Gennady Voronin is the husband of Inga Artamonova. Artamonova's case

The best Soviet speed skater

Honored Master of Sports

Knight of the Order of the Badge of Honor

World champion (1957, 1958, 1962, 1965)

Silver medalist at the World Championships (1963, 1964)

USSR champion (1956, 1958, 1962 -1964)

Nineteen-time USSR champion at various distances (1956-1959, 1961-1965)

World record holder (1956–1958, 1962–1967)

World record holder in all-around (1956, 1962)

Inga Artamonova was born on August 29, 1936 in Moscow, in an old house on Petrovka. Nature gave her her father's tall stature, and she inherited her strong character from her mother.

Inga was not even five years old when the war began. The family lived from hand to mouth, Inga was constantly sick. One day, after calling a doctor, the girls’ relatives learned: “Most likely, you need to prepare for the worst. Your Inga has tuberculosis. If only she had good food and treatment somewhere in a sanatorium, otherwise..." It looked like a sentence, but Inga looked at the adults who were ready to cry and suddenly said: “Nothing, we’ll cope.”

Anna Artamonova, Inga's mother, had a hard time, especially after her father abandoned the family. Inga had to rely only on herself and the help of her mother, who went to work early in the morning and came when Inga’s grandmother, Evdokia Fedotovna, put her grandchildren to bed. The family's living wage consisted of the salary of the mother and grandmother, who worked part-time as a nurse at a dispensary. Grandma Inga was her favorite.

In 1947, food supply was difficult in Moscow. Once a week, Inga’s mother took out two packs of yeast, diluted them in water, and, together with overcooked onions, made a casserole, which she fed to Inga and her brother. Inga said that when she grows up, she will only eat her mother’s casserole, but a lot of it. One day my mother couldn’t get yeast, and there was nothing to eat. Hungry children drove their mother into hysterics. On the same day, Inga brought six potatoes, which she stole from one of the neighbors.

Fortunately, exacerbations of Inga’s disease were not so frequent. In order not to be an eyesore for her grandmother, the girl took her skates and went to the skating rink. The windows of their apartment overlooked the Dynamo stadium in Petrovsky Park, and Inga rode one lap after another, as if trying to escape from a serious illness.

Inga always loved the skating rink very much, she skated on it for her own pleasure, and the coaches advised the Artamonovs to send their daughter to the rowing section. There was a reason for this - many hours of training the arm muscles helps to develop the chest, and this makes the lungs feel freer in it.

When my mother managed to get a job on a long-distance steamer that sailed along the Volga, the family began to live much better, and the children began to eat better. Every time she and her grandmother went to meet her at the River Station, and after the meeting a lot of delicious things appeared on the table. There were even Astrakhan watermelons, and my grandmother made various jams from the berries.

At school, Inga was a capable but restless girl, distinguished by mischief and recklessness. One could expect any tricks from her. She could tear the dress her mother had just bought while climbing over some fence, or, having not learned her lesson and running away from class, come home early and explain it by the “death” of the teacher.

At the same time, Inga was in good standing in the drama club, and she also drew excellently. In the drama club, Inga played the main roles - Grandfather Frost, due to her tall stature, and partisan commanders, since boys studied separately at that time.

She is a bright girl and can study very easily, but she is lazy, her teachers said.

Inga always got straight A's in singing, drawing and physical education. Her class teacher, trying to somehow attract the rebellious girl to study, tried one method after another for this purpose. But nothing helped. And at a meeting of her parents, she angrily called her a bigot. Inga’s grandmother was at the meeting, and immediately went to look for the school director:

You know what, you don’t even think about me, but for a teacher, all the kids should be the same. And that's a big thing! She is the same child as everyone else, only taller than them, and who is to blame for the fact that they were born such morels?! And Inna grew up with us without a father, and she has tuberculosis... She looks so poor, but at home she’s in trouble... Don’t look at how tall she is... so warn your teacher. ..

Evdokia Fedotovna warned the teacher too:

You protect her. Don't look at how tall she is, she has tuberculosis. And she is tall because she is like her grandfather. He laid down his head during the Civil War, he was also in trouble. And her father is a big man, so she has someone to look after!

None of her relatives suspected Inga’s impending world fame. When she was 12 years old, the family half-jokingly and half-seriously discussed the issue of Ingina going in for sports after she was offered to participate in the rowing section. Mom suggested:

You need to choose something easier, for example, skis. - And the grandmother is right there:
- Well, to hell with the skis, your legs will get tangled in these poles.

This is how many sports were nominated. Inga continued rowing, achieved considerable success, became the champion of the USSR among girls, at the age of 17 she fulfilled the standard of a master of sports, and was in the top eight rowing row. She was supposed to be included in the Soviet Union national team for a trip to the European Championships among adults.

After several years of rowing, Inga turned into a strong and charming girl. The summer sun and fresh river air at the Dynamo water stadium had a beneficial effect. Inga trained with great enthusiasm, did not make any allowances for her illness, and a miracle happened - tuberculosis began to gradually recede until it disappeared completely. But despite her difficult life, Inga was always very calm, and it was difficult to upset her with anything. She was a good-natured, serene, and even a little carefree person. But, since Inga did not have a great love for rowing, her love for the skating rink took its toll.

She told her coach: “Rowing is not my thing! I will do speed skating." In response, the coach just smiled: “Did you think well? You are 177 centimeters tall! And in skates you need short muscles so that you can quickly compress and unclench!” “Just think,” Artamonova retorted, “I’ll show everyone with my long ones!” The coach pulled out the last argument from his sleeve: here you are a twice champion, and there you will start all over from scratch! But this argument did not work either - Artamonova left.

But recognition did not come immediately. People started talking about Inga when she first competed at the USSR championship in 1955, where she took 21st place. In 1956, at the championship of the Soviet Union, at nineteen years old, she became the absolute champion of the country with a new world record in the all-around total, and still she was not included in the team for the trip to the World Championships that same year. However, in 1957 she achieved her goal and became the absolute world champion. Inga won in the Finnish city of Imatra.

Scandinavian fans immediately chose her as their idol. In 1957, Artamonova had to take a lap of honor with a laurel wreath. When Inga rolled through the stadium, flowers flew from the stands to her feet. The Finns rejoiced and shouted the Russian word: “Wow!” The fans demanded to ride around the stadium again and again. Spectators from the stands began to slide down the snow rollers - thousands of people, men, women, children. Hundreds of hands reached out to Inga - and before she had time to figure anything out, she found herself in weightlessness, thrown up into the air by these hands. They also picked up the laurel wreath and began to swing it. And the champion and the wreath.

