He’d just finished a 12-mile run when the screech of metal and the scream of hundreds hit him. A trolleybus had plunged into a reservoir, passengers trapped beneath icy water. Shavarsh Karapetyan, 23, finswimming champion and 17-time world record holder, didn’t hesitate.
The water was freezing. Visibility: zero. The bus lay 33 feet down. With lungs already burning and muscles screaming from his run, Shavarsh dove in. He shattered the rear window with his legs, sliced by glass, and pulled people to the surface—one by one, over and over.
For 30 minutes, he repeated the impossible. Twenty people survived. Shavarsh survived, barely, but his body paid a heavy price: hypothermia, deep cuts, pneumonia, sepsis, and permanent lung damage. His Olympic dreams ended that day.
The world didn’t know. Soviet authorities kept quiet. Shavarsh returned to life without medals, honors, or recognition—until six years later, when a newspaper finally told his story.
But his heroism didn’t end there. Nine years later, with lungs still damaged, Shavarsh saw a building on fire. People were trapped inside. Without hesitation, he ran in. Through smoke and flames, he pulled them out one by one, collapsing only when his body gave out.
Today, Shavarsh Karapetyan is 71. His lungs still bear the scars, but dozens of lives—families, children, grandchildren—exist because he chose courage over comfort, instinct over fear, twice in his life.
He never received Olympic gold, but he earned something far greater: the knowledge that when it mattered most, he didn’t look away. He dove in.
On the tribulations of an expatriate in Europe
Tuesday, January 06, 2026
Courage doesn't wait for permission
Posted by 10h
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment