Anatoly Bogdanov in azione ai Giochi di Helsinki 1952 – da:verkkokauppa.tahto.com
Article by Giovanni Manenti
Although it entered the Olympic panorama only after the 1962 Helsinki Games, the Soviet Union quickly managed to climb the ranks in the shooting disciplineso much so that it placed itself in second place behind the unattainable United States, a position which was then overtaken by China due to the disintegration of the former USSR, but which would be regained if we add the podiums subsequently conquered under the flag of Russia…
Edition, the one held in the Finnish capital, which sees the Soviet Union won four medals in a ratherdemocratic”given that Norway alone manages to bring two athletes to the top step of the podium, with six Nations being able to boast the Gold Medal.
To return to the USSR, he wins two laurels Boris Andreyev, who is silver in the 50-meter air rifle on the ground and bronze in the 50-meter air rifle in three positionswhile the other two medals come from the same event, i.e. the 300 meter Rifle9 in three positions…
Representing the leading country in Eastern Europe are the 36-year-old Lev Vaynshteyn and the just 21-year-old Anatoly Bogdanov, the latter being born on January 1, 1931 in Leningrad, now St. Petersburgbut destined to enter the history of Soviet shooting.
Registered, in fact, only for the race 300 meter rifle in three positions, said competition takes place at 9:00 in the morning on July 27, 1952, after two days earlier his partner Vaynshteyn had placed fourthtied with his compatriot Konstantin Martazov, in the 50 meter pistol test…
This specialty consists of three different parts, with the shooters having to hit the target, respectively, standing, kneeling and on the groundwith the odds leaning more towards the Swiss Robert Burchler than the Soviet pair, who however built their success in the first of the three tests.
In each of the same every shooter has 40 shots available, for a maximum of 400 points and a possible total of 1,200 at the end of the matchwith the world record of 1,124 dating back to 1937 and held by the Estonian Elmar Kivistik, while the Olympic Record belongs to the Swiss Emil Grunig, obtained with 1,120 points in the previous edition of London 1948won with a 6-point margin over the Finnish Pauli Janhonen, who was still present…
Not so Grunig, as the second Swiss component is August Hollenstein, who concludes the first test standing in third place with 354 points, with Bogdanov firmly in command with 359 followed by Vaynshteyn at 354, while Burchler is fifth with 350also preceded by the Finn Vilho Ylonen with 351.
For the 37-year-old Swiss the “Gold rush” appears strongly compromised, and to rekindle hopes in this sense something extraordinary is needed, which materializes in world record of 381 points scored in the kneeling position compared to the 377 obtained by Ylonen and the 376 of the Soviet pairwith Hollenstein jeopardizing his own ambitions at the top by stopping at 370…
A provisional ranking which, therefore, while awaiting the third and final ground test, can still be seen Bogdanov in the lead with 735 points, but with a margin reduced to just three points over the pair formed by his compatriot and the Swisswhile Hollenstein slips into fifth position with 724 points, also preceded by the Finn at 728.
With the podium already virtually assigned, the color of the Medals remains to be defined and, although Burchler also recorded the best performance in this case with 389 points, Bogdanov maintained, despite his young age, the composure necessary to score 388, thus winning his first Gold Medal in shooting for your country, complete with Olympic record of 1,123 points (just one point away from the world record…), with the Swiss silver medalist at 1,120, while the position on the ground is fatal for Vaynshteyn who, with only 378 points on the scoresheet, sinks 14 points behindnarrowly managing (1.109 to 1.108) to save the bronze from Hollenstein’s recovery attempt…
A triumph, that of Bogdanov, who finds his consecration two years later at the World Championships held in Caracas, where he won 10 titles (6 individual and 4 team) when the best results in the individual tests are also rewarded.
