to the adult CSKA team, however, the head coach of the army club and the national team, Anatoly Tarasov, at first did not see serious inclinations in young Kharlamov and said that his main drawback was his small stature. Nothing stand out in hockey school CSKA young Kharlamov flashed in the final tournament of the junior championship of the USSR in the spring of 1967 in Minsk. According to Vladimir Bogomolov, who played with him in those days, Valery proved himself to be a non-standard improviser, but at the same time hardworking and playing exclusively for the team. Upon arrival in Moscow, right at the station, the coach of the CSKA sports school Vitaly Erfilov announced to Kharlamov that they wanted to try him in CSKA. In the summer of 1967, Valery went through a training camp with the CSKA team in Kudepsta, after which he changed a lot physically, gained muscle mass.

Gradually, Kharlamov began to be admitted to the main team. On October 22, 1967, he made his debut as part of CSKA in Novosibirsk in a match with Sibir. The army team easily won 9:0, Valery could not distinguish himself. He didn’t play more matches at the beginning of the 1967/68 season, and in November, in order to “develop his own playing independence, improve the stroke”, he was sent to the second league, to the Chebarkul Zvezda, the army team of the Ural Military District. As the head coach of Zvezda Vladimir Alfer admitted, he received strict instructions from Tarasov: “You must create conditions for him to train three times a day. In calendar meetings, Valery must spend at least seventy percent of the time on the ice, regardless of how the game goes.

Together with Kharlamov, a young CSKA defender Alexander Gusev was sent to Zvezda. In a short time, the hockey players quickly got used to the team and made a great contribution to the Zvezda game: Kharlamov scored 34 goals in 40 games and became a favorite of the local public, and Gusev played effectively as a defender. Vladimir Alfer regularly informed Tarasov about Kharlamov's achievements, and after a personal meeting at the end of February 1967 at the CSKA calendar game in Sverdlovsk, Kharlamov was called back to Moscow. Having played the last game for Zvezda in Kalinin on March 7 (after which the team received a promotion), on March 8 the hockey player returned home and on the same day was called by Tarasov to CSKA training.

First successes

On March 10, Kharlamov was included in the main team of CSKA, and again against the Novosibirsk Siberia. The army team easily defeated the opponent 11:3, and Kharlamov played together with Vikulov and Polupanov, replacing Firsov.

On April 23, 1968, he scored his first goal in the team of masters - against the Wings of the Soviets. At the end of the season, he already played as part of the youth team of CSKA: Kharlamov - Smolin - Blinov. He managed to gain a foothold in the main part of CSKA only in the next season. In October 1968, Kharlamov for the first time entered the same trio with Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Petrov for a match against Gorky's Torpedo. CSKA lost the game 0:1, and Kharlamov played inexpressively.

However, soon the three young forwards began to play brightly and efficiently. In December 1968, Kharlamov was called up to the second national team of the USSR, which replaced the team of Czechoslovakia at the international Moscow tournament (later it became known as the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper). Immediately after the end of the tournament, Kharlamov, along with Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Petrov, was invited to the main team for two exhibition games with Canada. On December 6, 1968, Valery made his debut in the first game, and the next day he played the second.

It was from these games that the three Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov appeared in the USSR national team. From the beginning of 1969, all three were regularly called up to the national team for friendly games, after which the coaches decided to take them to the World Cup in Stockholm. From the first games, the debutants demonstrated a high class of play, which contributed to their consolidation in the national team.

There are discrepancies in the sources regarding Kharlamov's 1st abandoned puck at the tournament - in the story "Forward No. debut game of the World Cup against the US team in the 38th minute. However, the protocol of the game in the encyclopedia "Hockey" and on the website of Artur Shidlovsky refute these data.

If we take into account the 2nd version, then Kharlamov spent his first goal at the World Championships in the next game against the Swedes. The tournament for the national team in 1969 was tense - after a series of won matches, a defeat from the Czechoslovak national team 0: 2 followed. Through the game, a meeting took place with the Swedes, whom the Soviet hockey players beat 3: 2, not without difficulty, all three goals were scored by Petrov's troika. IN next match(the penultimate one in the tournament), the team again lost to the Czechoslovaks - 3:4. In that match, Kharlamov first threw the puck into the opponent's goal, and then gave the transfer directly to the opponent's stick in his zone, which led to a goal against the USSR national team. That puck turned out to be decisive, and after the match, the coaches declared Kharlamov and goalkeeper Viktor Singer guilty of the defeat. Nevertheless, no sanctions followed, and the USSR national team became the world champion (in the last round, the Swedes beat the Czechoslovaks 1:0, and as a result, the teams of the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Sweden had an equal number of points, and the USSR national team took first place thanks to the best the difference between goals scored and goals conceded).

