Inga Artamonova the most popular female skater in the USSR
Inga Artamonova, who started with speed skating when she was 17, became 4 times number one in the world championship “Allround” and 2 times second. She was 5 times champion of the Soviet union and 4 times second. She improved in one weekend 4 world records and was due to her results extremely popular but her life ended in a dramatic way when she was 30 years old. How can so much happen in such a short life? I have reconstructed her life on the basis of Russian and other sources with help of Lilian Barbos.
Her youth was very difficult
She was born in 1936 in Moscow. She grew up in a family without a father who died during the war. Her mother tried to earn money for her son and daughter by working full days as a nurse in a hospital. The children were taken care of during the day by the grandmother. They were very poor. Possibly because of this Inga was coughing so much that she was diagnosed having Tuberculosis. In 1947 the situation was so bad that her mother decided to go to work on a ship on the Volga. This considerably changed the situation because weekly she could provide the family with good food.
She was born in 1936 in Moscow. She grew up in a family without a father who died during the war. Her mother tried to earn money for her son and daughter by working full days as a nurse in a hospital. The children were taken care of during the day by the grandmother. They were very poor. Possibly because of this Inga was coughing so much that she was diagnosed having Tuberculosis. In 1947 the situation was so bad that her mother decided to go to work on a ship on the Volga. This considerably changed the situation because weekly she could provide the family with good food.
Her first choice
The family lived close to a skating rink in Moscow. There Inga went regularly because she liked skating but when she at the age of 12 had to decide as was normal in the USSR which sport she wanted to do seriously with training and competitions, she choose for rowing. They were hoping that in this way she would become stronger and improve the functioning of the lungs. She was rather successful in rowing as junior. She became even champion of the USSR and was invited to join the national selection rowing when she was 17 years old. However she did not like this sport enough and decided to continue with skating.
The family lived close to a skating rink in Moscow. There Inga went regularly because she liked skating but when she at the age of 12 had to decide as was normal in the USSR which sport she wanted to do seriously with training and competitions, she choose for rowing. They were hoping that in this way she would become stronger and improve the functioning of the lungs. She was rather successful in rowing as junior. She became even champion of the USSR and was invited to join the national selection rowing when she was 17 years old. However she did not like this sport enough and decided to continue with skating.
The start of her skating career
First of all the training staff in skating did not wanted to accept her for two reasons: One was that she started on a too high age and the second that skating was not a sport for people with long legs as Inga had. Her training coach of rowing helped her to get nevertheless a place in the skating training and two years later during the national championship “Allround” she won the gold medal and even improved the world record time over the combination of 4 distances. With this result she established herself as speed skater and as representative of the USSR. |
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Two successful years
The next year she was for the first time participating in the World championship “Allround” in the Finnish town Imatra and became immediately world champion. The next year she participated again in the world championship “Allround” , this time in the Kristinehamn (Sweden) and she became again the world champion. As our Russian source suggests these successes were not just due to the speed skating training she received during the last years but rather by the fact that she was always going to skate during her youth as soon as it was possible close to her house and went around and around on the ice rink just because she enjoyed it so much.
Not only on the ice she made an impression. At the banquets that were organized after the championship she appeared very elegant and beautiful as the photo illustrates. Due to her results she became extremely popular and got a lot of attention in the media. During all the new activities she got to know a Swedish businessman who she liked a lot and he proposed her to marry with him. However for a girl from the Soviet Union this was not so simple.
The next year she was for the first time participating in the World championship “Allround” in the Finnish town Imatra and became immediately world champion. The next year she participated again in the world championship “Allround” , this time in the Kristinehamn (Sweden) and she became again the world champion. As our Russian source suggests these successes were not just due to the speed skating training she received during the last years but rather by the fact that she was always going to skate during her youth as soon as it was possible close to her house and went around and around on the ice rink just because she enjoyed it so much.
Not only on the ice she made an impression. At the banquets that were organized after the championship she appeared very elegant and beautiful as the photo illustrates. Due to her results she became extremely popular and got a lot of attention in the media. During all the new activities she got to know a Swedish businessman who she liked a lot and he proposed her to marry with him. However for a girl from the Soviet Union this was not so simple.
An important change in her life
A representative of the KGB contacted her and warned her that her family would get problems if she would marry a foreigner. They offered her a room in a two rooms flat where the second room was occupied by a male skater of her club, Gennadi Voronin. She felt obliged to accept this offer and later she even married with him. Whether this was done under pressure of the KGB is not clear.
What became clear was that this relationship led to serious problems. He was removed from the club because of a drinking problem. There were also rumors of violence. Inga was not able to concentrate on her skating in 1959 and lost in the world championships. In 1960 it was even worse and she could not participate in the Olympic Games. She was thinking about a divorce but she was told that she, as a divorced woman, would not be able to participate anymore in international championships. So she has made some arrangement with her husband by which she was able to go back to the skating track and with success as we will see below.
A representative of the KGB contacted her and warned her that her family would get problems if she would marry a foreigner. They offered her a room in a two rooms flat where the second room was occupied by a male skater of her club, Gennadi Voronin. She felt obliged to accept this offer and later she even married with him. Whether this was done under pressure of the KGB is not clear.
What became clear was that this relationship led to serious problems. He was removed from the club because of a drinking problem. There were also rumors of violence. Inga was not able to concentrate on her skating in 1959 and lost in the world championships. In 1960 it was even worse and she could not participate in the Olympic Games. She was thinking about a divorce but she was told that she, as a divorced woman, would not be able to participate anymore in international championships. So she has made some arrangement with her husband by which she was able to go back to the skating track and with success as we will see below.
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Medeo was the place to go for world records
In 1962 the Russian “Allround” championships were held on the Medeo rink in Almaty. This ice rink was created in 1951 at approximately the same height as Davos in the mountains in Kazakstan. Here Inga Artamonova returned on the ice to compete for the Russian title “Allround”. What a return on the ice she realized. Of the 4 distances she won three realizing in each of them a new world record while she also improved the best total time over the 4 distances. So she realized in one weekend four new world record. |
One can imagine that this was received with big applause. She was of course again send to the World championships “allround” and won there also gold again.
More silver and gold but also a dramatic end of her career
In 1963 and 1964 she was beaten by a new star in Russian skating Lidia Skoblikova but in 1965 she showed once more her strength by winning again the World Championship “Allround”. This was also the year that she finally decided to separate from her husband. During the New Year period of 1966 she was staying in the house of her mother. There her husband came along. First it looked like another discussion between them but at some moment he took his knife and cut her in such a way that she died nearly immediately. What a sad end for a woman with so many capacities.
More silver and gold but also a dramatic end of her career
In 1963 and 1964 she was beaten by a new star in Russian skating Lidia Skoblikova but in 1965 she showed once more her strength by winning again the World Championship “Allround”. This was also the year that she finally decided to separate from her husband. During the New Year period of 1966 she was staying in the house of her mother. There her husband came along. First it looked like another discussion between them but at some moment he took his knife and cut her in such a way that she died nearly immediately. What a sad end for a woman with so many capacities.