Grigoriev Oleg Georgievich. Oleg Grigoriev: My path was beautiful Oleg Grigoriev boxer
- Olympic champion 1960; participant of the 1964 Olympics;
- three-time European champion 1957, 1963, 1965; silver medalist of the European Championship 1959;
- six-time champion of the USSR 1958, 1962-1965, 1967;
- Honored Master of Sports (1960).
During his sports career, he fought 253 fights at various levels, achieving victory in 235 of them.
Oleg Georgievich Grigoriev became the fourth Soviet Olympic boxing champion and the only one from the entire boxing team of the Soviet Union who climbed to the highest step of the podium at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. In addition to this highest achievement for every amateur boxer, Oleg Grigoriev, during his 15-year career in boxing, won the European champion title three more times and achieved the title of USSR champion six times. Oleg Grigoriev achieved these numerous regalia primarily thanks to his selfless work in the training room and his maximalist character. Some of his opponents in the ring had no less natural abilities and talent, but none of them put in as much effort or worked as selflessly in training as Grigoriev did. Thanks to enormous diligence and work, Oleg Grigoriev honed his technique and skill to perfection, which allowed him to act beautifully, elegantly and naturally in the ring.
Oleg Grigoriev was born on December 25, 1937 in Moscow. Little Oleg had the opportunity to experience all the “delights” of the military and post-war life of the capital. As Oleg Georgievich recalls, he was attracted to boxing by his older brother Vladimir, who practiced this sport in the hall of the Dynamo sports society. At first, Oleg simply often went to see how his older brother trained and competed. And after a while he himself wanted to test his strength in the ring. In addition to the brotherly example, Oleg was also prompted to start practicing the art of pugilism by films about boxing, which were often shown in post-war capital cinemas, such as “The First Glove”, “Boxers”, “The Eighth Round” and others. In 1951, when Oleg was 13 years old, he enrolled in the boxing section of the Moscow Sports Palace “Wings of the Soviets”.
Oleg Grigoriev’s first coach was the famous Moscow children’s coach Mikhail Solomonovich Itkin. The diligence, diligence and perseverance that Oleg distinguished during training allowed him to join the national team just four years later. Grigoriev’s successes in the youth ring were measured by several victories in tournaments of both intra-city and all-Union scale. Oleg Grigoriev’s debut as part of the country’s national team took place during a friendly match between the USSR and Germany, which took place in the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. Oleg experienced strong pre-start excitement on this occasion, but still won his first international fight. In those years, the king of the bantamweight category (up to 54 kg) was the repeated champion of the USSR, two-time medalist of the European Championships, participant of the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Boris Stepanov, who, like Grigoriev, represented the Moscow “Wings of the Soviets”. And Oleg Grigoriev, in order to become number one in the bantamweight category in the Soviet Union, had to prove his superiority over such a formidable opponent. Grigoriev, who was then 19 years old, lost their first meeting and became the silver medalist of the 1957 USSR Championship.
But in the application for the European Championship of the same year, which took place in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the leadership of the national team decided to include the young and promising Oleg Grigoriev, and not Stepanov, who did not live up to the hopes placed on him and was left without medals at the 1956 Olympic Games. As it turned out, the national team coaches were not mistaken with their choice - Oleg Grigoriev returned from Czechoslovakia with a gold medal. Having very confidently covered the entire tournament distance, in the final Oleg, by the unanimous opinion of all three judges, defeated the Italian Gianfranco Piovesani. And the next year, Grigoriev took revenge from Stepanov and became the USSR champion for the first time. The rivalry between these two boxers in those days attracted a lot of attention among boxing fans. It was not only a confrontation between youth and experience. Stepanov, who was seven years older than Grigoriev, was a tough, powerful, athletic and aggressive fighter. Boris, both in his appearance and in his actions in the ring, resembled a gloomy, fearless gladiator.
At the same time, Grigoriev already belonged to a new generation of Soviet boxers, which was characterized not by assertiveness and an irrepressible desire to fight, but by technical and tactically competent actions, high mobility, good, easy work on the feet and high manual speed. And such a confrontation between two antagonists in the ring, who at the same time were very high-class boxers, aroused great interest among the fans. The next year, 1959, was not very successful for Oleg Grigoriev. At the USSR Championship, he could not even become a prize-winner (just like Stepanov), and at the European Championship in Lucerne, Switzerland, our hero was content with only second place. Having defeated strong boxers from Austria, Italy and Yugoslavia in the preliminary stages, in the final fight Grigoriev lost, according to the notes of all five side judges, to the representative of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Rascher. However, Oleg Georgievich himself, to this day, believes that he was no worse than the German in that battle and representatives of Themis then simply tried his opponent.