After they carried her out of the skating rink, half an hour later there was a knock on the door. A man came in and said:

We were a little happy. Your wreath has been dismantled for souvenirs. Now thousands of people will remember your victory for the rest of their lives... Sorry...

With these words, he placed a wreath on the cot. Or rather, what remains of the wreath is a broom with seven leaves.

Inga never had to hold this wreath in her hands. Rimma Zhukova reassured the champion:

— Don’t worry: you will have more than one such trophy. Trust me.

She later won four more laurel wreaths.

At banquets held after the World Championships, she justified self-love. Inga always appeared elegant and beautiful at them. This showed her character - not to show how hard it is to win.

At the 1958 World Championships in the Swedish city of Kristinehamn, where Inga won her second title of absolute world champion, she became seriously interested in a man for the first time. Her chosen one was an employee of the championship organizing committee, a Swede named Bengt. A romance began between them in the city of Borlänge, where Bengt lived, and the USSR national team participated in demonstration performances after the championship.

On one of the last evenings before returning to Moscow, when the team went to the cinema in an organized manner, Inga was missing. She showed up at the hotel only in the morning, explaining her absence by saying that she was riding in the car with Bengt. If it were not for worldwide fame, fantastic popularity in the country and the title of two-time world champion, she would no longer be released abroad. Nevertheless, for some time Artamonova was still banned from traveling abroad. She did not make it to the White Olympics-60, her monthly salary was reduced from 3,000 rubles to 800, she had problems with the KGB, which persistently recommended that she end all relations with Bengt.

In 1958, Artamonova and another speed skater Gennady Voronin, by a strange coincidence, were given a room each in a two-room apartment in a prestigious house built for KGB officers. And in 1959 she married Voronin, and this was the most reckless act in her life. Gennady turned out to be a very jealous husband and an unpleasant person. And the more victories she had, the stronger his desire to assert himself by humiliating her. Inga hid from everyone that there were problems in her family life, even when Voronin began to beat her, trying to leave bruises where they would be invisible.

The stresses associated with an unsuccessful marriage took their toll - in the midst of preparations for the next world championship, doctors again found tuberculosis in her, and the 1960 USSR championship was left without Artamonova. Inga’s success in 1962 was also difficult. Inga had a streak of bad luck due to poor performances at high-altitude skating rinks. In the past, patients' lungs failed them. Below she ran well, won, and when she climbed the mountains, she became unrecognizable. There was no former strength in her movements, she was out of breath. Nevertheless, Inga set a cascade of world records, exceeding her previous total in speed skating all-around by more than 10 points.

She was able to adapt to oxygen-free conditions, and this shocked everyone. In addition, the results were downright masculine. Here are her four world records: 500 meters - 44.9, 1500 meters - 2.19.0, 3000 meters - 5.06, total - 189.033 points.

Subsequently, Rimma Zhukova wrote: “They (the records) were so magnificent that all previous athletic feats in speed skating faded before them. Inga has almost completely updated the table of world records. She broke Tamara Rylova's record at a distance of 500 meters, which stood for 7 years; Lydia Skoblikova - at a distance of 1500 meters, which she established in Squaw Valley; Rimma Zhukova - at a distance of 3000 meters, which lasted 9 years, and finally, a record in the all-around, gaining a fantastic amount... Inga was congratulated by the entire sports world.”

Also in 1962, Inga won everything she could. She also became the absolute world champion for the third time. This happened again, like five years ago, in the Finnish city of Imatra. Then - again a chain of continuous failures.

But her coach 3. F. Kholshchevnikova admitted:

She will be world champion not two times, but ten times!

It seemed that Inga was exhausted, having become a three-time world champion. Who managed this? Of the women - only Maria Isakova. But Inga didn’t think so. Those who knew Ingina’s capabilities did not think so either. She could be sick and not train for a long time, she could quickly gain weight during this time, but a short period passed and she was in good shape again. Coaches and fans believed in Inga. For her teammates, she was something like a mother. That’s what they called her - “our mother.” People always came to her with their troubles. Inga performed with equal responsibility at the largest competitions and at the most insignificant ones, even for her Dynamo regional council. She could feel bad, could run with a fever, could be out of shape. But she could never give up or retreat in competitions of any rank. Everyone knew this. They also knew that if Inga stumbles or falls, she will definitely get up.

In 1963, Inga was diagnosed with an ulcer. This was on the eve of the Olympic Games in Innsbruck. Here is an entry in Inga’s diary, dated November 17, 1963: “I flew to Irkutsk late in the evening. Yesterday I left the hospital. My legs hurt very much from lying for a long time. I just don't believe that I'm free. It’s very good to be a healthy person.” And here is another entry: “From December 13 to December 30, 1963, for 11 ice training sessions - 486 laps - 194.5 km. Of these, quick “work” - 85 laps - 33.5 km.”

One of the photographs shows Inga at the moment of an ulcer attack. The eyes are sunken, the lips make an effort to make a swallowing movement. Then, when everything was over, Inga could laugh it off (“Now it’s very fashionable to have some kind of disease”) or confess to her mother about her “achievements” in curing an ulcer (“Mom, yesterday I even ate a piece of chicken skin, and, you know, Nothing...").

Knowing her extraordinary determination to win, a month before the Olympic starts, the coaches promised to take Inga if she took third place in at least one distance at the qualifying competitions in Moscow. Inga, not yet recovering from her illness, not even halfway into her best shape, took second place in one of the distances, but she still wasn’t accepted, and Inga didn’t make it to the Olympics for the second time. But Inga did not turn sour. She regained the strength that had been taken away by her illness, and was able to take second place in the all-around total at the 1964 World Championships, and at the USSR Championships, which was held at the end of the season, she fully regained her athletic form and beat everyone, even the strongest Chelyabinsk speed skater that year Lydia Skoblikova. Inga became the national champion for the fifth time, and Moscow fans sent her a telegram: “A Moscow lightning rod was found for the Ural lightning.” It was about an argument between two wonderful speed skaters on an ice rink. After that, Lida left her skates for several years, and Inga, even in 1965, became inaccessible to her rivals around the world.

She went to the Finnish city of Oulu to formally secure the right to be called the strongest and fastest at the world championship. For the fourth time. On the day the team arrived in Oulu it was twenty degrees below zero. The girls, wrapped in down scarves and fur hats, first ran from the hotel to the skating rink. But the entrance to the stadium was closed. Inga Artamonova remembered her mischievous childhood on Petrovka and invited her young friends to climb over the fence. They agreed. The ice was like glass. The skates didn't cling to him. Inga thought that her skates were simply stupid, leaned over to check the blades and crashed into the bench at full speed. How she didn't break her tibia remains a mystery. Her friends helped her get to the Arina Hotel. I had to spend two days before the start in bed. Newspapers from different countries, making assumptions before the championship, unanimously gave Artamonova the place of the absolute winner. But the draw was clearly not in Inga’s favor - at all four distances she had to run in the first pair, pave the way for the others, give them graphs.

