On September 16, 1976, in a city in the Soviet Union, a bus lost its balance and fell into the river. Then a man threw himself into the river without hesitation. He couldn’t see what was ahead of him because of the black smoke, and the water was cold, but he brought the passengers out of the river with all his might. He was a famous finswimmer named Shavarsh Karapetyan, who broke the world record eleven times and won European Champion thirteen times and World Champion seventeen times.
By diving into the river more than thirty times, he rescued about thirty people and then he collapsed. He got pneumonia and septicemia from that day. When he woke up forty-six days later, his body broke down so much that he couldn’t participate in swim races anymore. It must’ve been shocking news for him who had been having the best time of his life. However, there was something else that tormented him very much. On the day of the accident, while rescuing people, he had mistaken a seat cushion as a person. Thinking that he could’ve saved one more person if he had not made that mistake, he suffered nightmares and depression.
Now he owns a shoe repair shop and a store for the disabled. In people’s memory, he is reckoned as a hero who saved many people rather than as a competent swimmer.