Upon returning to Moscow, the first-class Kharlamov (as well as his partners in the troika) was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports. At the same time, this was done without the knowledge of Anatoly Tarasov, which caused serious indignation on his part.

The heyday of a hockey career

Troika Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov

The three forwards of CSKA were created within 3 years. First, Boris Mikhailov appeared in CSKA. Since 1967, Vladimir Petrov began to appear at the base of the army team, who was seen as a replacement for Alexander Almetov, who was leaving hockey. At the same time, Mikhailov and Petrov did not compete with each other for a place at the base - the coaches considered them as complementing each other. For the first time in the 1967/68 season, they played together with Veniamin Aleksandrov, and after the CSKA team went to games in Japan, Kharlamov joined the trio. By the beginning of the 1968/69 season, it was obvious to CSKA coaches that Alexandrov's classic playing style was not suitable for young players who needed not the influence of a master, but gaining self-confidence among their peers. As Leonid Trakhtenberg notes, it was Kharlamov who turned out to be the informal leader in the top three, followed by Mikhailov and Petrov. At the same time, each of the players had a unique style of play:

Mikhailov was passionate, knew how to make partners and lead them, did a lot of rough work on the court, worked out in defense, skillfully played rebounds and at the same time managed to score the most in the top three.

Petrov is a physically developed hockey player, he knew how to conduct a power struggle, he had a powerful and irresistible throw, he was persistent in character, but a little stubborn.

Kharlamov in the top three stood out for his unique stroke style: he boldly went to the defenders, trying to squeeze between them and knowing that he would succeed, as the defenders would rely on each other and make way for him. He scored less than his partners in the trio, but he gave a lot of assists for Petrov and Mikhailov. Kharlamov's non-standard stroke ended either with a throw or an accurate transfer to a partner.

The troika was distinguished by the fact that it was the first in Soviet hockey to play on the court in a power manner.

Kharlamov himself noted the game of the troika as follows: “We understand each other not from a half-word, but from a half-letter. I know what they can do at any given moment, I guess their decision, even if they are looking somewhere else. More precisely, I don’t know so much as I feel what they will do in the next second, how they will play in this or that situation, and therefore at the same moment I rush to where the puck is waiting for me, where, according to my partner’s plan, I should appear.

Without saying a word, only by looking at each other, we immediately find a solution that suits everyone - having lost the puck, we know who should run to the aid of the defenders, we know when the partner is so tired that it is you who should “work” back, although he is closer to his goal , at any moment of the match we know who to fight, who to attack the player who owns the puck.

The trio crashed several times, especially in the games of the national team (Olympics-72 and Super Series-72, 1976, the last years of their career). But with all the partners, Kharlamov felt free and confident. Hockey players of the trio easily felt together during games on the court, but outside of hockey there was no ideal relationship between them.

First Olympic success

Since the early 1970s, young Kharlamov has been one of the leading hockey players in the country. His playing technique, impeccable skating and possession of the puck, and goalscoring qualities are most clearly manifested.

In the 1970/71 USSR Championship, he became the top scorer, scoring 40 goals against opponents. At the 1971 World Championship, in the decisive game against the Swedes, with a score of 2: 3 in the third period, it was thanks to Kharlamov that a turning point was thrown, which ultimately contributed to the victory of the USSR team in the tournament and the third world title for the hockey player himself.

At the end of 1971, Tarasov, on the eve of the Olympic Games in Sapporo, in order to create a "fundamentally new tactical arrangement" decided to transfer Kharlamov to another trio - to Vikulov and Firsov. First, the new trio was tested at the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper, where it became the best in terms of “goal + pass”, and Vikulov, with five goals, was the best sniper. Kharlamov spoke about the new partners and his place among them: “At first I was worried: still, I play next to such masters! But they accepted me as an equal, and without lectures and shouts they helped me find my place in the link.

Directly at the Olympic tournament, Kharlamov became the top scorer. He scored in every game (except the last against the Czechoslovak national team), twice he managed a hat-trick (against the Finns and the Poles). As a result, the Soviet Union team won five victories, tied one game and took 1st place. Valery Kharlamov scored 16 points during the games, scoring 9 goals and giving 7 assists, and his partners in the top three were also among the top scorers. Golden medal in honor of the victory in the tournament was the first success of Valery at the Olympic Games.