Grigoriev had to meet with the West German boxer later in match meetings between the national teams.
The 1960 Olympic year was not very successful at first for Grigoriev. In the final of the USSR Championship, Oleg again lost to his old rival Boris Stepanov. But, despite this, the national team coaches again decided to bet on a younger and more promising fighter. And the right to compete at the Olympics in Rome was entrusted not to 30-year-old Stepanov, but to 22-year-old Grigoriev. Just like three years ago, Oleg, with his brilliant performance at the Olympic tournament, fully justified the choice of the team leaders. Oleg Grigoriev's Olympic gold medal was the only one for Soviet boxers at the 1960 Games.
In the first match, Oleg easily beat the main hope of the Brazilian team at that tournament, Valdemiro Claudiano - 5:0. Then, in a difficult battle, with a disagreement in the judges' scores - with a score of 3:2 - a victory was won over the strong Englishman Francis Taylor. Grigoriev went through the quarterfinal stage without a fight, since his opponent from Burma (modern Myanmar) Thein Myint did not enter the ring.
In the semi-finals, Pole Brunon Bendig was beaten with a score of 4:1. And in the final, Grigoriev had to meet with local boxer Primo Zamparini. Oleg was especially tuned in to this fight, because he understood that not only his native walls and the public, but probably also the judges would be on the Italian’s side. Coolly and methodically resisting the desperate attacks of Zamparini, who was frantically urged on by the roaring crowd of local tiffosi, Grigoriev won in a tense duel. Three of the five side judges had the conscience not to give the victory to the local idol. Thus, with a disagreement in the judges' notes - with a score of 3:2 - a well-deserved victory, and with it the Olympic gold medal, were given to Oleg Grigoriev. But one more event should be noted in that match, which characterizes the truly gentlemanly essence of the Soviet boxer. In the third round, realizing that he was losing, Zamparini, in one of his frantic attacks, failed after Grigoriev’s masterfully elegant departure, and flew between the ropes from the ring. Grigoriev, who instantly reacted to this, immediately rushed after his opponent, grabbed the Italian by the legs and pulled him back, preventing him from falling from a half-meter height onto the hard surface of the foot of the ring.
The Italian public, who appreciated the nobility of Oleg Grigoriev, immediately began to applaud and after that treated the Soviet boxer with almost the same sympathy as their fighter. Against the backdrop of an unsuccessful team, the only Roman gold medalist was greeted at home with special honors. In the same 1960, Grigoriev was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and he was also given a substantial cash prize for those times. The year 1961 was, as they say, a relief year for Oleg Grigoriev. He did not win any regalia that year.
But among his main rivals there were changes: instead of Boris Stepanov, who had finished active performances, the young and ambitious Sergei Sivko appeared on the horizon, who at the age of 20 at the same 1960 Olympics in Rome managed to win silver in the flyweight category (up to 51 kg) , and after that he decided to move to the bantamweight division, in which he became the champion of the USSR in 1961, and then the champion of Europe in the same year. And Oleg Grigoriev again had to prove his right to a place in the sun. Returning to the big ring after a year's break, Oleg managed to defeat Sivko in the final and won the title of USSR champion for the second time.
In 1963, having become the champion of the USSR for the third time, Oleg Grigoriev was included in the national team to participate in the European Championship, which was to be held in Moscow. That European championship ended with the triumph of the Soviet Union team - in six of the ten weight categories, Soviet boxers won gold medals. Oleg Grigoriev was among them.
The second European champion title went to Oleg after he knocked out Yugoslav boxer Branislav Petric in the third round.
But even after this latest triumph, Oleg Grigoriev, distinguished by his great determination and self-discipline, did not rest on his laurels.
The following year, 1964, he again, for the fourth time, became the champion of the Soviet Union, again defeating his main competitor at that time, Sergei Sivko, in the final. And as the best in his weight, 26-year-old Grigoriev was included in the national team that was supposed to go to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Unfortunately, in Japan Oleg Grigoriev was not destined to acquire the status of a two-time Olympic champion.