She put all her strength into the first distance - she decided to immediately stun her rivals. And she paid with defeat in the one-and-a-half distance race, a distance that was always considered hers, where she set one of her best world records. Artamonova lost to Valya Stenina. This, however, did not bother her. But the fact that the Dutchwoman Steen Kaiser and the Korean Pil Hwa Han were ahead was alarming.

On the second, decisive day of the championship, she again opened the races. This time, a twenty-six-year-old typist from the Dutch city of Delph Steen Kaiser started alongside her. This girl managed to beat Inga the day before. Inga got the inside track. This means that she could go against the wind for two turns. And both of these turns are small. The fight lasted only the first half-circle. And then Inga ran away from the “flying Dutchwoman” thirty meters.

Not only the registration of the laurel wreath - Moscow or Sverdlovsk - depended on how Valentina Stenina performed at the thousand meters. If she was lucky, Stenina also became a three-time world champion, like Inga. And Artamonova, with a happy coincidence of circumstances, would have left Finland undefeated four times.

Stenina ran quickly, but at the finish the stopwatch recorded a result almost two seconds weaker than Inga’s. Artamonova did not hide her joy.

Thousands of Soviet people “rooted” for Inga. Here is one small letter: “Hello, Inga! Sverdlovsk pioneer Tamara Shimanova writes to you. I study in the 5th grade “B” at school No. 36. I promise you that I will only study with “excellent” marks. Now, as soon as I write casually, I think: “But Inga does not indulge herself in anything.” I am involved in the figure skating section. 3rd category. Know, when the World Championship competitions take place, that the pioneer from Sverdlovsk is “cheering” for you. You are an example for me, Inga, in everything.”

Inga was truly something new in speed skating. Now it is not surprising that victories are won mainly by tall athletes. But as for her fighting qualities, it is difficult to find something similar. She smiled at competitions, and if someone tried to “wind up” her before the start, promising to “bring me 10 seconds at the finish line,” they only made things worse for themselves.

Already in the rank of world champion, Inga sometimes came to practice in her native Petrovka, and as soon as she stepped onto the ice, the sound of the windows opening was immediately heard - and the stand was ready for the spectacle. And Inga, driving past her window, nodded her head to fan No. 1 - her grandmother, Evdokia Fedotovna, who, somehow sticking her head through the narrow window, strictly watched her granddaughter’s run. A day or two before the world championship, my grandmother couldn’t find a place for herself, she just kept asking:

For some reason they don’t convey anything, how is our Ina doing? - Finally, the commentator’s voice is heard: “We are conducting our report...”, and the grandmother literally rushes around the apartment and excitedly, and sometimes with reproach and jealousy, reminds her neighbor, an ardent fan, if he suddenly forgot about this:

Petra, why are you sitting there, turn on the radio quickly. - And already pleadingly: - Ina is running.

Grandma knew a lot of proverbs and hit each of them exactly on target. Sometimes Inga will come upset because someone yelled at her, and her grandmother will say:

Don't be afraid of the dog that lies, but be afraid of the one that is silent. - Or another time she justifies herself for the money spent on gifts for her grandchildren: - It’s not because we ate sweetly that we were naked.

The kindness in Inga might seem strange. She could show more sensitivity to strangers, even strangers, than to her own family. She will sometimes forget to offer you something to eat when you are visiting her, and at the same time, you could take out at least half of her apartment, and she will not pay attention to it. Somewhere at the airport she lost 200 rubles; Grandma, when she found out, clasped her hands, and Inga said calmly: “Well, what should we do now, you won’t get them back anyway.” And her kindness was as follows: come and take what you need, don’t ask, you’re your own person and should understand everything.

Inga Artamonova shocked the sports world with her fantastic results; she was able to do what not a single speed skater in the entire history of world speed skating has been able to do - she became a four-time absolute world champion.

Inga was the world champion at individual distances 10 times, the absolute champion of the USSR 5 times, the USSR champion at individual distances 27 times, and improved world records over 10 times. And she always took her victories calmly.

Sport changed Inna - after all, she had to visit many countries around the world. New character traits appeared - restraint, accuracy, strictness towards oneself. But the simplicity that had distinguished her since childhood, the openness of her soul and ingenuousness remained. Her first teacher, Natalya Vasilievna, once told Inga’s mother:

You know, she's just your leader. If he wants, he will take the whole class out of class, honestly. - This trait - to be the initiator, the ringleader, to take the main blow - remained with her throughout her life.

However, due to her simplicity, elation from victories in sports, extraordinary optimism, and gullibility, Inga did not notice much bad in people.

Inga was an extremely capable person. This was manifested in her ability to grasp everything on the fly and instantly process the information received. For all her cheerfulness and kindness of disposition, it was better not to approach her during training. At competitions you can - there is a performance for the audience, brilliant, bright. And training is menial work in three shifts - and even your own smile can only get in the way. There is no smile during training - it is recharged, accumulated, so that later during competitions it can shine on her face.

She didn't hesitate to be original and interesting. She was pleased to show off her knowledge of at least ten foreign words. As the winner of the competition for the prize of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR, she had to cut up a large goose and distribute it at her discretion to those present. Inga performed this “operation” very cleverly. Someone got the head because his “role” is caring for others, and, therefore, had to think more than others; someone needed fast legs - that’s why paws ended up on his plate; someone needed not just to run, but to fly - he was destined for wings.

This attractiveness of her as a person encouraged other interesting people to seek meetings with her. Among them were famous production workers, honored front-line soldiers, students to whom she was especially kind, popular actors, singers, poets...

Inga had many friends. Her relationships with people from the world of sports are indicative. Honored Master of Sports Zoya Fedorovna Kholshchevnikova, Artamonova’s coach, was distinguished by her sharpness and directness. However, Inga also knew how to stand up for herself when she was confident that she was right. Their community can be called creative. They spent many evenings discussing future competitions and drawing up training plans. Zoya Fedorovna made a great contribution to the victories of 1957-1958.

A warm friendship connected Inga with V. Stenina, I. Egorova and other athletes. Irreconcilable rivals on the ice, in life they treated each other with mutual respect. Ingina’s kindness and breadth of views, her ability to understand people, were evident. She tried to see only the good in people. Girls who were beginning speed skaters often came to her house, and Inga had a kind word for each one. She helped them create training plans.

Inga's talent manifested itself not only in sports. When she began to live independently, she had to do housework. Mom and grandmother were amazed at her success in the culinary arts. No one taught her, and her mother had to take the recipe for how to bake a pie under some tricky name from Inga. They were also surprised at her success in knitting and sewing. She made very beautiful sweaters and dresses.