USSR Super Series - Canada (1972)

During a series of games with Canadian professionals in September 1972, Valery Kharlamov received truly universal recognition in international hockey. Along with Tretyak and Yakushev, he was one of the leading players in the Soviet Union in these games. The most successful for Kharlamov was the "Canadian" part of the series. In the 1st game, thanks to the efforts of Valery, the USSR team took the lead (3:2) and consolidated its success (4:2). Both goals were scored thanks to his individual skill, namely a quick dribble and a sharp shot.

As a result, Soviet hockey players won the match with a score of 7:3. When summing up the results of the meeting, the organizers recognized Kharlamov best player match in the USSR national team. The 2nd game for Kharlamov, like the whole team, failed. In that match, he received a 10-minute misconduct penalty from American referees. Scored one goal in Game 3. At that moment, the USSR national team, with a score of 1:3, was in the minority. Kharlamov, picking up the pass of Boris Mikhailov, completed a quick break. The game ended in a draw - 4:4. In the last game of the "Canadian" part of the super series, Kharlamov limited himself to only one assist. However, he was still useful in the game, which eventually brought a victory with a score of 5:3. In the 1st game of the "Moscow" part of the super series, Kharlamov was very active and participated in one of the abandoned goals, contributing to the final victory with a score of 5: 4. The 2nd game was overshadowed by the unsportsmanlike behavior of Canadian Bobby Clark: in one of the episodes of the game, he struck a chopping blow with a club hook in the area of ​​​​Valery's ankle, just above the upper edge of the boot.

The Canadian himself spoke of this episode as follows: “We walked in parallel courses, and Kharlamov pushed me with a stick, and then turned around and left. I caught up with him and poked him on the leg, not thinking at all where and how I hit him.<…>I am a tough player and I respect toughness in others. But if they touch me with a club, I do the same. At the same time, Clark was not sent off until the end of the game, but received only a penalty of 2 + 10. The bloodless and discouraged team eventually lost 2:3. The 3rd game of the super series went without Kharlamov, and the team again lost with a difference of one goal - 3:4. At the last game of the series, thanks to the efforts of doctors and his own desire to play through “I can’t”, Kharlamov nevertheless came out, in that match he made one assist; the victory both in that game (5:6) and in the series remained with the Canadians.

USSR Super Series - Canada (1974)

Another highlight in Kharlamov's career was the Super Series-74. In 8 games, he scored only 2 goals, but both goals are recognized as masterpieces. On September 17, 1974, in Quebec, during a match between the USSR national team and the WHA professional team, Kharlamov scored a goal that amazed and delighted tens of thousands of fans in the stands. Famous Canadian defender J.-K. Tremblay recalled: “When Stapleton and I rolled back, I was calm: not a single WHA or NHL forward would dare to wedge between us. Without false modesty I will say that it is less dangerous to find yourself between two millstones. However, this Russian attacker rushed straight at us. What happened next? I saw that the forward was going to go around me from the outside, on the left. Pat Stapleton, as it turned out later, noticed the exact opposite: they say, the Russian wants to bypass him on the right and also from the outside. When we parted to catch each "his" Kharlamov, he slipped between us. And to this day I don't understand how he made a fool of us. But one thing I know for sure: there is no other player like him.”

Canadian journalists described the puck as a "gourmet goal". Valery Kharlamov often repeated: "I like to play beautifully."

On October 3, in Moscow, Kharlamov scored the puck, which Anatoly Tarasov described as follows: “He circled the first Canadian with his signature feint - a deceptive nod of his head to the side, which made him rush across, where Valery was not going to move. missed and missed.

And to the third, he showed that he had lost the puck, deliberately releasing it from the hook of the stick, and when the Canadian touched the puck, already tasting the joy of taking it from Kharlamov himself, Valery ran into him, pushing him with his shoulder, knocked him over on the ice, again took possession of the puck and found himself face to face with goalkeeper Chivers. As if jokingly, even playfully, Kharlamov approached the most experienced Canadian goalkeeper, swung his club and lunged to the left with the clear intention of punching into the corner of the goal to the right of the goalkeeper. His feint was so natural that the goalkeeper began to shift to the right, but Valery played differently - with an elusive movement, he sent the puck on top into the left corner of the goal.

