Boris Onishchenko now. Boris Grigorievich Onishchenko: biography
Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1972, deprived of it in 1976). He played for Kyiv (Dynamo).
Sports results
Olympic Games
- 1968 - silver medalist in the team competition (together with Pavel Lednev and Stasis Shaparnis), 5th place in the individual competition.
- 1972 - Olympic champion in the team competition (together with Pavel Lednev and Vladimir Shmelev), silver medalist in the individual competition (taking the lead after four events, performed unsuccessfully in the track and field cross-country and lost to the Hungarian Andras Balzo).
- 1976 - disqualified.
World Championships
World champion:
- 1971 - personal competition,
- 1969, 1971, 1973-1974 - team competition;
silver medalist:
- 1969 - personal competition,
- 1970 - team competition;
bronze medalist:
- 1970, 1973-1974 - personal competition.
- 1967 - team competition.
USSR Championships
Champion of the USSR 1969-1970, 1976 in the individual competition.
Disqualification
At the 1976 Games, during the second event, fencing, Onishchenko defeated all his opponents. During the fight with the leader of the British team, Jeremy Fox, he unexpectedly deviated, and Onishchenko’s sword did not hit him; however, the light behind Fox, signaling the injection, still lit up.
After an examination of Onishchenko’s sword was carried out, it turned out that a “button” disguised with suede was built into the handle of the sword; By pressing this button, Onishchenko could at any time close the electrical circuit, which turned on the judge's light, and the injection was recorded.
Onishchenko was disqualified, and the USSR national team - the favorite of the competition in the team competition - lost the opportunity to fight for medals. The reaction from the Soviet delegation followed immediately: the Chairman of the USSR State Sports Committee Sergei Pavlov, having condemned Onishchenko, announced his lifelong disqualification.
There are different versions of when fraud was suspected. According to one of them, already during the Olympic tournament, when during one of Onishchenko’s fights a dubious injection was recorded. According to another, even during the pre-Olympic tournament in London, Fox, studying video recordings of fights, noticed something incomprehensible, and experts confirmed that one of the injections inflicted on Onishchenko was fake; however, the British did not make a fuss until the Olympic competition.
He had it all - crazy speed, brilliant technique, amazing composure and remarkable intelligence. He could go down in the history of world sports as a great champion, which, in fact, he was. But he was remembered for completely different reasons - as the author of an unprecedented fraud in the history of the Olympic Games. Today Boris Onishchenko turns 78 years old.
Lost gold
Soviet pentathlete Boris Onishchenko came to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal with the goal of winning two gold medals at once. He already had a team victory - he became the best four years ago in Munich together with Pavel Lednev And Vladimir Shmelev. But Onishchenko’s personal triumph did not happen, although there was nothing left before him. Leading after four events, he unsuccessfully ran the cross and lost the gold to the Hungarian Andras Baltso. “Since this happened, you need to provide yourself with such an advantage before running that it is impossible to miss even with a weak result in cross-country,” Onishchenko said before the Games. Readers are waiting for a continuation like “And to achieve an advantage, he trained for days without rest”? No matter how it is! The Munich vice-champion decided to seek his fortune as an electrical engineer.
It all started in the spring
In the spring of 1976, the last pre-Olympic tournament was held in London. Sometimes the strongest athletes miss such competitions, but then almost all the top athletes from Europe came to the capital of England. The competition was unconditionally won by Soviet pentathletes, which was not a surprise. But the leader of the British Jeremy Fox I decided to analyze videos of fencing matches - it was in this form that ours gained a decisive advantage. And in one of the fragments, Fox saw something incomprehensible - Boris Onishchenko’s blade clearly passed by, and the light that announced the injection still lit up!
Fox skipped through this episode several times and was never able to see where the Soviet athlete ended up. His coach didn’t find the answer either. Mike Proudfoot. The invited specialists made it clear that, most likely, there were problems with the equipment - the electrical circuit spontaneously closed and gave out incorrect information. The British decided not to make any extra noise before the Olympics.
"Your sword, monsieur"
The Olympic tournament in modern pentathlon started on a hot July day. After the first event, show jumping, the USSR team was in fourth place. This type has never been successful for our athletes. But in fencing, Soviet pentathletes turned out to the fullest. Victory in this event in one fell swoop allowed them to rise to second place with a minimal gap behind the British team. In the battle with the British, everything was revealed. Danni Natingale And Adrian Parker quickly fell victims to Onishchenko’s pressure and technique. The best remained in the opponents' camp Jeremy Fox. The British athlete realized that he had gotten too close to his opponent, finding himself within striking distance. Thanks to his excellent coordination, he managed to take a step back before Onishchenko lunged. The blade of the pentathlete from Poltava cut the air... and at that moment the lantern lit up! There is a jab in favor of the USSR! The hall is buzzing, Fox is dumbfounded.