Being a clear favorite, in the first fight Grigoriev knocked out the strong Hungarian boxer Guyula Torok in the second round. Then the Italian Franco Zurlo was defeated on points by one wicket (5:0). But in the quarterfinal match, according to three of the five side judges, Oleg Grigoriev turned out to be weaker than the Mexican Juan Fabila Mendoza. The controversial nature of that judge's verdict was obvious to almost everyone. Grigoriev, in his technical, elegant, but at the same time calculating manner, seemed to have done enough to win, but Themis representatives decided otherwise. Perhaps one of the reasons for such a judge's verdict was that at those Games the Soviet Union team performed very impressively, without losses in the preliminary stages, and Oleg Grigoriev simply became a bargaining chip in a behind-the-scenes political game. At the end of the Tokyo Olympics, it was Grigoriev who turned out to be the only Soviet boxer who returned to his homeland without a medal of any merit.
But even after such trouble, Oleg Grigoriev did not give up and in the next year, 1965, he again won gold medals - for the fifth time at the USSR Championship and for the third time at the European Championship.
But that was not all. In 1967, Grigoriev took part in his fifth European Championship, but, unfortunately, lost in his first fight at that tournament. And the swan song of the great boxer Oleg Grigoriev was winning the 1967 USSR Championship. Immediately after he was declared the winner, Oleg picked up the microphone and, right in the ring, announced to the audience gathered in the hall that he was ending his boxing career. Thus, having become the champion of the Soviet Union for the sixth time, Grigoriev hung up his gloves. His record includes 196 official fights, 176 of which he won.
The year his boxing career ended, Oleg Georgievich graduated from the Ivanovo Pedagogical Institute and after that devoted himself to coaching for many years. First, he trained boxers from a group of Soviet troops stationed in the GDR, then for three years he worked with boxers from the African state of Chad, then he returned to Moscow and was a mentor in his native “Wings of the Soviets”, and after that he again flew to Africa - this time to Cameroon. Of all the many students of Grigoriev, it was his Cameroonian pupil Martin Ndongo Ibanga who achieved the greatest success: performing in the light weight category (up to 60 kg) at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, he won a bronze medal.
Upon returning from Africa, Oleg Georgievich worked as a state coach in the Russian Sports Committee, supervising the youth team. In the late 1980s, together with a reliable partner, Oleg Grigoriev organized a company for the production of sports equipment, which still exists and flourishes. Oleg Georgievich has a strong large family: his wife, two sons, a daughter, several grandchildren. The eldest son, Vladimir Grigoriev, who at one time fulfilled the standard of a master of sports, now works as a coach at Krylya Sovetov. One of his students is the former European champion among professional boxers Boris Sinitsyn. For some time he was a mentor to the famous Ukrainian heavyweight, also former European champion Vladimir Virchis. Oleg Georgievich is the honorary president of the YKA club and tries to attend all amateur and professional boxing tournaments that take place in Moscow.
Honored Master of Sports in Boxing Oleg Grigoriev lived a very difficult, but long and happy life in the ring. Having brilliantly carried out his last, 257th fight during the IV Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, he said goodbye to the ring to return to it as a coach. The first fight is the last fight. There are 17 years between them.
1950 A thin 13-year-old boy came to the boxing section of the Moscow Sports Palace “Wings of the Soviets” to coach M. S. Itkin. And a year later, “Uncle Misha,” as the young boxers lovingly called the coach, took his newcomer to his first fight. The first fight is the first victory. And then twenty more times in a row the referee raised Oleg’s hand as the winner. We started talking about a new sports star.
But Mikhail Itkin, an experienced teacher, knew well the symptoms of “star fever” and its prevention. Maybe that's why she passed all his pets. “Don’t rejoice at every victory, don’t be sad about every defeat,” the coach constantly told the guys and analyzed their fights to the smallest detail. Sometimes it happened that he would put a two for a win, and a five for a loss.
This was the case with Oleg Grigoriev. He lost his twenty-first fight on points to teammate Pisklov, but Uncle Misha, meeting him in the locker room, hugged him and said: “Well done! You were a real man today.” Oleg was then seventeen years old. And at eighteen he became a master of sports of the USSR.
