Valeriy Nikolayevich Brumel (russian: Валерий Николаевич Брумель; 14 April 1942 – 26 January 2003)

Great Russian Encyclopedia The ''Great Russian Encyclopedia'' (GRE; russian: Большая российская энциклопедия, БРЭ, transliterated as ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya'' or academically as ''Bolšaja rossijskaja enciklopedija'') is a u ...

(2006),

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

: Bol'shaya Rossiyskaya Enciklopediya Publisher, vol. 4, p. 243 was a Russian high jumper. The 1964 Olympic champion and multiple world record holder, he is regarded as one of the greatest athletes ever to compete in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. His international career was ended by a motorcycle crash in 1965.

Early life and education

Brumel was born in a far eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

n village to a family of geologists exploring the region. They later moved to

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...

and taught at a local university.

Athletic career

Brumel took up the high jump at age 12 in Lugansk, coached by P. S. Shtein. Aged 16 he cleared using the then dominant straight-leg

straddle technique The straddle technique was the dominant style in the high jump before the development of the Fosbury Flop. It is a successor of the Western roll, with which it is sometimes confused. Unlike the scissors or flop style of jump, where the jumper a ...

. He improved his skills under the coaching of V. M. Dyachkov in Moscow. In 1960 he broke the USSR record, , and was selected to the Olympic team. At the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, he cleared the same height as the winner

Robert Shavlakadze Robert Shavlakadze ( ka, რობერტ შავლაყაძე; russian: Роберт Михайлович Шавлакадзе, 1 April 1933 – 4 March 2020) was a Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related t ...

, but made more attempts and thus was awarded a silver medal. Valeriy Brumel plaque National stadium Sofia

In 1961–1963 he broke his own world record in the high jump six times, improving it from to . He also won the high jump at the 1961 and 1963 Universiade, 1962 European Championships, the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

and the USSR Championships of 1961–1963. After going undefeated during the 1965 season, Brumel suffered a multiple fracture in his right foot in a motorcycle crash, and faced an amputation. He was operated on successfully by professor

Gavriil Ilizarov Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov (russian: Гавриил Абрамович Илизаров; 15 June 1921 – 24 July 1992) was a Soviet physician, known for inventing the Ilizarov apparatus for lengthening limb bones and for the method of surgery n ...

with a new leg-lengthening procedure using his

external fixator External fixation is a surgical treatment wherein rods are screwed into bone and exit the body to be attached to a stabilizing structure on the outside of the body. It is an alternative to internal fixation, where the components used to provide st ...

. Yet even after 29 surgeries, he could not fully recover. He retired in 1970 after jumping at local competitions.

Retirement from athletics

In retirement Brumel turned to acting and writing. He starred in the film ''

Sport, Sport, Sport , image = , caption = , director = Elem Klimov , producer = , writer = , starring = , narrator = Zinoviy Gerdt , music = Alfred Schnittke , cinematography = , editing = , released = 1970 , studio= Mosfilm , runtime = 85 minutes ...

'' (1970) and wrote the script for '' Pravo na pryzhok'' (''The right on a jump'', 1973). He also wrote numerous novels and plays, including the novel ''Don't Change Yourself'' (1979), which was translated into seven languages, and the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

to Rauf Hajiyev's operetta ''Golden Caravel'' (Золотая каравелла).

Personal life

Brumel had two brothers, Oleg (1944–2005) and Igor, a Russian politician born in 1952 in

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While t ...

. Brumel was married three times. His first wife, Marina, was a gymnastics instructor. She left him with a son in 1965, when Brumel was recovering from his motorcycle crash. In 1973 Brumel married Yelena Petushkova, an equestrian and 1972 Olympic champion in dressage. The couple divorced 18 months later, citing irreconcilable differences. They had a daughter, Vlada Petushkova, born in 1974, who was raised by her mother. In 1992 Brumel married Svetlana Belousova, who later founded and managed the Valeriy Brumel Fund. They had a son Viktor.Брумель Валерий Николаевич. Биографическая справка
rsport.ru. 14 May 2012Geguchadze, Aleksandr (15 June 2007

rg.ru Valeriy Brumel with wife 1963.jpg, Brumel with his first wife in 1963 Valeriy Brumel 3.jpg, Brumel jumping at a meet Valeriy Brumel 2.jpg, Brumel after his leg injury Valeriy Brumel 1968.jpg, Brumel in 1968 and

Ilizarov apparatus In medicine, the Ilizarov apparatus is a type of external fixation apparatus used in orthopedic surgery to lengthen or to reshape the damaged bones of an arm or a leg; used as a limb-sparing technique for treating complex fractures and open bone ...

that restored his crushed leg

References

External links

Valeri Brumel
IMDb
High Jump legend Brumel, dies after long illness

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. 26 January 2003. Retrieved on 14 January 2011.
IAAF Mourns Loss of Legendary High Jumper

. 28 January 2003. Retrieved on 14 January 2011.
Frank Litsky, Valery Brumel Is Dead at 60; Russian Set High-Jump Marks
NYT 28 January 2003. Retrieved on 26 January 2014. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brumel, Valeriy 1942 births 2003 deaths People from Amur Oblast Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism alumni Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Soviet male high jumpers Russian male high jumpers Olympic athletes of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Burevestnik (sports society) athletes World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year winners Universiade gold medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1961 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1963 Summer Universiade Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Soviet male actors Soviet male writers