Proudfoot jumps onto the platform and demands an investigation. First, the scoreboard was analyzed - no problems. Contacts and wires are OK. “Your sword, monsieur,” the referee says, almost like in a movie. Onishchenko is not particularly eager to give it away, but nothing can be done. The result stunned everyone - a secret button was built into the handle of Onishchenko’s sword, by pressing which he could at any time close the circuit that records the injection on the scoreboard. The organizers were completely at a loss. The arbitrator stood with a sword in his hands and did not know what to do with it. In the end, the weapon was replaced, and with the correct sword Onishchenko won the fight against Fox, and after that he won eight more.
Lifetime ban
At the end of the second day of the tournament, the disqualification of Onishchenko was announced, and with him the entire USSR national team. Only Lednev and Boris Mosolov who competed only for personal awards. Chairman of the then State Sports Committee Sergey Pavlov(by the way, our best sports boss of all time, who is definitely worth talking about separately) subjected Onishchenko to public condemnation. The athlete was immediately expelled from the Olympic Village, deprived of the title of ZMS, membership in the CPSU and disqualified for life.
It seemed that the history of the grandiose fraud had come to an end. There is only one answer to one question: why? After all, Onishchenko was the best fencer in the world pentathlon even without any secret buttons. Apparently, the answer lies on the surface - in Montreal the Soviet athlete was already 38 years old, these Games would probably have been his last. And taking personal gold at any cost became an obsession for Onishchenko.
Fraudster and victim
The Western press sometimes recalls this incident and each time talks about new consequences for the athlete. From the most delusional ones like “drunk and died” and “mines in Siberia” to “guest of honor as a victim of a criminal regime that forced athletes to cheat.” The truth, as usual, lies in the middle. At least, it is known that Boris Onishchenko still lives in Kyiv, but has no desire to communicate with journalists. He truly is not only a sports scammer, but also a victim. Not the regime, but his own blinding ambition, which forced him to commit fraud for the sake of victory at any cost.
Olympic champion in team competition (1972, Munich); Soviet modern pentathlon athlete; born September 19, 1937; Honored Master of Sports (1972). Silver medalist of the Olympic Games (1972, Munich) in the individual championship and Olympic Games (1968, Mexico City) in the team championship.
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At the Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada in 1976, a scandal broke out involving a Soviet athlete. Soviet propaganda could not counter anything in response, and therefore it was necessary to overshadow the scandal as quickly and accurately as possible with other insignificant events from overseas.
It was not the capitalists, the imperialists or the enemies of the people who were to blame for catching the Soviet athlete red-handed and expelling him from the Olympics. The organizers of the tournament presented the head of the Soviet sports delegation with such evidence that ours only had to take off their hats, remember the hot words of Onishchenko’s relatives and promptly throw him out of the Olympic village with a kick in the ass so as not to cause more problems and damage.
Pentathlete Boris Onishchenko was a jack of all trades - a skilled horse rider, a sharp shooter, a flexible swimmer, a d'Artagnan epee fencer and a tireless runner. His most favorite and successful sport was fencing. In what way, but it was precisely in this type of pentathlon that Onishchenko had practically no rivals. He stacked his opponents and always took first place.
So at the Montreal Olympics, Onishchenko confidently led the entire USSR team to the podium. Let sports fans not be confused by the fact that after the first type of competition - equestrian sport - the USSR took fourth place. Equestrian sport was not “ours” - all our best and most successful sports were ahead. Therefore, fourth place was considered a success of its own. The gap from Great Britain was minimal. Victory in the second type of competition - fencing - immediately lifted us to second place. And it was against the British that we had to fight.
The start was stunning for Onishchenko: first, Danny Nightingale fell (“I had already accepted defeat before going on the platform - Boris was the favorite!”). The second victim was Adrian Parker. British coach Mike Proudfoot noticed something strange. “Onishchenko earned a point, but we didn’t understand how he did it. We asked the organizers to check that everything was in place. They checked the platform and equipment and said that everything was in place. Point given to Russian!”
But in the battle against the leader of the Foggy Albion team, Jeremy Fox, the English team’s patience came to an end! In one episode, Fox (either he tripped or had an epiphany) managed to dodge another injection. The sword passed by, into the air. To the surprise of everyone behind Fox... the light came on, signaling a clean injection!
“Inaf from inaf!” said Coach Proudfoot in a rage and demanded a large-scale “counter-terrorism operation.” First we checked the light bulb - everything is fine there. The wires are in place. The platform has not gone anywhere.
“Oh yes, let’s check where everything closes.” When the organizers asked the Poltava native to show the sword, he reluctantly handed it over to them. “The steel blade is normal. Protective guards are clean. The handle is usually... Stop! What kind of button is there?” And then it dawned on the organizers (here imagine the satisfied smile of Sherlock Holmes with a pipe in his mouth) that Onishchenko was not a fencer, but a real diligent student of the children's magazine “Young Technician” from the USSR. A button was built into the handle of the weapon, by pressing which Onishchenko could close the circuit at any time and light the judge’s light.
Onishchenko was disqualified, and the USSR national team - the favorite of the competition in the team competition - lost the opportunity to compete for medals.
The reaction from the Soviet delegation followed immediately and was merciless - lifelong disqualification with deprivation of all titles (ZMS), awards (Order of the Red Banner of Labor) and membership in the CPSU.
So, instead of being nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, Boris Onishchenko became an outcast of Soviet society.
