He won the Olympics and could win much more. However, Glory was an insurmountable test. Constant violations of the regime brought our legendary boxer to the tragic death.

Vyacheslav became disabled and died in poverty from many diseases.

The murderous right

The name of Vyacheslav Lemeshev began to rattle in the Soviet sports press in the late 1960s. In 1969, he became the winner of the country’s youth championship. The experts were impressive by a sharp counterattack manner of a 17-year-old athlete, which was instilled in him by the first coach Lev Segalovich. The specialist worked in the pre -war era when the box was completely different. Confessing the unusual style of fighting, Lemeshev, of course, stood out against the backdrop of rivals.

Pretty quickly came to Lemeshev and international success. Three years after the victory at the Youth Championship of the USSR, he, as part of an adult team, went to the Olympics in Munich. Moreover, the coaches made the decision to take Vyacheslav almost at the last moment. For the sake of him, even the current champion of the Union Rufat Ruskoyev was unhooked. However, the bet on the beginner was eventually correct. Lemeshev brilliantly won all the fights, and he completed everything with knockouts with his murderous right.

Vyacheslav Lemeshev / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Yuri Somov

Then there were two more victories at the European Championships – in 1973 and 1975. However, after the Olympics, in the behavior of Lemeshev, the moments began to slip, which later caused the inglorious end of not only his career, but also life.

A glass behind a glass

Lemeshev’s contemporaries recalled that he became not indifferent to alcohol quite early. Immediately after the victory at the Olympics, the athlete arranged a large party in the room secretly from the coach. However, soon Vyacheslav ceased to hide the pernicious addiction.

– Two months after the Olympics, Slavka invited me to his wedding. We walked in the restaurant “Beijing”. I was struck that almost an hour and a half after everyone sat down at the table, the groom was already very drunk, ”said the coach of the USSR team in boxing Yuri Radonyak“ Soviet sports ”.

Lev Segalovich was at that wedding. He did not like Lemeshev’s behavior to the extreme, so he decided to even personally report a boxer.

– At this wedding, I first saw how Glory drinks vodka. A glass behind a glass. When he paused and left the hall, I followed him. Now, I think, I will report to the full program, because at the table it was inconvenient at all. I look, and he also lit a cigarette … ran up, pulled a cigarette out of his hands, scolded it properly. But, apparently, not enough. This was no longer the boy with whom we began to engage in boxing. It was an Olympic champion … – the specialist shared his memories.

Vyacheslav Lemeshev / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Yu. Morgulis

Lemeshev not only allowed himself to drink and smoke, but also began to periodically miss training. For some time this did not affect the results: the very victories at the European Championships were mined, despite the violations of the regime, in pure talent. However, then the career sharply went to the decline.

Injuries and illnesses

In the end, a rampant life affected. Lemeshev had a trauma to the right hand, which greatly reduced his sporting potential. The branded knockouts no longer passed with the previous success. Vyacheslav did not go to the 1976 Olympics. There was no talk of a large sports career. In 1980, Lemeshev went as a coach to the group of Soviet troops in the GDR. There he sometimes continued to act as a sparring partner for his wards, but this only undermined his health more. Several painful defeats left their mark with a knockout. At the same time, Lemeshev still continued to indulge in rampant fun. They say it came to the point that in local restaurants he swayed on chandeliers.

Upon his return from Germany, Lemeshev was faced with cruel reality: in boxing he was no longer needed. Behind the shoulders at that time there were two divorces. I had to engage in ordinary working professions in order to at least somehow feed: Vyacheslav was a driver of the pump station, a watchman, worked in the cemetery.

Grave Vyacheslav Lemeshev / Photo: © Wikipedia

Then serious health problems gradually began. In the late 1980s, Lemeshev began in memory, he also fell ill with psoriasis. Subsequently, other problems were added to this: almost complete vision loss, brain atrophy, liver problems and epilepsy. In 1995, Lemushev spent more than a week in a coma, but somehow got out. However, it was clear that the end was close. Under the new year, 1996, Vyacheslav again went to the hospital, and a month later died at the age of 43.