Grigoriev’s boxing talent was noticed not only by coaches, but also by journalists. And here is the first interview. The team was preparing for the championship of the Soviet Union. For Oleg, this was the first championship, and he put all his effort into every training session. He came to the hall first and left after everyone else. During one of the classes a journalist appeared. During a break the coach introduced him to Oleg Grigoriev. Oleg spoke with enthusiasm and enthusiasm about his training, plans for the future, his dream of becoming a champion, and the fact that boxing is the main goal of his life. He spoke little and reluctantly about his studies at the Electrical Engineering College, as a matter of secondary importance. And the experienced correspondent saw a flaw in the formation of the young man’s worldview, a threat that Oleg himself did not notice, but which could cripple him morally. After consulting with the coach, the journalist published an article in which, noting Grigoriev’s athletic talent, he criticized his views on studies.
Of course, giving the first interview in his life, the 17-year-old boy spoke only about his hobby, which completely captured his boyish imagination. Oleg will understand that boxing is his calling for life much later, having already become a mature master. To his credit, it should be said that, having read this article then, he was able to take a critical look at himself from the outside and understand that in many ways the journalist was right. And then, when sporting fate brings him into the same fighting company with Gennady Shatkov, Valery Popenchenko, Alexey Kiselev, whom great sport did not prevent from becoming candidates of science, being outstanding connoisseurs of literature and art, it will become clear to him that sport, no matter what its place occupied in your life, only one of the components in the harmonious development of Soviet man.
257 fights, 239 victories, 49 international meetings, in which 45 times the referee raised the hand of the Soviet boxer. Oleg’s fight list includes victories over the strongest lightweights in the world: Hungarian D. Torok and Italian F. Dzurla. In Berlin, he defeated the Irishman D. Henry and the Pole J. Golonzka, and in Moscow he knocked out the best Yugoslav “tempo” player B. Petrich.
High technique, correctness and beauty - these are the components of Grigoriev’s boxing style. And also - deep respect for the enemy, be it a first-class fighter or a famous master.
You can remember one fight of Oleg. It happened in Lvov in 1965. In one of the fights, the lot brought together Grigoriev, who by that time already had all the honorary titles, with a first-class player from Arkhangelsk. From his own experience, Oleg knew that the sports category does not mean anything. Often a victory over a first-class player is more difficult than over a master. And how many examples are there in sports when, at major competitions, unknowns left famous ones behind the prize line!
Oleg treated his opponent with respect and fought the battle as an equal. By the middle of the second round the picture became clear. Despite his good technique and physical preparation, the northerner was hopelessly losing, and it was possible to give the victory to Grigoriev without starting the third round. The Arkhangelsk boxer himself understood this. And then the referee read a request in his gaze - to give him the opportunity to bring the fight to the end. For him, this meeting with Oleg was a wonderful lesson, and he, as a diligent student, wanted to learn a lot from the talented master. Oleg understood this too. He structured the fight in such a way as to show the young athlete everything that can be shown in nine minutes of the fight.
Watching this fight, Honored Trainer of the USSR, Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Grigorievich Stepanov, said: “I think Oleg would make a wonderful coach. Boxing is his calling.”
Soon, senior sergeant of long-term service Grigoriev became a student at the correspondence department of the Pedagogical Institute.
But then came the day that sooner or later comes to every athlete - the day of the last competition. The ring of the IV Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Soviet power, brought together 176 of the country's strongest boxers who passed the zonal tournaments without defeat. The law of boxing matches is inexorable: the loser is eliminated from further competition. To become a champion for the sixth time, Oleg needed to fight and win four fights. And Oleg won them.
The sports activities of this wonderful boxer received the highest appreciation from the Motherland: he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the medal of the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR "For outstanding sporting achievements."
It just so happened that the current interview with Olympic champion, three-time European champion Oleg Grigoriev took place on his 64th birthday. Where do you think a person at such a respectable age can invite a correspondent for a conversation, and even on his birthday? The practice of such meetings showed that there are many options
from my own apartment or the office of a hospitable boxing federation to a cozy cafe, but I never expected what Oleg Georgievich offered me: a 64-year-old boxing veteran made an appointment at the office... of his company near the Petrovsko-Razumovskaya metro station.
