Igor Kanygin: into sports because of first love, to victory – at the cost of a broken rib

This acknowledgment was made at a meeting with young athletes, timed to coincide with the Year of Youth, by multiple world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling and silver medalist of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Igor Kanygin.

To be honest, in recent years, after the rapid development of modern information technologies, primarily the Internet, there has been a massive decline in youth interest in library services. Their employees are forced to constantly come up with creative ideas to attract new readers. One of the successful ideas implemented by the regional library management is meetings with famous people. And who, if not an athlete with a world name, can interest young people?

Before the conversation began, the attendees were shown newsreel footage of the Vitebsk wrestler's victory at the World Championship, after which Igor Vladimirovich, reliving the exciting moments of the fight, approached the microphone to applause.

The children learned that the hero owed all his victories to love. He once joined the wrestling section for the sake of a girl he liked. The fact that the heroine of that platonic feeling chose the library sphere in life caused excitement in the hall. The grateful listeners also learned other interesting facts from the life of the famous guest. For example, it turns out that when Igor Vladimirovich's mother lived near the Vitebsk Town Hall, Yuri Pen, the teacher of the world-renowned artist Marc Chagall, presented her with one of his paintings.

The master told how he learned to fight his first childhood fear when his mother sent him to the dark basement of an apartment building for potatoes, where it was easy to step on a local sleeping drunkard. It was from such seemingly minor things that the character of the future renowned athlete was forged. Sports life taught him not to show what was going on inside, to control his emotions. Even when he had to deal with clearly biased judging.

In general, according to Igor Kanygin, sport, unlike physical education, requires courage. Numerous injuries, joint pain, broken ribs... The Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR is remembered for a lifetime, when in the semi-final bout he defeated his opponent, but at the cost of a broken rib. Anyone who has had such an injury knows how difficult it is when you can't even breathe. But tomorrow is the final and you have to fight! However, the long-time and only coach of our countryman, Vladimir Izopolsky, said that he had to perform, and Igor obediently went out on the mat the next day. However, the wise mentor immediately threw in the towel, admitting defeat. That is, he initially knew that the protégé would not perform, but in this way he wanted to test his fighting spirit. And the guy, whose father went through the entire war from start to finish, had no shortage of perseverance. And this helped him to break through the sieve of selection for the Soviet Union team. You had to win in order to get to the main world tournaments, where only the strongest and most enduring could go.

To stormy sincere applause, the "fighter in sport and in life" was presented with flowers, which Igor Vladimirovich promised to give to all the ladies of the regional Center of Martial Arts, which he heads. It remains to be hoped that such educational events will be held in the cultural institution in the future.

Ales Bynkov, "Vitebskiye Vesti"