athlete

An old Russian poster dedicated to Shavarsh saving 20 lives

The Remarkable Acts of Heroism of Shavarsh Karapetyan

Apr 12 2012

Shavarsh Karapetyan is a retired Soviet-Armenian champion swimmer. He is an 11-time World Record holder, 17-time World Champion, 13-time European Champion and 7-time USSR Champion.

One cold morning on September 16th, 1976 he was doing his usual run along the dam in Erevan (Armenia), when a large trolleybus carrying 92 passengers lost control and flew off the road into the freezing water. During the impact, most of the passengers fell unconscious – the bus sank approximately 10 meters deep. Without a second of hesitation, Shavarsh leaped into the freezing water to rescue people.

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