30-05-2013,20:05

Was born famous wrestler Ivan Zaikin on November 5, 1880 in the village of Verkhnee Talyzino, Simbirsk province. Vanya's father was a fist fighter famous throughout the Volga. Going to competitions, he often took his son with him. Little Ivan liked such trips, he was proud of his father, his victories and dreamed of becoming as strong and famous. When Vanya grew up, he got a job as a loader in a fishing artel. Heavy physical labor tempered the guy and made him strong.

By the age of 20, the guy's dreams of performing in the arena began to come true. Luck smiled at Zaikin when he got to work for the Astrakhan millionaire merchants Merkuliev.

The Merkulievs were merchants and industrialists known throughout the Lower Volga region. In Tsaritsyn they owned a hosiery factory. Although the basis of their business was trading in oil, fish and salt, which their partnership mined on Lake Baskunchak. In the oil business, the Merkulievs competed with the famous oil tycoons, the Nobel brothers, who built a whole town near Tsaritsyn. Among other things, the Merkulievs were at the head of such well-known shipping companies as Caucasus and Mercury, Samolet, which transported goods not only along the Volga, but also in the Caspian.

The brothers also owned an athletic arena in Tsaritsyn, where famous wrestlers from all over Russia competed. The Tsaritsyn arena became a kind of school for the future champion Ivan Zaikin. The famous athlete Vladislav Pytlyasinsky became Zaikin's teacher.

The young strongman Zaikin amazed many. In training, he freely bent the rails on his shoulders, tied strip iron into knots and lifted a two-pound weight with one little finger. The audience was delighted with his number "Live Carousel": Zaikin rotated a long barbell on his shoulders, on which ten people were hanging. And his crown number was the lifting of a 400-kilogram ship anchor.

However, all of Russia Ivan became famous in 1904 in St. Petersburg, where he was sent by the merchants of the Merkulievs. The all-Russian championship in kettlebell lifting took place in the city on the Neva. There Zaikin was awarded the first prize and the title of Russian champion in weight lifting.

Soon, his name was put on a par with Ivan Poddubny.In the same 1904, the Merkulievs sent him to the All-Russian amateur wrestling championship.So Zaikin became a professional athlete and wrestler.

Soon in Voronezh, he first met on the carpet with the champion champion, the invincible Ivan Poddubny (according to other sources, the first fight of the wrestlers took place in Orel on February 7, 1905). She was described as follows: "... Poddubny fought with Zaikny in the Swiss wrestling," on the belts. " Poddubny lifted Zaikin, took him to the mill and threw him on his shoulder blades. "

After that, Zaikin met Ivan Maksimovich on the carpet 15 times. Last time in Tiflis in 1916.Their contractions took place in different ways. So in 1908, at the world championship in Paris, Zaikin and Poddubny, victoriously coping with their rivals, met in the final battle. It lasted 66 minutes (!!!). After a grueling match on points, Poddubny came out ahead.

Poddubny respected Zaikin very much for his perseverance and even dedicated his poem to him:

"Bunny"! You are a great fighter!

But after me, the second.

With the grip of a powerful fighter

There is no end to your strength.

You fulfill my covenant

After all, you are not stronger.

Foreign newspapers called Zaikin "The Chaliapin of Russian Muscles." Zaikin himself, who was born in the Simbirsk province, preferred the “title” “Volga hero”. His athletic numbers caused a sensation. After the athlete's performances in front of the circus, the chains broken by Zaikin, iron beams bent on his shoulders, "bracelets" and "ties" tied by him from strip iron were exhibited in front of the circus. Some of these exhibits were acquired by the Parisian Cabinet of Curiosities and are still displayed along with other curiosities. So in one of the museums in Paris there is still a gift from Ivan Zaikin: a rail bent by him into a ring.

In the same 1908, in Paris, Zaikin became the world champion in classical wrestling for the first time.

In 1909, at the Ciniselli circus, who fought there famous champion Pole Stanislav Zbyshko-Tsyganevich made a challenge to all the fighters: "Whoever can stand against me for half an hour, I'll pay 500 rubles." Zaikin accepted the challenge. Stanislav Zbyshko, no matter how hard he tried, could do nothing with Zaikin. Zbyshko-Tsyganevich, feeling inevitable defeat, tore the opponent's ear, after which Zaikin, drenched in blood, stopped the fight. The fight ended in a draw and Zaikin won 500 rubles.

In the spring of 1910, in Odessa, Zaikin witnessed a show hosted by the Frenchwoman Baroness de Laroche, one of the first female pilots. The Baroness, however, did not impress the Russians: she flew little and low.

The disappointed hero said that he could do that too, and Zaikin's friend, the writer Kuprin, urged the fighter: "I will be your first air passenger."