Inga spent all her time working. She was always doing something with different patterns, sorting through a pile of magazines, preparing cookies according to a recipe she had just heard, rearranging the furniture in her room, giving herself a new hairstyle. If I got tired, I just slept.

In 1965, Inga’s brother worked at the publishing house of the Pravda newspaper, and saw a decree awarding Inga an order for her sporting merits. Second in a row. At one o'clock in the morning I called to please her:

Mistress, why are you sleeping there? - especially in such a “fire” tone so that she wakes up. In response, frightened:
- What's happened?
“Nothing happened, you’re still asleep, and you’re being awarded orders.”
“Oh, well,” she was surprised, “really?”

She was very pleased. But her relationship with her husband never improved. One day, after another quarrel, Inga went to her home, where her mother, grandmother and brother were waiting for her. Then she decided that patience had come to an end, she would no longer live with her husband, and filed for divorce.

Vladimir Artamonov said: “The endless quarrels and scandals that began between Inga and Gennady almost from the first month of their family life should have ultimately led to divorce. Inga was planning to do this more than once, but at the last moment she did not dare, believing that a divorce would be a dark stain on her reputation as a famous person in the country. She even tried to hide from us that her husband, who drank too much, allowed himself to beat her. Inga, as I later learned, was often seen by colleagues with bruises on her face. But by the end of 1965, her patience finally ran out, and shortly before the New Year, she turned to MGU Dynamo with a request to help quickly exchange their living space. In this regard, the chairman of the council Stepanenko even wrote a note to Voronin: “Gena! I ask you to come on 01/04/66 at 9.00!”

And he really came, but not to Dynamo, but to his mother-in-law. He first drank, as he later told the investigator in writing, a 0.7-liter bottle of “Russian wine” and “got very drunk because he didn’t have a bite...”.

He was looking for Inga, who had left home on the eve of the New Year holidays, since they seemed to have agreed on a divorce and even drank champagne on this occasion.

“Well, what do you want? Speak!” - She met him, getting up from the sofa. I was sitting behind Voronin and suddenly I saw how he, leaning slightly to the left, sharply threw his right hand forward (the knife, I am sure, was prepared in advance and hidden in the right sleeve of his jacket). And the next second Inga’s scream hit my ears: “Oh, mom, heart!..”.

I still can’t forgive myself for the fact that, while I was there, I couldn’t prevent the tragedy, even despite such a “mitigating” circumstance as a stitch on my stomach that didn’t heal after surgery. Everything happened so quickly and unexpectedly that no one even had time to blink an eye.

In a fever, not yet experiencing a painful shock, Inga pulled the blade out of her chest (the cracked wooden handle, as it turned out later, remained in the killer’s hand) and rushed to the door. Mom followed her, I, after I could not hold Voronin, went into the yard, to the telephone, to call the police.

Two frightened women went down to the apartment below us, where the doctors lived, and while Inga was being given first aid there, my mother called an ambulance. When she arrived, the sister was already unconscious, but still alive. Blood pressure was approaching zero, the pulse could not be heard. They turned on artificial respiration, tried to perform a cardiac massage, but, alas: with an interval of two minutes, she took two breaths, and that’s all...

And Voronin was taken an hour later at the entrance of the house where he and Inga lived.”

Inga’s mother Anna Mikhailovna said: “Gennady surprisingly calmly entered the apartment, behaved surprisingly calmly and did not allow a single insult against anyone, not a single reproach against Inga... It was difficult to expect that he would kill her... He stood calmly in front of her, I only heard how before Inga shouted: “Oh, mom, heart!” - Gennady said tenderly and quietly: “My darling, my darling!”

Later it turned out that someone regularly placed anonymous notes in the mailbox, in which they informed Gennady about Inga’s mythical adultery. Voronin himself did not hesitate to give the murder he committed a political overtone, putting forward the idea of ​​treason, which his wife was allegedly planning to commit? Excerpt from the case file: “By the way, I forgot to note that when Inga told me in 1961 about the story with the millionaire, I told her: how did you think of staying there. Inga said that she would have stayed there and competed for Sweden, would have been a socialite, and would have attended big balls. I told her: how could you perform in competitions against the USSR. She said that she didn’t care about it, that she would like to live very well and not think about anything, that in the USSR they paid little money for the world championships, that in the USSR you live constrainedly, but there, abroad, you would live as a human... No one would shove morality in her face. During this period, Inga told me that because of this story of hers with the Swedish millionaire, because she directly stated this, she was summoned to the State Security Committee and talked to her...”

During the investigation into the murder of Inga Artamonova, many strange things continued to happen. An investigator from the Moscow prosecutor's office replaced Article 102 of the Criminal Code, which had initially been assigned to the killer, which provided for punishment up to execution, with Article 103 (up to 10 years), and then he wanted to bring the case under Article 104 (5 years in prison or correctional labor for up to two years). years for a crime committed in a state of sudden emotional disturbance caused by insults).

A month and a half after the announcement of the verdict, by the decision of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, Gennady’s stay in prison was canceled, and already in 1968 he was completely released from custody and serving his sentence. He spent the next three years freely, working “on construction sites of the national economy.”

Vice-European champion Yuri Yumashev met him later: “Voronin, a little bald old man, came up to me with a glass: “Let’s drink to all the good things...”.” I thought: he’s no longer a survivor, pitiful, degraded... But who did he kill!”

Inga Artamonova is buried in Moscow at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

Text prepared by Andrey Goncharov

ARTAMONOVA (VORONINA) Inga Grigorievna was born in 1936 in Moscow. Soviet athlete (Skating), Honored Master of Sports. USSR and world champion.

1957 World Championship. Finland. All participants in the competition finished the competition, took off their skates, and became just spectators. And Artamonova had to cover one more distance - a lap of honor with a laurel wreath.

This circle is one of the most unforgettable experiences in life. The fifth distance is beautiful and pleasant. The world champion is the only one of all the athletes who competes not in four, but in five distances. And they will find out who exactly is competing in this fifth distance at the very last minute.

Inga rolled slowly around the stadium. From above, from the snowy stands, flowers flew to her feet. The Finns rejoiced and shouted the Russian word: “Wow!”

Inga ran this circle, and tears of happiness, transparent, sparkling in the rays of the spotlights, rolled down her cheeks.

The spectators demanded to ride around the stadium again and again.

But before she had time to take even a few steps, she noticed that the stands began to lower, and the fans were sliding down the snow rollers. They rushed to the champion - thousands of people, men, women, children...