We even had to wait a little for him: urgent production matters detained the birthday boy in the warehouse. Well, commerce does not accept interruptions even on birthdays...
Oleg Georgievich, it’s no secret that many of your peers, former rivals in the ring and teammates today, to put it mildly, are in poverty: meager pensions, unsettled life... You are a unique person in this regard financially independent, having, in your words, All. Are you cut from a different cloth?
I don't think so. I just thought about the future in a timely manner. After finishing his sports career, he worked as a coach for a long time: first in the GDR in a group of Soviet troops, then for three years in Africa, in the Republic of Chad. Then he coached at the Krylya Sovetov Sports Palace, again went to Africa for four years, to Cameroon, upon his return he worked as a state coach at the Russian Sports Committee, supervising the youth team.
At first it was interesting, but by the age of 50 I began to think: what next? Then the idea came to organize a company producing sports equipment. A worthy partner appeared, and we rushed into battle while my name still had some weight.
On a birthday, it is customary to wish happiness and health for the present and future. Tell me, can we call our past life happy?
Yes, I think that my sports path was very interesting and, dare I say it, beautiful. Boxing helped me find my path in life, which over the 15 years of my boxing career took me to different parts of the world. I visited almost thirty countries and traveled half of the Union.
If today there was an opportunity to change something in that life, what adjustments would you make to it?
I would start holding world boxing championships in the 50s. Perhaps today he would have all the titles...
Where and when did you start boxing?
In Moscow, where he was born and raised. I was attracted to boxing by my older brother Vladimir, who trained at the Dynamo gym. I often attended his training sessions, attended competitions and gradually became interested in it myself. In addition, I was very impressed by films about boxing, of which there were many at that time: “The First Glove”, “The Eighth Round” and others. In the end, I also began training in the Wings of the Soviets gym with the wonderful teacher Mikhail Solomonovich Itkin. This was in 1951, and in 1955 I already joined the national team, having previously won several Moscow and all-Union tournaments in the 54 kg category.
He played for the national team for the first time in a friendly match with the German team, which took place in the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. I boxed in the second team, I was terribly worried, but still won. After this fight, I found the right remedy for pre-race jitters, which helped me a lot at the 1957 European Championships in Prague. If I suddenly felt my veins shaking, I told myself that my opponent was even more afraid, since the strength of the Soviet school of boxing was well known. This formula also worked before the final match, in which I defeated the bronze medalist of the European Championship-55 Finn Limonen.
Alas, in the final of the next European Championship in Lucerne, Switzerland, you were the loser. Didn’t the thought then cross your mind that this failure could create problems when getting into the Olympic team?
Firstly, I still believe that I didn’t lose that fight, although my opponent, the left-hander from Germany, Rascher actually looked decent.
Secondly, there was still a year before the Olympics in Rome, there were many qualifying competitions ahead of us, so I in no way connected the loss in the final of the Lucerne European Championship with Olympic prospects. In order to get into the Olympic training, it was necessary to win the 1960 USSR Championship, which I did, ahead of such serious competitors as two-time finalist of the European Championships, multiple national champion Boris Stepanov, Teodor Tomashevich from Lithuania and Vladimir Botvinnik from Belarus.
Having won five fights at the Olympic tournament in Rome, you brought our team the only gold medal in this sport. How did they evaluate this victory in Moscow?
I was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and a cash prize.
Was it enough for the Pobeda car, which was popular at that time?
No. Yes, I had no intention of buying a car. We lived poorly then, so the money, as they say, was found another use - I helped my mother, gave some to my brother...
As far as I know, you were already married by that time; in March 1960, your son was born. Because of this, have your living conditions not been improved?
Immediately after the Games, no. But in 1961, I began to work hard on this matter and received a one-room apartment on Kirovskaya, since it was no longer possible to live in an 18-meter communal room with my family, mother, grandmother and brother.
After the Olympics in Rome, you “rehabilitated yourself” for your defeat at the 59 European Championships, becoming a two-time European champion. By knocking out, by the way, a very strong Yugoslav boxer in the final. This happened in 1963 in Moscow, and in ’64 we went to our second Olympics in Tokyo...