At the same time, as the team doctor Oleg Belakovsky notes in his memoirs, the Canadians in that game played dirty and unsportsmanlike against Kharlamov:

“It would seem that an imperceptible poke with a club, and Kharlamov’s bridge of the nose is broken. I have a hard time stopping his bleeding. A blow to the bridge of the nose is a very painful thing, but now it’s not up to pain, and Valery is again torn on the ice. The Canadians set themselves the task of breaking this stubborn man at any cost. And then, in front of thousands of indignant spectators, something disgusting happens. Rick Lay, a Canadian defender, overtakes Valery and punches him in the face out of the blue. He punches in the nose! Lay's blow serves as a signal, and the real carnage begins. Most of all goes to Kharlamov, Yakushev, Maltsev, Vasiliev, Lutchenko. All of them are seriously injured. I barely have time to bandage, grease, glue. I barely have time because the guys are literally eager to fight. They are torn, despite the danger of new collisions. It was truly a great fight."

After the game, Lay came to the training session of the USSR national team and publicly apologized to Valery.

CSKA games with NHL teams (1975-76)

At the end of 1975, the first games between the USSR and the NHL took place at the club level. The army team had to play 4 games in North America.

Kharlamov in the USA and Canada was greeted as a superstar - only he and Tretiak were given a long standing ovation by the audience during the presentation of hockey players before the start of the games. Kharlamov thanked the audience for their support beautiful goals. So, in the 1st game of the series against the New York Rangers, with a score of 2: 1 at the very end of the first period, Kharlamov, picking up the puck in his own half of the court, easily passed the opponent’s defenders, who met him at the blue line, and irresistibly shot past goalkeeper.

In the 2nd game of the series against the Montreal Canadiens, at the end of the second period, Kharlamov scored another memorable goal: having received a pass from Petrov, he passed between two defenders, and, not getting close to goalkeeper Dryden, threw it in opposition to the right corner of the goal.

In the games of this super series, rude and sometimes dirty tricks were also used against Kharlamov. So, in a match with Philadelphia, Canadian Ed van Imp hit Kharlamov with a stick in the back in the 12th minute of the first period, after which the Soviet hockey player lay on the ice for a long time. Kharlamov later recalled this moment of the game: “The blow was so strong and unexpected that I crashed onto the ice.<...>My eyes darkened. I think I even lost consciousness for a few seconds. And the first thought - it is necessary to stand up.<...>For a few seconds the muscles did not obey me, but somehow got up.

Immediately after this episode, the leadership of the CSKA team tried to stop the opponent’s rough play and the referee’s strange behavior by leaving the field, but CSKA’s demarche essentially didn’t lead to anything then. Moreover, during this break, the team “burned out” and, returning to the court with a score of 0:0, gave the initiative to the opponent and lost 1:4. At the end of the tour, Kharlamov was the best in the CSKA team in the "goal + pass" system, scoring 4 goals and giving 3 assists.

Second Olympic victory

At the Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Kharlamov performed in the same trio with Mikhailov and Petrov. Despite the fact that the USSR team confidently beat all rivals, the winner of the Olympics remained unclear until the last game with the Czechoslovaks. The game itself was very tense: the first period was lost with a score of 0: 2, in the second period, with the same score, for two minutes the USSR national team was forced to defend three against five. Having survived and not missing in this difficult period, the Soviet hockey players managed to turn the tide of the meeting. Kharlamov scored the winning goal for the national team: with a score of 3: 3, he outplayed goalkeeper Jiri Golechek.

In total, Valery scored three goals and gave six assists in the tournament. The victory in Innsbruck was the second and last "golden" Olympic success for the hockey player.

In April 1976, Kharlamov achieved another individual success: for the first time he was recognized as the best striker of the World Cup (although he did not even enter the top five scorers). However, the USSR national team unconditionally lost the championship in the tournament to the Czechoslovaks.

Events in personal life

On May 14, 1976, Kharlamov married 19-year-old Irina Smirnova, whom he met a year earlier at the Rossiya restaurant. In January 1976, the young couple had their first child, son Alexander. a little Later they also had a daughter, Begonita.

Before his marriage, Kharlamov lived as a bachelor in a one-room apartment in Tushino, and just before the wedding he moved to live with his wife and mother-in-law on Aviamotornaya Street. Later, the young Kharlamovs were given a three-room apartment on Mira Avenue, not far from the Alekseevskaya metro station.