I had to stop. At that same second, hundreds of hands reached out to Inga - and before she had time to think of anything, she found herself in weightlessness, thrown upward by these hands. The laurel wreath fell down. They picked him up and started pumping him too. And a champion and a wreath!

Best of the day

She doesn’t remember how she was taken out of the skating rink. About half an hour later there was a knock on the door. A tall man came in and, burring, said in Russian:

We were a little happy. Your wreath has been dismantled for souvenirs. Now thousands of people will remember your victory for the rest of their lives... Sorry...

With these words, he placed a wreath on the cot. Or rather, what remains of the wreath is a broom with seven leaves.

Inga never had to hold that wreath of noble laurel in her hands. Rimma Zhukova reassured the champion:

Don't worry: you will have more than one such trophy. Trust me.

Artamonova believed...

She won four laurel wreaths. I dare say that none of the Soviet speed skaters in the 20th century will receive that much. There could have been more crowns - and therefore victories - but at twenty-one - in her prime - tuberculosis, which crept up on the world champion, took her out of the fight. Years passed. The best years. Inga was already written off, seeing no reason for success. Nobody believed in her. And only she, proud and unyielding, forgot about illnesses and troubles and confidently worked for the future. And in 1962, at Medeo, she won five gold medals as national champion - at all distances and in the all-around, and set four world records. Moreover, she beat them on a high-mountain skating rink, which was especially difficult for her to run on - her diseased lungs affected her. And yet Inga accomplished her feat - many of her world records lasted five to seven years! But she didn't know about it. She was no longer alive...

Without losing a single start in 1962, Inga Artamonova became the world champion for the third time. It was as if she returned to her athletic youth and forgot about the illness for a while. Inga dreamed of performing at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, but... leap years have always been unlucky for the “ice queen”. In 1964, an acute attack of an ulcer put Inga out of action. She spent a month and a half at the height of the season in the hospital. Doctors advised Inga to stop playing sports, but if she had succumbed to persuasion, she would have betrayed herself - she would have stopped being Inga! And Artamonova continued to perform.

The leap year became a test for her. Let it be cruel, offensive, but a test of the strength of life affirmation. A year later, in 1965, she again had no equal on the planet. It seemed that she was going to the Finnish city of Oulu to formally secure the right to be called the strongest and fastest at the world championship. For the fourth time!

On the day our team arrived in Oulu it was twenty degrees below zero. The girls, wrapped in down scarves and fur hats, first ran from the hotel to the skating rink. But the entrance to the stadium was closed. What to do? Inga Artamonova remembered her mischievous childhood on Petrovka and invited her young friends... to climb over the fence. They agreed.

The ice was like glass. The skates didn't cling to him. Inga thought that her skates were simply stupid, leaned over to check the blades and... at that time she crashed into a bench at full speed. How she didn't break her tibia remains a mystery.

Her friends helped her get to the Arina Hotel. I had to spend two days before the start in bed. So you can “formally secure the right to be called the fastest”!

Newspapers from different countries, making assumptions before the championship, unanimously gave Artamonova the place of the absolute winner. One of the Finnish journalists said that their editorial office already had an essay about Inga with the title “Four Times Undefeated,” which described future competitions in detail. Everything was told, down to the smallest details. More precisely, it was predicted, fantasized. Only the results were not recorded.

The lot was clearly not in Inga's favor - at all four distances she had to run in the first pair, pave the way for the others, give them the graphs.

She put all her strength into the first distance - she decided to immediately stun her rivals.

It's hard to convey how she felt after her first victory. "Joy? Undoubtedly. But also complacency. She fell for the bait, decided that victory was already guaranteed.

And she immediately paid for this complacency with defeat in the one-and-a-half race - a distance that was always considered hers, where she set one of her best world records. Artamonova lost to Valya Stenina. This, however, was not very confusing. Valya wasn’t afraid of losing; she’s a friend on the national team. But the fact that the Dutchwoman Steen Kaiser and the Korean Pil Hwa Han were ahead was alarming.

And although Artamonova remained in first place by the sum of two distances, the anxious state did not leave her all night. She was not afraid, she was simply vigilant... This heightened feeling especially helped her on Sunday - the second and decisive day of the championship.

Again she opened the races. This time, a twenty-six-year-old typist from the Dutch city of Delph Steen Kaiser started alongside her. This girl had managed to beat Inga the day before and was now again trying to get ahead of the famous Muscovite in the race.

Inga got the inside track. This means that she could go against the wind for two turns. And both of these turns are small. The fight lasted only the first half-circle. And then Inga ran away from the “flying Dutchwoman” thirty meters...

Not only the residence of the laurel wreath - Moscow or Sverdlovsk - depended on how Valentina Stenina performed at the thousand meters. If she was lucky, Stenina also became a three-time world champion, like Inga. And Artamonova, with a happy coincidence of circumstances, would actually leave Finland “four times undefeated.”

Stenina ran quickly, but at the finish the stopwatch recorded a result almost two seconds weaker than Inga’s. At the last distance, Artamonova flew as if on wings; she had no doubt of success.

And then there was the highest step of the podium. Happy smile. Her, Ingina, smile. The same one for which she was loved at all skating rinks on the planet.

That evening I called the Arina Hotel: “How are you feeling? What are you thinking about? After all, everything important has already happened...”

Inga did not hide her joy:

It's finished! I became the absolute world champion for the fourth time. Not a single athlete after the war, when skating became a truly mass sport, managed to achieve what fell to my lot.

Write down, I told her, write down everything you feel, what you think, so that your personal impressions are not erased by newspaper assessments, do not replace each other.

In Moscow, she showed me pieces of paper written on a dark northern night in Arina: “I can’t believe it! I run into the locker room, boys surround me, asking for badges and autographs. “Well, do you understand that you have become the strongest again?” - friends ask. Oh, girls, I'm so glad. And for all of us. Again with victory to our native land! Happy victory!

The northern lights winked sadly at me, flashing over the icy northern sea. I am in a good mood - I have received many telegrams from people I know and don’t know, but are dear to me.

I can't find any place for happiness. I wander around the room, dreaming of the dawn that will flow through the hotel window, slide across the pillow, wake me up to say:

“This peak is not the last, Inga! The climb is not over - there is still a whole life ahead!

But this peak turned out to be the last. Inga died tragically before she turned 30 (she was killed by her husband Gennady Voronin).

I think about her again and again, I remember her...

She was full of charm and human tenderness. To say about her that she was a good person means to say nothing. Inga was a real person. What she did in sports will never cease to excite the minds of fans and sports scientists. This will remain like in a fairy tale. Inga Artamonova accomplished a feat: a girl who had suffered from tuberculosis for seven years became a master of sports in rowing, a four-time world champion in speed skating, exceeded more than ten world records, and won twenty-seven times at individual distances of the national championships. But will this dry arithmetic speak eloquently about Inga? Of course not.