The bet was fueled by journalists, and the merchants Ptashnikovs promised the hero an aircraft. Inspired by the argument, Zaikin abandoned the arena and rushed to France to learn to fly. Aircraft designer and director of the school of aviators in Murmelon - Count Henri Farman called the fighter Monsieur Zaik.

The classes were in French, but the stubbornness was stronger than the language barriers.As a result, in August 1910, a pilot's diploma was received as a wrestler.Then Zaikin bought the Farman airplane with the money of the merchants.

Returning home - and immediately touring the cities: first Kharkov, then Voronezh. In 1910, the provincial newspapers Voronezh Telegraph, Zhivoye Slovo and Don reported to the readers the sensational news: "On October 1, an airplane will fly in Voronezh." Russian aviation was taking its first infant steps then. Newspapers gave huge materials about flights: “October 1 will be marked in the history of Voronezh as the first aviation day! Finally, our Voronezh air will be cut through by a "bird-man" in his car ...

Thus, Ivan Zaikin was the “bird-man”, who changed the circus arena to the helm of an airplane.

This is how Ivan Mikhailovich himself recalls this in his book "In the Air and in the Arena":
“In Voronezh I was met by a trainer Anatoly Durov.

The famous trainer Anatoly Durov.

- My dear hero, I was supposed to go on tour the day before yesterday, but I read on the poster "Hero-Fighter Ivan Zaikin" and almost fell, I don't know why, from joy or anger, that I am not an aviator. Today there are two holidays for me: you arrived, and Fyodor Chaliapin is here, today is his concert.
The next day, having seen off Chaliapin, we went to the hippodrome. Evening. The whole Voronezh is in motion. Thousands of people surrounded the racetrack from all sides. Several roofs have collapsed, screams and swearing are heard.

Durov flies with me.

I raised the airplane six hundred meters, flew over the Voronezh River, flew to the hippodrome, and descended. Thunderous applause. Durov is happy. The governor and the chief of police come up to him and ask what his impression and state of health are.
- Your Excellency, the impression is wonderful, - replies Durov. - The city of Voronezh is like a cemetery: there are crosses on the churches, crosses over the graves, on the street there are little people, the police are not visible at all.
Those brush him off:
- Ugh, always something will freeze.
- Well, Yelenochka, - Durov turns to his wife, - now it's not a sin to die: I've experienced everything, even got acquainted with the kingdom of heaven.
We announce a farewell flight ... "

This is what the Divertissement magazine will write about this flight later:
“Having risen in calm, clear weather, the aviator fell in the forest on the second lap. The crowd rushed to the forest, behind which the descending airplane disappeared. A picture opened up to their eyes - an airplane was lying flat with its front steering wheel in the cemetery monument. Zaikin walked around him, cursing the local pharmacist Mufke. The disaster was caused by poor quality gasoline purchased from a local pharmacy store. The gasoline was not of high quality. Before the flight, there was still a little gasoline in the pipes of the engine, bought in Kharkov and the plane took off, but the tank was filled with Voronezh gasoline and when it reached it, the engine stalled. "

After this incident, the newspapers joked, informing readers that "Zaikin justified his reputation as a good flyer who can not only soar well in the sky, but also fall well."

And here is what Moskovskie vedomosti wrote in October 1910:

"Despite the snow, which fell in a fairly large amount, and the low temperature, Zaikin's flights nevertheless took place. The first time he got up, the pilot stayed in the air for 57 minutes at an altitude of 200 meters, and the wind reached a speed of 4-5 meters per second. The pilot had to descend only because the oil in the engine had frozen. Having risen again, the pilot held out in the air for about 5 minutes, doing all kinds of maneuvers in the air and flying low over the heads of the spectators, who were really few. With his flight, Zaikin broke the Moscow record for the duration set by Utochkin at 33 meters 4 seconds. "

Unfortunately, Zaikin did not fly for long. In November 1910, Zaikin performed a demonstration flight over the Odessa Hippodrome. There, the aviator took his friend-writer Alexander Kuprin as passengers, but the flight was unsuccessful.

The engine stalled again. WITHamoletwent into a dive and fell to the ground from forty meters. Fortunately, both the pilot and the passenger survived. But Zaikin never went up to the sky. After this incident, the merchants Ptashnikovs denied Zaikin the right to use their airplane. The failed aviator was forced to return to the arena.