Car accident in 1976

On Wednesday, May 26, 1976, the Kharlamovs had a car accident on the Leningradskoye Highway when they were returning from guests at night. Valery, who was driving, decided to overtake a slowly moving truck (although at the same time another truck was moving in the opposite direction at a short distance). When driving into the oncoming lane, he saw that a taxi was rushing at him from behind an oncoming truck. Turning sharply to the left, he veered off the road and crashed into a pole. The hockey player received a two-malleolar comminuted fracture of the right lower leg, a fracture of two ribs, a concussion and many bruises, his wife Irina was not injured. Some doctors recommended that he end his sports career, but Valery was going to continue playing after recovery. The recovery of the hockey player was helped by the surgeon Andrei Petrovich Seltsovsky, who operated on Kharlamov and monitored his health at the Main Military Hospital in Moscow.

Two months later, in August, he took his first independent steps around the ward. Later, a special room was equipped for him in the ward, where he had weights and where he could do athletic exercises.

Return to the ice

In the fall, Kharlamov, on the advice of Tarasov, began to train with the boys at the rink. Gradually taking shape (he managed to do it pretty quickly), he took part in classes with CSKA players. CSKA coaches, feeling that Kharlamov should be let out on the court, began to think about which team to do it in the game against.

The choice fell on "Wings of the Soviets", where at that time a lot of former players CSKA, and the coach was Boris Kulagin. Before the game, with the permission of Kulagin, Oleg Belakovsky, the doctor of CSKA and the USSR national team, spoke to the players of the Wings. He said that Kharlamov would go on the ice in the match against them, and asked the hockey players not to use force against him. The Wings players were sympathetic to this request and acted extremely correctly against Kharlamov. On November 16, 1976, Kharlamov entered the match against Wings of the Soviets.

Those who came to the sports palace in Luzhniki, having heard that Valery had come to the game, gave the hockey player a long standing ovation. Teammates - Mikhailov and Petrov - tried to do everything possible so that Kharlamov scored the puck in this game. And already in the 4th minute of the game, Kharlamov scored a goal, which was met with a standing ovation from the stands and even applause from the Wings players. Nevertheless, Kharlamov spent only two periods on the ice, in the third he was replaced by Vyacheslav Anisin. The game eventually ended with the victory of CSKA 7:3.

Kharlamov recalled his return as follows: “I played then in a fog. And not because he was weak. Functionally, I have already restored the form. I just saw that the guys protect me - both partners and opponents. And it really touched me. So I need. So they appreciate it. It feels like I'm about to burst into tears. Barely coped with the nerves ... ".

Continuing a successful career

Kharlamov returned to the USSR national team in December 1976 at the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper and scored a hat-trick in the very first match against the Swedes. And although he didn’t score again at the tournament, he became the best in the “goal + pass” system (3 + 3, 6 points) together with Boris Mikhailov. In 1977, together with the national team, he played at the World Championships in Vienna.

Having strongly spent the first stage of the tournament, the team failed the second part and eventually lost in standings one point to the Czechoslovaks, and missed the 2nd place for the Swedes (according to the results of personal meetings). Despite the overall unsuccessful performance, Petrov's trio was the best in the championship in goals scored and points scored. In the summer of 1977, Viktor Tikhonov, invited from Riga, headed CSKA and the USSR national team. After analyzing the latest failures in the international arena, the new coach came to the conclusion that the hockey players of the national team's base club are in low functional and psychological readiness, the reason for which is the pampered leading hockey players and their satiety with numerous victories.

Tikhonov began with the introduction of two-time training and additional exercises, and in the game plan, he began to master the transition to games in four links with the team. Valery Kharlamov described Tikhonov's first days in the team as follows: “Viktor Vasilyevich Tikhonov did not remind us of our former coaches. But with them we won, became champions. So why should we now train, prepare for the season differently? When in July Tikhonov told us that during one workout, or rather, at the end of it, we would run ten times 400 meters, each time keeping within 70 seconds, we took it as a bad joke. And now we run through, and nothing, we are alive. We forced ourselves and, as a result, overcame our own inertia, our own skepticism, distrust of the coach’s ideas.”

However, the new coach could not help but trust the leading hockey players of CSKA, and therefore relied on them for the first years. The trio Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov under Tikhonov achieved new successes: two more world championships were won in 1978 and 1979, where Valery Kharlamov was also among the best. In addition, in early 1979, Soviet hockey players won the 1979 Challenge Cup in the USA. Kharlamov managed to play only in the first game of the series, and missed the next two due to injury.

In October 1979, in the match of the USSR championship against Spartak, Petrov's troika (Mikhailov distinguished himself) scored his thousandth goal in the USSR championships in the major leagues.

