Georgian water polo player Pyotr Mshveniyradze defended the colors of the Union team at international competitions at various levels. In his sports career, there were Olympic awards and medals of European championships. Fifteen years in the Union team is a whole era in the development of water polo.
Champion from Georgia
Peter Yakovlevich Mshveniyeradze was born in the capital of Soviet Georgia on March 24, 1929. Like all boys, Peter from childhood was fond of various sports. Football, basketball, athletics - all these sports did not pass by the Georgian teenager. However, in 1943, a fourteen-year-old guy was noticed by Luka Aleksandrovich Yakimili and invited Peter to the Dynamo society pool in the capital. The very next year, Peter Mshveniyradze becomes the champion of the Union championship in breaststroke swimming at a distance of 100 and 200 meters as part of the Georgian national youth team.
Invitation to Moscow
However, water polo became the main sport for the Georgian guy. In 1946, the Tbilisi Dynamo invites Peter to his ranks. The first result is the sixth place in the championship of the Union. The sports nugget was soon spotted by the son of the leader of all peoples Vasily Stalin and invited to the Air Force water polo team (Moscow), which was under his patronage. Vasily Stalin at that time was the Commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District. The stars of that time played in the Moscow water polo squad of the Air Force: Vladimir Semenov and Boris Goikhman. As part of the Moscow team, Peter Mshveniyeradze becomes the 10-time champion of the internal championships of the Soviet Union.
The trial of the Georgian water polo player
Despite the fact that as part of the Moscow team, the Georgian water polo player becomes the champion of the country, he understands that there are prospects for him in the artificially created team V.I. There is no Stalin.
P.Ya. Mshvenidiridze decides to return to his native Tbilisi Dynamo. However, the actions of a civilian player in the team of the almighty son of a father of all nations were considered illegal, and Peter Mshveniyeridze was put on trial. The court session, which lasted four hours, was attended by the entire team from Georgia and personally by Lieutenant General Vasily Stalin. Although the actions of the Georgian athlete were justified, however, Peter Yakovlevich played in the Moscow Air Force team until 1963.
Peter Mshvenieradze: Georgian water polo player
Debut performance P.Ya. Mshvenieradze as a member of the USSR national team was held in 1949 against the Czech Republic water polo team. After playing with the Hungarian national team in 1951, at that time the strongest water polo players in the world, Pyotr Mshveniyradze met the Hungarian coach Istvan Sivos, who became his teacher in sports.
I. Sivosh recommended the athlete to strengthen his legs to become a big water polo player. Following the recommendations of a Hungarian specialist, an athlete spends all his free time in the gym. Exercises with a weightlifting barbell and cores allowed the young athlete to develop unique physical abilities. Possessing a diverse arsenal of shots, P. Mshveniyradze was able to hit the opponent’s goal in any situation. This quality allowed the athlete to gain authority among his comrades, and soon Peter became the captain of the national team. Ahead of victory at the intra-union championships and participation in the Olympic Games in Melbourne (Australia).
Pool blood
The semifinal match between the USSR national teams and Hungary at the Olympics in Melbourne took place on December 6, 1956. The situation before the game was tense to the limit. Just a month before the game of water polo, a Hungarian uprising took place, which was crushed by Soviet troops. This event could not leave indifferent the players of the Hungarian national team.
The victory of the water polo players from Hungary over the USSR national team with a score of 3: 0 was not limited only to sports interest. Sensational photos went around the whole world when the Hungarian striker Deje Gyarmati struck an unexpected blow in the face of the captain of the USSR national team. Pyotr Mshveniyradze, as a real captain of the Soviet national team, did not respond to the daring trick of the Hungarian, he calmly washed the blood from his face. However, a second blow to the chin followed, after which a fight between the athletes began in the Olympic pool .
By the decision of the panel of judges, the semi-final game of the Olympians was stopped, and the USSR national team was counted a technical defeat. Olympic awards of the highest standard remained a pipe dream for Soviet athletes. Melbourne's bronze medals are the result of the Soviet water polo school. Despite the outcome of the Olympic meeting between the two teams, Peter Mshveniyradze - the only one from the Soviet team was awarded the title "Honored Master of Sports of the Soviet Union".
Silver pedestal of the Roman Olympics
The leadership of the country had high hopes for the participation of the Soviet national water polo team in Olympic Rome (1960). The preparedness of the athletes was at the highest level. The XVII Olympic Games in the Italian capital were to be a triumph for the Soviet water polo players. The national team included the best athletes:
- Vyacheslav Kurennoy;
- Vladimir Semenov;
- Victor Ageev;
- Anatoly Kartashov;
- Givi Chikvania;
- Vladimir Novikov;
- Boris Goikhman;
- Peter Mshveniyradze (captain);
- Leri Gogoladze;
- Eugene Salzin;
- Yuri Grigorovsky;
These athletes represented the water polo elite of the Soviet Union. However, an unfortunate defeat from the hosts of the Olympics, the Italian national team, did not allow Soviet athletes to climb the gold podium of the main sporting event of the four-year period. Water polo players of the USSR lost to Italians, and silver medals of the Olympic Games were considered a big disappointment for athletes.
Peter Mshvenieradze: height, weight, interesting facts
Sports persistence and extraordinary physical data, height - 198 cm, weight - 100 kg allowed the athlete to achieve significant results:
- The Bronze Olympics in Melbourne (1956).
- Olympic "silver" in Rome (1960).
- Silver and bronze medalist of the European Championships in 1958 and 1962, respectively.
- Winner of the Cup of the Soviet Union in 1949.
- Ten-time champion of the Soviet Union.
- Silver medalist of three championships of the USSR.
- Captain of the water polo team of the USSR from 1953 to 1963.
For the Union team P.Ya. Mshvenieradze spent 212 games and scored 300 goals, ending his sports career in 1964. It is noteworthy that both sons of Pyotr Mshveniyradze were born in the "Olympic" days: the eldest son Nuzgar Petrovich during the Olympics in Helsinki (Finland), and the youngest Georgy Mshveniyradze during the Roman Olympic battles.
The Georgian water polo player has achieved considerable results in his life, not only in sports. After graduating from the Law Faculty of Tbilisi University and receiving a Ph.D. in law in 1967, he taught criminal law at the Higher School of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs for a long time, having the military rank of Colonel of the Internal Troops. All these years, Pyotr Yakovlevich was closely associated with sports. For many years he was the chairman of the Moscow Federation of Water Sex and the deputy chairman of the Union Federation. Twice the Georgian water polo player was awarded with state awards - the Order of the Badge of Honor.
Last year of life
At the end of December 2002, a patient with a diagnosis of acute leukemia enters the Moscow Institute of Hematology. All chemotherapy sessions do not bring a positive result. The condition of Peter Yakovlevich worsens every day. German and Russian experts dissuade the patient's relatives from treatment in Germany because of the hopelessness of the situation. After the sudden onset of pneumonia, the chances of recovery were completely lost. On the night of June 3, 2003, the heart of the legendary water polo player stopped beating.
Buried P.Ya. Mshvenieradze in Moscow, at the Troekurovsky cemetery. Unfortunately, the book about the water polo player Peter Mshveniyradze, written by himself, was never published.