Inga was a cheerful and witty conversationalist. Her knowledge of literature and various fields of culture was truly remarkable. She was the unofficial champion of knitting champions. In 1965, she won a dance prize in Kirov and was known as a skilled cook. Inga drew excellently - as a child she even dreamed of being an architect or fashion designer, she spoke English... And then - a tragic death.

She did not die long - just a few minutes. And, feeling that she was dying, Inga could not come to terms with the fact that she would not see the gray and watery Moscow sky for the last time and would not say goodbye to winter. She ran up the stairs. But I didn't have time...

And when thousands of Muscovites saw off their champion on her last journey, the first frosts hit Moscow. Winter has come to say goodbye to Inga...

And it snowed, snowed, snowed...

How the idols left. The last days and hours of people's favorites Razzakov Fedor

ARTAMONOVA INGA

ARTAMONOVA INGA

ARTAMONOVA INGA(skater, multiple champion of the USSR, world and Europe; killed on January 4, 1966 at the age of 29).

Artamonova was killed by her own husband, athlete Gennady Voronin. The reason was banal - jealousy. This happened shortly after Artamonova returned from the World Championships in Finland, where she won championship gold for the fourth time.

On New Year's Eve 1966, Artamonova made the final decision to part with Voronin. She packed her things and went to her mother. She celebrated the New Year in company with her new boyfriend, Alexander Bychkov, who was six years younger than her. Having learned about this, Voronin was inflamed with wild jealousy towards his wife. During the years that Voronin lived with Artamonova, he got used to the fact that she always obeyed him, was afraid of him and did not contradict him. Apparently, he decided that this time everything would be the same. But I was wrong.

On January 4, Voronin came to his mother-in-law’s house. Next is the story of I. Artamonova’s brother Vladimir Artamonov:

“Everything happened before my eyes.

Voronin came home drunk, as usual.

“Let’s go into the other room and talk,” he said to his wife. Inga got up from the sofa, and they found themselves facing each other... I sat so that I could only see Voronin’s back.

- Well, what do you want? Speak,” she said.

Suddenly I saw Voronin’s body lean to the left and slightly back, and his right hand made a sharp movement towards Inga’s chest.

- It is for you!

Inga screamed:

- Oh, mom, heart!

Without realizing what had happened, I jumped out of my seat and grabbed Voronin from behind. Holding it, I looked at Inga. She grabbed the left side of her chest with her hands, then pulled out the blade with her right hand (the handle of the knife cracked from a strong blow and remained in Voronin’s fist).

Inga took a step towards the door, mom followed her, Voronin rushed after them, but I held him back. We collapsed on the sofa, then on the floor. It was impossible to allow him to catch up with Inga... Since she ran, it means that the wound is not so dangerous, it means she will live...

A few minutes later, Voronin nevertheless broke free and for some reason went out onto the balcony (I later learned from the criminal case that, unbeknownst to me, he picked up a cracked wooden knife handle from the floor and threw it from the eighth-floor balcony into the snow). We didn’t have a phone, so I rushed outside to the machine to call the police.

As it turned out later, Inga and her mother went down two floors to the apartment where the doctor lived. Inga lay down on the ottoman, and her mother ran to her friends to call an ambulance. Meanwhile, Inga began to bubble in her chest, a wheezing sound was heard in her throat, and she lost consciousness... Neither the doctor who lived in this apartment, nor the doctors who arrived by ambulance could help...”

Literally the next day after this incident, Moscow was filled with rumors about him. What people didn’t say about the champion’s death: that her lover killed her, that she committed suicide, that she was shot by her husband who caught her in lesbian love (there were rumors around the city about Artamonova’s “special” relationship with speed skater Alexandra Chudina), etc. d. The official authorities responded to this event on January 6 with a short obituary in the newspaper “Soviet Sport”: “The life of Inga Artamonova was cut short prematurely and tragically... An outstanding Soviet athlete... A wonderful person, she devoted her entire life to the development of Soviet sports... In her life, Inga accomplished a sporting feat ... She holds many world records... Inga has won universal love and appreciation among wide circles of the sports community both in our country and abroad with her remarkable human qualities, outstanding sporting achievements, warm and friendly attitude towards people...”

Meanwhile, the main culprit of the incident, Voronin, was arrested by the police the day after the murder. The investigation began. This is what V. Artamonov recalls about this:

“Voronin lied shamelessly. And that he did not understand how it happened; and that Inga herself went to the knife; and that the mother pulled Inga by the hand, and Inga stumbled upon the tip. He even came up with such a touching detail: as if he took a doll lying on the sofa and said: “Here, Inga, we would like such a baby doll with you...”

For some reason, the investigator did not put any barriers to Voronin’s lies, allowing him to refer to his wife’s past. More than the difficult conditions of family life, as a result of which she wanted to divorce, he was interested in whether the couple agreed on a divorce on the eve of the New Year and whether Inga “legally” decided to celebrate the New Year without her husband. In fact, fearing threats to kill her if she wanted a divorce, she told him another meeting place (myself, my mother, and our stepfather have heard threats to kill more than once during their quarrels). The investigation, however, did not want to take our objections into account. As, indeed, with the statements of famous speed skaters about Voronin’s character. “I can characterize him as an insidious person, acting thoughtfully and on the sly” (Boris Shilkov). “Gennady beat her, we often saw Inga with bruises. I can’t say anything good about him” (Boris Stenin). “It was known that Gennady mocked her, beat her, and he often drank. I have never heard her give any reason for jealousy” (Tamara Rylova). “I often saw her with bruises on her face. He drank and lived at her expense” (Konstantin Kudryavtsev, coach of the USSR national team).

As it became known during the investigation, it was not Inga who cheated on her husband, but he who cheated on her, which he himself later admitted. One of his mistresses also confessed, who turned out to be Inga’s “friend” - that’s what “miracles” happen! Wasn’t she the one who planted the anonymous letters?

Reading between the lines of the “case”, you can see that the investigator sympathizes with the killer (Inga earned more, and this, you see, upset her husband) and thus saves him from Article 102, possible execution. The 103rd, which was later appointed, served, I think, as a good clue for further reducing the punishment for the murderer. A month and a half later, by decision of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, his stay in prison was canceled, and already in 1968 he was completely released from custody!!! For the next three years, the killer was free, working on “construction sites for the national economy.”

The emphasis was on jealousy - in the testimony of Voronin, his relatives and friends, in the concept of the entire investigation. At the same time - denigration of Inga. The investigator managed to belittle Inga’s contribution to sports, and this belittlement was included in the indictment. At the same time, the achievements of Voronin, named an Olympic medalist, which he never was, were strengthened. The decision of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR even included the fact that my mother and I, it turns out, did not see Voronin stab him at all!

