Three feats of Shavarsh Karapetyan: how the Soviet hero swimmer saved dozens of lives

Shavarsh Karapetyan entered the history of Soviet sports not only as a unique underwater swimmer who collected a whole collection of European gold medals and set 11 world records.

He is remembered as a man who was destined to accomplish incredible feats. Probably, it was written on his fate to become the one who saves lives. Many ordinary people still thank Shavarsh Karapetyan. Thanks to his courage and incredible willpower they managed to survive in a situation when there seemed to be no hope for salvation.

From childhood he was afraid of water

In Shavarsh Karapetyan’s family his mother was in charge of everything. She was smart, strict, demanding and taught her three sons to be responsible for every deed. And she always set an example for the eldest – Shavarsh.

His father, a former sportsman, was eager to make his son the second Hrant Shahinian – a legendary gymnast, a two-time Olympic champion. However, nothing came out of this idea.

Shavarsh (left) and Anatoly (right) Karapetyan practicing with athletes in Yerevan, 1983

In the Yerevan section Shavarsh was rejected for his tall stature. As it turns out, in this sport it prevents him from performing difficult elements. Shavarsh was not too desperate about it and on the advice of his parents went to the scuba diving section.

According to his confession, the first time he entered the pool his heart started to twitch. Shavarsh was afraid of water, not realizing that this element would become his native and close one in the future. And the most starry and tragic moments would be connected with it.

Success and recognition

From birth Shavarsh was very persistent and able to achieve his goal. Several years passed and Karapetyan achieved phenomenal results in diving.

Karapetyan’s first victories at the USSR Championship and the European Diving Championship immediately showed that the national team had a swimmer who had no equal.

Behind Shavarsh’s stellar successes was hard work. For example, in 10 days he ran 300 kilometers with a 25 kg backpack on his back. All of Karapetyan’s trainings resembled an exhaustion competition, when the human organism was at its limit.

He did not know fatigue and practiced until late at night. Even experienced specialists marveled at his fantastic endurance. And no wonder that the talent of a young swimmer multiplied by his amazing efficiency brought Shavarsh to world fame.

One day Shavarsh’s 800-meter swim with scuba diving almost ended in tragedy. When there was only a little bit left to the finish line, he suddenly felt the lack of compressed air, which suddenly ran out in the cylinder.

But Karapetyan did not panic, but gathered all his will in a fist and swam on breath-holding. Later Shavarsh admitted: “I was unconscious at the finish line. I didn’t even realize that I had won.

First feat: saving people in the mountains

On January 8, 1974, Shavarsh Karapetyan got on a bus heading to Yerevan. After hard trainings at Tsakhkadzor sports base he was in a hurry to go home and have a rest with his relatives and friends.

There were more than 30 passengers on the bus, it was following a familiar, tried and tested route. Nothing foreshadowed trouble, until the driver suddenly slowed down on a steep hill.

The engine malfunctioned, and the driver got out of the cab to check what was wrong with the bus. It was a terrible mistake dictated by human negligence.

The man did not put the bus on the handbrake. The vehicle suddenly began to roll downhill, gradually picking up speed. The driver, his face white with fear, ran after it, trying to jump into the cab to correct his mistake.

Shavarsh Karapetyan after a special screening of the documentary “The Swimmer”, 2013

However, it was already too late. Shavarsh instantly assessed the situation. He broke the glass of the cabin with his elbow. He was badly injured, but managed to reach the steering wheel and turn towards the mountain. The bus, hitting the foot of the mountain, came to a halt.

If not for Karapetyan’s reaction and his timely actions, the transportation would have fallen into a deep gorge. After rescuing the passengers, Shavarsh answered all the questions as to how he managed to cope with the critical situation with a short answer: “I was just the closest”.

At the age of 20 Karapetyan already had an impressive set of awards – seven-time USSR world champion, 17-time European champion, holder of 10 world records, 13 world championship victories. He was nicknamed the Golden Fish, as he took first place at every competition.

Shavarsh was at the peak of his career, new victories were ahead of him. But a tragic accident changed everything.

The second feat: he pulled 20 people out of a sunken trolleybus.

September 16, 1976. The streets of Yerevan were burning with heat, even in the early morning hour the thermometer showed +40℃. Shavarsh together with his coach and brother Kamo was on a morning jog when suddenly he witnessed a terrible picture.

Before his eyes, a trolleybus full of people rolled at full speed into the Yerevan reservoir! In a few seconds it almost disappeared from sight.