Which turned out to be unsuccessful for me. After two very difficult, victorious fights at the start with the Olympic champion Hungarian Török and the Italian Dzurla, I unexpectedly lost to the Mexican in the quarterfinals, to everyone and especially to myself. I won’t say that he was a very strong boxer, but the fight, as they say, didn’t work out for me. Maybe it was an unsuccessful draw, because I had to box with a Mexican the day after the fight with Dzurla, but, be that as it may, I returned from Tokyo without a medal.
Then there were a lot of reproaches against me from the leaders of our boxing, they said that Grigoriev was taken to the Olympics in vain, there were, they say, more worthy candidates. In general, my relationship with the boxing authorities began to deteriorate, and although in 1965 I once again won the European Championship in Berlin, I firmly decided that I would not prepare for the third Olympic Games. But I wanted to leave undefeated, loudly slamming the door. And for this I chose the 1967 national championship, which was held in Moscow. When the ring judge officiating the final fight raised my hand, I took the microphone and announced that I would no longer box.
Didn’t those who reproached you after the Tokyo Olympics persuade you to stay?
There were attempts, but I had already made my decision.
For seven years of coaching in Africa, have you received any local state awards?
No, but in 1984 my student, as part of the Cameroon national team, became a bronze medalist at the Los Angeles Olympics.
What is your life occupied with today, besides commerce?
Mainly family. I have two sons, one daughter, a granddaughter and three grandchildren. The eldest son works as a coach at Krylyshki. Among his students is a two-time European champion among professionals. The eldest grandson is also involved in boxing and is already participating in Moscow youth tournaments.
How is your relationship with boxing today?
In addition to the fact that I am the honorary president of the YKA club, I try not to miss a single significant tournament in Moscow, regardless of whether it is amateur or professional. I am still friends with Stanislav Stepashkin, Dan Poznyak, Boris Nikonorov, Boris Lagutin, Viktor Ageev... In general, I live!
OUR HELP
Grigoriev Oleg Georgievich
Born December 25, 1937. One of the strongest bantamweight boxers of the late 50s and early 60s. Honored Master of Sports. “Wings of the Soviets” and “Labor Reserves” (Moscow) in 1954-1961. CSKA in 1962-1967 Olympic champion 1960. European champion 1957, 1963, 1965. Silver medalist of the European Championship 1959. Champion of the USSR 1958,1962 -1965, 1967. Awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
BAYKA-BYL FROM OLEG GRIGORIEV
In the final fight of the 1960 Olympics in Rome, I was opposed by the Italian Primo Zamparinni. He is shorter than me, a strong, well-built boxer. It’s not hard to imagine what was going on in the stands during our match, since it’s well known how the Italian “tiffosi” know how to root for their own.
And in the third round, Primo, urged on by the audience and feeling that he was giving in a little, rushed headlong at me. I took a step to the side, and he fell through and flew between the ropes outside the ring, which, by the way, stood on a one and a half meter pedestal. The fall would have been very spectacular and traumatic, but I managed to react - I caught the Italian by the legs and pulled him back into the ring. This episode, I think, did not go unnoticed by the judges and had a great influence on the audience - they immediately began to root for me. In the end, I won the fight with a score of 3:2 and became an Olympic champion. So, one might say, in Rome I caught my luck by the bootstraps...
According to the stories of David Todria, who lived and boxed in the USA for many years (in the final of the most prestigious Golden Gloves tournament, he lost on points to the future World Champion Tarver in 1990), boxers begin to be trained there after a serious selection. And the selection is sparring. Only boys who have passed a tough and rather lengthy selection process begin to become acquainted with the intricacies of boxing, a sport that ranks first in both complexity and popularity in America. If Oleg Grigoriev had come to such a school, it is unlikely that he would have been accepted at all. And in the glorious Moscow “Dynamo”, where his older brother trained, they gave him a “turnaround” - they don’t need weaklings! The thirteen-year-old boy was small, timid, and not strong. If the coach (I don’t mention his name) knew that he did not accept the future Champion, and not just a champion, but one of the most titled amateur boxers of all time, six-time USSR champion, (two more times - silver medalist), three-time European champion, Olympic Champion , the only gold-winning member of the USSR team in 1960 in Tokyo. Or maybe it’s good that he didn’t accept, maybe he wouldn’t have become a Grand Champion with another mentor. So, Oleg went to Krylya Sovetov, located nearby, where Uncle Misha was recruiting a group. That’s what everyone called Mikhail Solomonovich Itkin. Uncle Misha put the frail Oleg in line and began, like everyone else, to teach BOXING SCHOOL. Not all boys like to repeat the same seemingly simple movements hundreds of times. Many people are simply not capable of this. Everyone wants to quickly feel the “adrenaline of the fight.” SCHOOL is a set of the most optimal movements that allow you to act most rationally in all combat situations. Of course, you can’t make a champion with just one school. But without school, the path to the pedestal is impossible. And in Oleg Grigoriev, Uncle Misha found an attentive, hardworking, capable student, who throughout his seventeen-year “life in the ring” demonstrated the excellent Soviet School of Boxing.
