Vasily Alekseev

I was traveling to a very small town on the northern edge of the Caucasus Mountains.  Through truly a "God Thing", I had found the two children I had been searching for to complete my family.  A town so small, I had to pay for a telephone line to be run to the village so that I could speak (through an interpreter) with the director of the regional orphanage!  What I was looking for would not have been found in person nor through words - but discernment only.  I had to know, if what I thought I knew, was true.

 Having confirmed this, I next needed to do some research on the area and figure out what to expect once I got there.  With my incredible luck, this was the scene of the largest tank battle in WWII and had been lovingly under German domination during the war (NOT!).  So, Germans were going to be hated even worse there than they had been in Siberia the year before.  Sigh.....

One interesting fact about this small backwater: Vasily Alekseev had retired here.  Vasily was the giant of the heavyweight lifting of the Olympics. 

It was 1972, in Munich, the summer Olympic Games.  "Carlos", the unconfirmed mastermind behind the  execution squad attack on the Israeli team (and confirmed scum sucking swine), had damaged the Olympic image.  The world was in shock.

But, then there was Vasily Alekseev.  He was destined to win two Olympic Gold Medals, become eight time world champion, set 80 world records and lifted a massive 645 kg (1,419 pounds!).  This man lifted more weight than anyone has ever come close to.  One of my favorite pictures of him was his lifting the engine end of a VW Beetle over his head, the front wheels still on the ground!  It took six of us teenagers to duplicate that lift!  Well, we were not exactly thinking that one through (hint: a few problems putting it back down.....  The history teacher was NOT happy that afternoon.).

When I was to visit his small town, I really wanted to meet the man but he was having severe breathing and heart problems the month I was there.  Though I was not able to meet with him, I was to meet a very friendly lady whom did know him personally and went to him to ask for his signature for me.  He sent me a flyer on him, which he signed.  She also told me that he was touched to hear that someone would come so far to help two of the orphans of his village.

Since his fame as an athlete, he went on to become a business man and a power broker in the region.  Last I had heard, he was training his grandson to become an Olympic heavyweight lifter - as he had been.  He was plagued by bad lungs, bad heart, weight problems and all of his joints were worn out.  He paid heavily for those Olympic years.

In spite of some of the stories I heard about him when I was there, he left a piece of his town's history for me to share with my daughters from there.  He did not have to, I would have understood, the girls had probably never heard of him anyways.  But, he chose to do something for children he did not know.  I respect that in any man.  I hope he made his peace with his Creator, prior to his death in a Munich, Germany cardiology hospital.  He was 69.

One death I feel the world is poorer for.....