“The trolleybus fell to the bottom with its nose at an angle of 20 degrees. Only the ends of the iron “horns” were sticking out on the surface. An air cushion was formed in the tail of the cabin, thanks to which people could breathe for a while,” he told about this tragedy many years later with undisguised bitterness in his voice.

Shavarsh clearly realized that the minutes were counting. He shouted to the coach and his brother to stay on the shore. And he threw himself into the water. With his first dive he managed to reach the trolleybus.

Shavarsh Karapetyan at the Yerevan Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, 1983

The muddy silt disturbed by the impact so muddied the water that nothing could be seen. Still, Karapetyan found a way to break the window with his feet and, despite deep bloody wounds, to pull people out of the cabin.

This hellish work at a depth of eight meters exhausted the swimmer, took away his last strength. But he kept diving, persistently rescuing passengers from the iron trap. Each time he cut himself on the sharp shards of the broken window.

And on the shore, the coach and his brother, without stopping, pumped people out, trying to bring them back to life. Soon they were joined by rescuers and doctors. Aqualungs were brought to the place of the tragedy, but for some reason there was no compressed air in their cylinders.

So Shavarsh had to rely only on his lungs, his own will and endurance. Losing consciousness, he pulled the passengers out of the cabin and with difficulty pushed himself off the viscous bottom to surface with them.

For 20 minutes Shavarsh was diving for people and pulling them up. The rescuers couldn’t stop him – there were no survivors left, the swimmer was bringing dead bodies to the surface. Then Kamo dived after him and lifted his brother from the bottom. The hero was unconscious and almost drowned himself.

Shavarsh Karapetyan in Yerevan, 1983

After the tragedy, many veteran rescuers recognized that Shavarsh had done the impossible. His fantastic endurance and strength allowed him to pull out 20 people out of 46. There may be more rescued, by the way. Some people, after getting out of the water, did not wait for medical help and went home.

“There are no fearless people. If you’re a professional, you do what you have to do and the fear recedes. I was a world-class submariner, I was ready for anything. In fact, I should have gone to the championship in Hannover at that time. But now I realize that probably someone up there decided that I should have stayed here,” the athlete admitted in the documentary “Swimmer”.

To this day, Shavarsh Karapetyan still kills himself for not having time to help at least one more passenger stuck in the drowned trolleybus.

“One time I pulled a trolleybus seat cushion out from under the water. Didn’t feel like it wasn’t a person. Then I dreamed about that pillow…”

His father was watching his son from the shore the whole time. The man was so worried about his loved one that the next day he woke up completely gray.

Kamo Karapetyan (left), Shavarsh Karapetyan (center), Anatoly Karapetyan (right) in Yerevan, 1983

What did it all cost him?

A heroic act almost cost Karapetyan his life. Pneumonia, blood poisoning, numerous wounds and nervous exhaustion, 40 days of coma. His health was seriously compromised. Doctors had no doubt that the swimmer would remain an invalid.

At first Shavarsh did not think of returning to the sport – his coach persuaded him to do so. Panic attacks were added to the physical exhaustion. Shavarsh became afraid of water, experiencing suffocation when diving.

But after pulling himself together, Karapetyan won another European diving championship title and set the 11th world record. After that, at the age of 23, Shavarsh left the world of sports.

Surprisingly, the young swimmer’s feat was not written about anywhere at that time. The story of the sunken trolleybus was hushed up, only short notes were published in newspapers. And not a word about the man who saved two dozen people.

Fate, albeit with a delay of several years, returned his debt to him. People started talking about Shavarsh Karapetyan in 1982. The first interview with the swimmer on the subject of the tragedy was published then. Even the athlete’s wife learned about her husband’s feat from the newspapers for the first time.

People started writing to Shavarsh from all over the USSR. Thousands of people thanked the hero swimmer. The legendary Faina Ranevskaya sent a postcard to Karapetyan. He accepted honors and awards modestly. According to Karapetyan, the best gratitude is the saved human lives. By the way, small planet #3027 of the Solar System is named after him.

Shavarsh Karapetyan during the Olympic torch relay in Moscow, 2013

Another feat

In February 1985, Shavarsh again accomplished a feat. The Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan caught fire. Karapetyan was working nearby in the computer class he had created for children. The former athlete was one of the first to rush into the fire to save people.

“I am not a firefighter, I am a simple citizen who happened to be nearby in a tragic situation,” Karapetyan said.

Shavarsh received injuries and burns during the rescue and spent a month in a hospital bed. After that, it was even said about Karapetyan that he neither burns in fire nor drowns in water.

“Yes, I am a happy man. Very happy. The Lord God gave me many happy moments, despite the tragic ones,” the 70-year-old athlete says now.