I was struck by the “resourcefulness” of the killer himself: he began to put forward the idea of ​​treason against the Motherland on the part of Inga: they say that before her marriage she had a relationship with a foreigner, she wanted to leave the Union... And he showed himself as a “patriot”, creating the impression that even though he killed, it was still true understands the politics of the party and the state. In general, it is not difficult to notice a certain “directing”, and quite skillfully carried out, although not entirely subtly. That is why I do not exclude the possibility that Voronin was just a killer, as we call hired killers today. Is that why he was released so quickly? And was it not because he was allowed to lie in his investigative testimony because everything had already been planned out in advance in someone’s terrible scenario, from intrigue to the release of the killer? The question is who directed this dirty business, from whom it came. From the very top, from sports management, envious people, rivals? What if the intentions of all ill-wishers converged on one point?! Perhaps, at first, everyone only wanted to intrigue, spoil the athlete’s nerves, undermine her reputation, worsen her athletic preparedness, bring discord into family life... But a tragedy happened.”

Inga Artamonova was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery, in the same area where Sergei Stolyarov (1969), Vladimir Vysotsky (1980), Vladislav Listyev (1995) would later be buried.

What happened to the champion’s killer Gennady Voronin? Here is what A. Yusin writes about him: “Voronin served time, drank himself to death, but is alive. Olympic champion Lyudmila Titova, who once visited Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, for speed skating, told me that Voronin approached her: “Why don’t you say hello?” - “I don’t say hello to strangers.” - “But I’m Voronin.” - “And even more so with such non-humans.” After these words he walked away.

European vice-champion Yuri Yumashev met him later: “Voronin, a little bald old man, came up to me with a glass: “Let’s drink to all the good things...” I thought: he’s no longer a survivor, pathetic, degraded... But who did he kill?

From the book Anatomy of Betrayal: CIA “Super Mole” in the KGB author Sokolov A A

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From the book Star Tragedies author Razzakov Fedor

Othello in Soviet style Inga ARTAMONOVA I. Artamonova was born on August 29, 1936 in Moscow. Her childhood was not particularly joyful - the girl had to endure a war, a divorce from her parents, and a serious illness (doctors discovered she had tuberculosis). However, despite this, Inga grew

From the book Articles from the weekly magazine “Profile” author Bykov Dmitry Lvovich

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From the book The Shining of Everlasting Stars author Razzakov Fedor

ARTAMONOVA Inga ARTAMONOVA Inga (skater, multiple champion of the USSR, world and Europe; killed on January 4, 1966 at the age of 29). Artamonova was killed by her own husband, athlete Gennady Voronin. The reason was banal - jealousy. This happened shortly after

From the book The Light of Faded Stars. They left that day author Razzakov Fedor

January 4 – Inga ARTAMONOVA The name of this athlete was known all over the world. Her victories at the most prestigious skating rinks in the world were applauded by hundreds of thousands of people, her talent was admired by millions of people in all corners of the world. She became the world champion in speed skating four times, and

From the book Shot Stars. They were extinguished at the peak of glory author Razzakov Fedor

Othello in Soviet style Inga Artamonova In the early 60s, the name of this athlete was known not only in the USSR, but throughout the world. Inga Artamonova was a four-time world champion in speed skating and could have achieved even greater success if not for the tragic death in the prime of life and

The name of this athlete
is unlikely to say anything to a modern young man.
Only true fans and sports historians will remember that Inga Artamonova is an outstanding athlete, speed skater, who became the absolute world champion four times (this record has not yet been broken). Another thing is that she has never won the Olympics. But she was preparing for it, but was killed with a knife in the heart by her own husband, athlete Gennady Voronin.
The official version was that, out of jealousy, the drunken husband stuck a knife in the woman's heart. However, relatives, mainly the athlete’s brother Vladimir Voronin, believe that this murder was a cunningly planned action by the KGB. And in fact, when you find out the details of the terrible fate of Inga Voronina, this version does not seem so implausible...
Inga Voronina was not just a famous speed skater, she was a public favorite. In the 60s, only Valery Brumel, a master of sports in pole vaulting, could compete with her in popularity. And even figure skaters Lyudmila Protopopova and Oleg Belousov. Being a public favorite in those years was a heavy burden, because a Soviet athlete had to be a model in everything, and first of all in family life. And the young beautiful athlete Inga Voronina had the misfortune of falling in love not with a party and teammate, but with a Swedish millionaire whom she met in the Swedish city of Kristinehamn, where Inga won the second title of absolute world champion.
If she had been more cunning and far-sighted, she would have immediately stayed with a young Swede, a member of the championship’s organizing committee, there in Sweden. But she was a patriot and took her medals to Russia.
She was not forgiven for her affair: Inga Voronina was not allowed to travel abroad, because of this she missed the 1960 Winter Olympics, she was dragged to the KGB and was persistently recommended to end all relations with a foreigner... And then, when she was allocated a room in a two-room apartment, her neighbor turned out to be a fellow national team Gennady Voronin. It was as if someone's evil will was pushing them towards each other. Voronin fell in love (or pretended to) with a young girl, they got married. But their life together did not work out; quarrels and scandals began literally from the first days. Gennady was jealous of his wife’s success, drank, and raised his hand to her.
Inga decided to divorce, although this was not a popular step for the favorites of Soviet viewers. The Sports Committee dissuaded Inga and asked her to be patient... But she couldn’t stand it. The couple filed for divorce and were waiting to exchange the apartment. Inga moved in with her mother. Where a drunken Voronin came immediately after New Year’s 1966 and, in front of the whole family, stuck a knife in his ex-wife. Inga could not be saved; by the time the ambulance arrived, she was dead.
Voronin received a strange sentence - ten years, but served only a year and a half (!), lived for another three in a settlement in the Nizhny Novgorod region and returned to Moscow. He is still alive, lives somewhere in the Moscow region.
And Inga did not live to see her thirtieth birthday for six months. She was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.
Interesting fact: the film “The Price of Quick Seconds” was made about the fate of Inge Voronina, where the main role was played by actress Valentina Malyavina, who was later convicted of murdering her common-law husband Stas Zhdanko. These are the twists of fate that life makes...

The history of post-war speed skating is replete with the names of Soviet champions. From 1948 to 1966, girls from the USSR only missed out on the all-around championship title once. Isakova, Selikhova, Stenina, Skoblikova - this is an incomplete list of athletes who did something unimaginable on the ice. But she managed to surpass them all Inga Artamonova, who won four world titles for the first time in history. However, the fate of the outstanding athlete can hardly be called happy: she never competed at the Olympics and did not live to be 30 years old - she was killed by her cruel and jealous husband.