However, the most important tournament of the four years - Olympic tournament 1980 - the USSR national team held uncertainly. In one of the decisive matches, the hockey players lost to the US student team 3:4, and lost their chances of winning gold. After the Olympics, the Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov troika was accused of a weak game and offers to end their careers as soon as possible.

In the 1980/81 season, the trio was disbanded. In December 1980, Boris Mikhailov was forced to end his career, and Kharlamov and Petrov continued to play, but at the same time they were periodically transferred to different levels (Petrov ended his career after the 1981 World Cup). In the second half of 1980 and the first half of 1981, Kharlamov did a lot to develop the skills of the young Sergey Makarov, Vladimir Krutov, Andrey Khomutov. Some visiting hockey players lived at his house for some time - for example, Alexei Kasatonov.

Before the start of the 1981/82 season, Kharlamov told his friends that this season would be his last, after which he would become a children's coach. In the summer of 1981, he was intensively preparing for the new season and gaining good shape: as part of CSKA, he became the champion of the USSR for the 11th time and the owner of the European Champions Cup. At this tournament, he was named the best striker, gaining 11 points (2 + 9) in three meetings. In addition, having spent four exhibition games in Scandinavia in August 1981, Kharlamov hoped that he would be included in the 1981 Canada Cup team, but Tikhonov decided otherwise. Head coach The national team explained the decision by the fact that he had a conversation with a hockey player, where Kharlamov agreed that he did not have sufficient physical condition to play in Canada. As a result, Valery remained in a depressed state of mind in Moscow, and a few days later he died in a car accident.

Doom

Razzakov's book "Star Tragedies" says that the day before the accident, the asphalt was changed on this site. Where the new coating ended, a peculiar protrusion 5 cm high formed, which caused the tragedy. Kharlamov's wife was an inexperienced driver and, having run into a bump, lost control. Also, an additional factor that caused the death of people was the fact that the truck was packed to capacity with spare parts. On the evening of August 27, world news agencies spread the news: “According to TASS, the famous hockey player Valery Kharlamov, thirty-three years old, and his wife died in a car accident near Moscow this morning. They left two small children - a son and a daughter ... ". On August 31, a memorial service was held in the palace weightlifting CSKA. On the same day, the dead were buried at the Kuntsevo cemetery. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the hockey player.

The players of the USSR national team, who at that moment were in Winnipeg, could not attend the funeral. They held a meeting at which it was decided by all means to win the Canada Cup. Soviet hockey players fulfilled their promise by beating the Canadians 8:1 in the final.

The Kharlamov family: life after the death of Valery and Irina 5 years after the tragedy, Kharlamov's mother passed away. After the accident, the children of Valery and Irina lived with their grandmother Nina Vasilievna Smirnova. Little Alexander was taken under the patronage of CSKA players Kasatonov, Krutov and Fetisov, who replaced his father. Having matured, Alexander became a hockey player, played in CSKA and the USA in the lower leagues. In 1997 he got married and is raising his son Valery. Works in hockey club CSKA, continuing the work of his father. Begonita's daughter was engaged rhythmic gymnastics became a master of sports. She is currently married and has two daughters, Daria and Anna. Father Boris Sergeevich died on January 27, 2010, after lying for several days in the Botkin hospital and undergoing a stomach operation. Last years he lived with his daughter Tatyana.

Achievements

• Member of the IIHF Hall of Fame (1998).
• Member of the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame (2005).
• Olympic champion (1972, 1976).
• World champion (1969-1971, 1973-1975, 1978-1979).
• World Cup best striker (1976).
• Entered the symbolic team of the World Cup (1972, 1973, 1975, 1976).
• Challenge Cup Winner (1979).
• Named to the IIHF Team of the Century.
• Champion of the USSR (1968, 1970-1973, 1975, 1977-1981).
• Five-time winner of the USSR Cup.
• The best hockey player of the USSR (1972, 1973).
• The best scorer of the USSR championship (1971).
• The best in the system "goal + pass"(1972).
• Third scorer in the history of the world hockey championships, second only to Mikhailov and Maltsev: 155 points (74+81) in 105 matches(at the same time, Kharlamov was never the top scorer of a separate world championship).
• Winner of the hockey prize "Three Scorers" in 1970/1971, 1974/1975, 1977/1978 (Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov), 1971/1972 (Vikulov - Firsov - Kharlamov), 1979/1980 (Mikhailov - Kharlamov - Krutov).
• R Champion of the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper in terms of the number of goals scored (40).
• Cavalier of two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1975, 1978).
• Cavalier of the Order of the Badge of Honor (1972).
• Awarded with the medal "For labor valor" (1969).