Success at all-Union competitions did not come immediately. Having started boxing in 1950, at the 1953 USSR championship among youths, Oleg lost his second fight, but a year later, he won the USSR junior championship and became a Master of Sports. Competing at the USSR Championship in 51 kg, eighteen-year-old Grigoriev loses in the first fight to 5-time USSR champion A. Stolnikov.
Oleg Grigoriev and his coach Gustav Kirshtein
By this time, Oleg moved to the best team in the country of those years - and his further improvement was controlled by the USSR Training Center Gustav Aleksandrovich Kirshtein, head coach of the Trudovye Reservy Central Training Center. The best boxers of the Union were gathered in the center of the Central Council - the Moscow Industrial College. In the same ranks stood the repeated champions of the USSR Anatoly Perov, Yuri Egorov, Evgeniy Feofanov and the then rising stars, Boris Nikanorov, Stanislav Stepashkin, Oleg Grigoriev... We call the greats, but there were dozens of wonderful boxers nearby who did not achieve such great success. Without them, sparring - partners, rivals, comrades-in-arms, friends, there would, perhaps, be no Great Champions...
The 1956 USSR Championship was held in a round-robin format, with eliminations after two defeats. Alas, having lost the first and third matches, Oleg was eliminated and eventually took 6th place. But championships are only milestones on the path of improvement. Uncle Misha's lessons and Gustav Alexandrovich's lessons coincided in many ways. Both of them, in turn, went through the “school of the Wings of the Soviets.” Many hours of practicing technical actions, working on speed, endurance, strength, numerous conditional and free fights filled all my free time from studying. Oleg Grigoriev, according to Kirshtein, was an athlete “to the core”! He did not allow himself the slightest violation of his training, nutrition, and sleep regimen. Every day his morning began with an eight-kilometer cross-country run, and the evening ended with a six-kilometer walk. At 22.30 he went to bed.
In 1957, Grigoriev won his first USSR championship. There was a very difficult fight with Sergei Sivko, an Olympic medalist, a boxer of enormous strength and endurance. Grigoriev won with “School”. Many of his victories were achieved in a big fight, and he always felt his superiority in technique, in his ability to beat his opponent, although he had an excellent knockout blow. After graduating from the Industrial College, Grigoriev was drafted into the army, to CSKA. For ten years he has been number one in the USSR team, in the bantamweight division. And all these years, except for the USSR championships, of which he had 10, five European championships, held every two years, three Olympics (at the first, in 1956, he was a reserve, he won the second, at the third, in 1964, after the third Oleg’s fight in the corner of the ring was congratulated on his victory by the coaches... but not by the judges - 2 - 3), there were air defense championships, the Armed Forces and many other competitions. The boxers serving at CSKA were certainly overloaded with fights. Grigoriev had 297 of them, of which he won 283! And at the age of 30, Oleg, physically and psychologically tired, left the team... A year later, I desperately wanted to return to the ring, but the boxing leaders said – that’s enough! What can I say, our land is rich in talents... After five years of working as a coach at the TsShVSM (now MGFSO), Grigoriev works in the Republic of Chad, then leads the Nigerian team for seven years. Raised an Olympic medalist...
A fit, modest, slender (I would like to say “young”) man, since Grigoriev is 74 years old, he often attends competitions of Moscow boxers and kick-boxers. When he is introduced, he stands up and bows. He willingly answers questions, rewards winners, and takes pictures with teenagers. And we, those who remember his fights, bow to the Classic, for Oleg Grigoriev is the embodiment of an ideal boxer and a worthy person.