War, tuberculosis, rowing

Inga had an ordinary military childhood - difficult and hungry. The war broke out when the girl was not even five years old. The family was malnourished, Inga was often sick, and the next doctor’s visit completely upset the whole family - the girl was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The doctor recommended that his relatives prepare for the worst: in the difficult conditions of wartime it was almost impossible to recover; this required good nutrition and comfort. Fortunately, exacerbations of Inga’s disease occurred infrequently. Yes, and live a couple of years after the war

It became easier: my mother got a job on a steamship that sailed along the Volga and received a decent salary, although she was not home for weeks. The children were looked after by their grandmother Evdokia Fedotovna, who loved her granddaughter Inga very much.

The windows of the old house on Petrovka, where the Artamonov family lived, overlooked the Dynamo stadium, and Inga as a child spent hours on the stadium’s skating rink. Sometimes I just ran in circles there when there was no one else my age to have fun with. But when it came to serious sports, the girl was sent to rowing. This sport helped develop the chest and fight tuberculosis. And by the age of 18, Inga managed not only to cope with the disease, but also to fulfill the standard of a master of sports, and also become a contender for inclusion in the Soviet Union national team. However, the girl never really fell in love with rowing - her passion for skating was stronger.

Two laurel wreaths

“Rowing is not my thing,” Inga told her coach. “I will go in for speed skating.” He retorted: “You are 177 centimeters tall! But in skating you need short muscles.” But Artamonova firmly decided to switch to speed skating: “Just think! I’ll show everyone with my long ones!” And it’s true, it showed! But not at once. At the USSR championship in 1955, the athlete took only 21st place, but hard training bore fruit: the following year she became the absolute champion of the country, setting a new world record for the all-around total. However, the competition in the Soviet Union national team was colossal, and Inga was not accepted into the team. People really believed in it only in 1957. Artamonova went to the World Championships in Imatra for the first time and immediately became the owner of the champion’s laurel wreath. The spectators were so delighted with the girl’s performance that after the end of the competition they rocked her in their arms for several minutes. Happy Finnish spectators stole the laurel wreath as souvenirs.

The war broke out when the girl was not even five years old. The family was malnourished, Inga was often sick, and the next doctor’s visit completely upset the whole family - the girl was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

However, a year later, Inga still managed to bring a memorable prize home. In Kristinehamn, the Soviet speed skater won her second title in a row. Artamonova also brought back memories of her first serious love from Sweden. At the tournament, she met a wealthy Swede from the organizing committee named Bengt. The romantic relationship between the Soviet champion and the Swedish millionaire became known when one evening Inga was missed while going to the cinema. She arrived at the hotel in the morning, explaining her absence by saying that she was riding in a car with Bengt. Such behavior was considered unacceptable in the 50s. The athlete was awaiting trial at home.

Restricted champion

Artamonova enjoyed enormous popularity in the country, thousands of fellow citizens worried about her at domestic and international competitions, but this did not stop the KGB from banning her from traveling abroad for several years. Because of this, the strongest Soviet athlete did not go to the 1960 Winter Olympics. The start of a new Olympic cycle was also not easy for Inga - due to lung problems in childhood, it was difficult for the athlete to perform at high-altitude skating rinks. However, due to the peculiarities of her character, Artamonova never retreated from difficulties. She managed to overcome them this time too: in 1962, Inga became the absolute world champion for the third time, repeating the achievement of Maria Isakova and simultaneously updating a number of world records.

Thousands of fellow citizens worried about Artamonova at domestic and international competitions, but this did not stop the KGB from banning her from traveling abroad for several years.

It seems that Inga’s family life has also changed for the better. Even before the 1960 Olympics, she married a speed skater Gennady Voronin. However, it soon became clear that the husband was far from the girl’s ideals. He was an unpleasant, cruel man and jealous of his wife's victories. The more she won, the more often he raised his hand to her, trying to assert himself. Voronin struck so that the bruises were not visible to anyone, and his wife hid the discord in family relationships.

Moscow lightning rod

After the victory in 1962, Inga again began to be haunted by failures. In 1963, she underwent a long course of treatment for an ulcer. By the time of the USSR Championship, the athlete had almost recovered and even fulfilled the conditions that the national team coaches had set for her - she was among the top three winners in one of the distances. However, Voronin was not accepted to the World Championship. She also did not go to the Olympics, which took place in Innsbruck. However, even after this, the athlete did not give up, but continued to fight with her rivals on the ice. At the USSR Championships at the end of the Olympic season, she again proved her strength to everyone, including ahead of Lydia Skoblikova, who won four gold medals at the Games in Austria. “A Moscow lightning rod was found for the Ural lightning,” wrote Inga’s fans, pleased with the return of their favorite.

The 1965 World Championships, held in the Finnish city of Oulu, were marked by a confrontation between two Soviet athletes: Inga Voronina and Valentina Stenina. Valentina was close to winning her third title and equaling Inga. The fate of the championship wreath was decided by the outcome of the 1000 meter race. Voronina was two seconds faster than her compatriot and became the first four-time world all-around champion in the history of speed skating. She won the world championships at individual distances 10 times, updated world records almost a dozen times and, perhaps, could have achieved more, because she was only 29 years old. All that remained was to go to the 1968 Olympics and win gold there.

"My darling, my darling"

At the skating rink, Voronina was a happy winner, but returning home brought her only misfortunes - her relationship with her husband became worse and worse. Inga did not dare to file for divorce for many years, believing that this story would become a bad example for thousands of Soviet people. However, on the eve of 1966, the decision to divorce was still made. Gennady and Inga, by mutual agreement, decided to put an end to family quarrels and scandals. Before the New Year holidays, Inga turned to Dynamo with a request for help with the exchange of living space. The chairman of the club’s board wrote a note to Voronin asking him to come to a meeting with him on January 4 at 9:00. However, in the morning he went not to Dynamo, but to the store. Having bought a bottle of wine there, Voronin drank it without eating, and went to his mother-in-law, where his wife had recently lived. They let him into the house, asked what he needed, and he, quietly and calmly saying “my darling, my darling,” stabbed his wife in the heart. One blow was enough: the ambulance doctors did not have time to save the champion.

They let him into the house, asked what he needed, and he, quietly and calmly saying “my darling, my darling,” stabbed his wife in the heart.

Thousands of people from all over Moscow came to bury Artamonova. Some wreaths especially resembled laurel wreaths - those that Inga received four times. And the next day after the funeral, it seems that someone noticed a richly dressed foreigner crying inconsolably. It was rumored that he introduced himself as a certain Bengt.