To understand each other, in the race of 300 meter air rifle in three positions, in which he is the reigning Olympic Champion, Bogdanov gives life to a spectacular challenge with his compatriot Vasily Borisov, with both improving the world record (like Ylonen, bronze with 1,126 points) and the 23 year old from Leningrad wins (1,133 to 1,132) by a very narrow marginproving to be the best in both the standing and kneeling positions (with 391 and 380 points respectively…), while Borisov – for whom the kneeling test was fatal, where he only collected 375 points – precedes him (366 to 363) in the execution to the ground …
To these statements, Bogdanov combines success in 50 meter rifle in three positions, preceding (1,174 points to 1,172) his partner, also in this case combining the standing and kneeling titles – with Borisov prevailing in the position on the ground – so that the two “snipers” are selected to represent the Soviet Union ai Melbourne Games 1956 in the 50 meter air rifle specialties in three positions and on landwhile only Borisov is entered in the 300m Rifle competition in three positions, with 23-year-old Allan Erdman keeping him company.
A decision by the Soviet Federation which is perplexing, given the superiority shown by Bogdanov in the multiple specialty – and, on the contrary, the difficulties encountered in the position on the ground – which is confirmed on the shooting range of the “Merrett Rifle Range” of Williamstown, especially since the previous year the The reigning Olympic champion had improved his world record with 1,143 points on the distance from 300 meters…
But so it is, and, in any case, the USSR did not lose out, given that in said test, which took place on 1 December 1956, it obtained gold and silver, with Borisov having the better (1,138 points to 1,137) over his compatriot Erdmantaking away the Olympic Record from Bogdanov and also signing, with 396 points in the floor event, the relative world record, while the Podium is completed by the “eternal placedYlonen.
Forced to do “good face with bad luck”, ecco Bogdanov entered the scene three days later in the 50m Rifle competition in three positionswith the difference that, compared to the past, the three tests are reversed, in the sense that we start with the one on the ground and conclude standing…
Borisov is also present, who says “misfires” (it should be said…) precisely in his favorite position on the ground, where Canadian Gil Boa recorded a “clear path” by 400 points, taking the lead with one point ahead of Hungarian Sandor Krebs and three out of a quartet composed of the Swede John Sundberg, the Romanian Iosif Sirbu, the American Verle Wright and the Peruvian Oscar Caceres.
Of these, Wright and Caceres soon leave the scene, as does the Hungarian, while Bogdanov is Borisov – who had closed the floor test with 396 and 395 points respectively – prove to be the most consistent scoring 392 and 391 points respectively in the kneeling performance, which also exalted Sundberg and the Czechoslovakian Otakar Orinekwhich record 396 and 395 points respectively…
Here, therefore, before the last standing session, the partial ranking is extremely fluid, with Sundberg in the lead with 793 points, followed by Boa with 791 and Sirbu with 789, so that Bogdanov and Horinek are temporarily out of the podium, tied at 788, like Borisov who follows with 786 points…
A ranking destined to reverse in the standing test, which proves fatal to both Boa and Sirbu – both of whom score just 368 points – which they slip into sixth and seventh position with a total of 1,159 and 1,157 respectively, also overtaken by the 38-year-old Ylonen which ends at 1,161.
With available “the opportunity of a lifetime”, Sundberg feels all the pressure of the moment, ed his 374 points serve exclusively to allow him to maintain the lowest step of the podiumresisting Borisov’s recovery attempt (1,167 to 1,163) …
Of this “massacre” Both Bogdanov and Horinek clearly take advantagewho – obtaining the same score of 384 points, preceded in this partial only by the Romanian Constantin Antonescu with 385 – they also finished the race tied with a total of 1,172 pointswith the curiosity that the Gold medal is awarded to the Soviet for having obtained a better result (396 to 393) than his rival in the floor positionor the one he least likes.
A circumstance, the latter, confirmed the next day when the 50 meter air rifle test is scheduled in which, despite obtaining 593 points out of the 600 available, Bogdanov actually finishes in 29th (!!) positionwhile the Canadian won the Gold with an error-free path Gerry Ouellette, just one point ahead (600 s 599) of Borisov who was fatally affected by a slight indecision in the sixth and final series of shots…
In Australia, with 8 overall medals (3 gold, 4 silver and one bronze…), the Soviet Union certifies its superiority in this discipline, also replicated four years later at the Rome Games, but having the privilege of having “showed the way” to his companions will remain forever Anatoly Bogdanov from Leningradan unparalleled record…