The revolution found Zaikin in Romania. Like many other artists, Zaikin decided not to return to revolutionary Russia and stayed abroad. In the 1920s, he toured with success with his circus group. He was loved by the common people and appreciated by the authorities. However, Zaikin refused the offer of the King of Romania to accept Romanian citizenship. In 1928, Zaikin bought a house in Chisinau, moved there with his wife and continued to perform. As before, in the course of his speeches, Zaikin threw a 25-pound anchor onto his back, which was rolled out in a cart by several people; and on his back he carried around the arena a 40-bucket barrel filled with water; he tied a thick strip of iron into a tie, tore the chains and hammered nails into the board with his bare hand. Among others, Zaikin showed his signature number - he bent a metal I-beam on his shoulders, which is used for the construction of bridges and in multi-storey construction as the basis of the floor for an entire floor.

His famous number "Live Carousel" consisted in the fact that he rotated, accelerating the movement, ten people, hanging on a long bar resting on his shoulders. In the Chisinau period of his life, Ivan Zaikin also performed his signature trick "Living Bridge" - a truck with passengers drove along his chest, covered with a boardwalk. On July 20, 1930, when Zaikin was already 50 years old, this trick, which the entertainers announced as "deadly", almost became one. The car weighing one and a half tons with passengers stalled during the stunt, getting stuck with one wheel on the athlete's head, the other on his leg. Chisinau newspapers even burst out with the news of the death of the hero. But rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated. Ivan Mikhailovich recovered and continued to perform in the towns of Bessarabia and Romania until the war itself. And in 1934 he defeated young rivals at the wrestling championship in Riga.

By the way, Zaikin's unique trick is lifting on his back without outside help and no one has repeated the carrying on the stage of a 40-bucket barrel of water to this day.

When in 1940, according to an agreement between the USSR and Romania, Bessarabia and Western Bukovina became part of the USSR, Zaikin automatically turned into a Soviet citizen. From the Soviet regime, like a celebrity, in political activities unnoticed, he received a personal pension and the title of Honored Master of Sports.

After the war, old, haggard, with a thick stick inlaid with beautiful carvings, he liked to come to the Ilyinsky Bazaar in Chisinau. People always gathered around him, treated him to a glass of young wine, which the peasants sold at the bazaar directly from barrels.

Ivan Mikhailovich Zaikin died in 1948. Kamenolomnaya Street, on which Ivan Mikhailovich's house was located, was renamed Zaikina Street.

On November 5, 1880, a son was born in the family of Mikhail Zaikin, a famous fist fighter on the Volga, in the Simbirsk province. Ivan's childhood and youth were spent in the village of Verkhneye Talyzino in poverty and need. From the age of 12 he worked, but dreamed of becoming strong fighter, as Father.
Ivan Zaikin's life changed when he got to work in the Tsarina to the Merkuliev brothers, millionaire merchants. They maintained their own athletic arena, where Ivan began his wrestling career.
His first notable performance was his participation in the All-Russian Amateur Championship, where Zaikin won the first prize in kettlebells. This year was the beginning of his professional career as a wrestler (made his debut in Tver) and an athlete.
Ivan, despite the difficult path to his dream, did not become a closed, tough person. All contemporaries note his openness, even his gentleness in the arena. A good-natured face and cheerful eyes, smooth movements, powerful wrestling muscles. No fuss in the ring, measured movement towards the opponent, only forward, and only at the last moment a lightning dash, capture, throw - and the opponent lies on his shoulder blades.

There were fights in a completely different manner. Powerful movement behind the enemy without attempting a reception. At the same time, sharp sweeping movements are accompanied by the typical folk hoot of fist fighters. Further, the strongest iron grip of the rushing enemy, and now he again lies on his shoulder blades.

In 1910, Ivan Zaikin made a series of demonstration flights on airplanes in the cities of Russia. He was attracted by risk, new sensations in aviation, but at the same time Ivan did not give up his career as a fighter either.

Zaikin is often called a student of the famous wrestler Ivan Poddubny. Usually the field of the first fight with the "champion of champions" fighters began to avoid Poddubny. But Zaikin held 15 meetings with Poddubny from 1904 (Voronezh) to 1916 (Tiflis). Ivan Mikhailovich lost 10 matches, and managed to draw five matches. These were not just battles, these were real battles. Indeed, many eyewitnesses noted the intellectuality of Zaikin's fights.

He clearly calculated the enemy, always weighed all his actions, built a drawing of the battle for himself. Of course, the meeting of such talents was spectacular and exciting. At the same time, it is difficult to imagine even the scale of the battle, it is enough to note that in Paris (1908) the battle lasted 66 minutes, in St. Petersburg (1909) in the New Circus with varying success the battle lasted 58 minutes.

Ivan Zaikin's popularity among the audience was enormous. Huge crowds of admirers came to his battles. After all, he was very artistic on stage, with beautiful movements, turned the fight into a real show, while remaining a completely principled and uncompromising fighter.

He accepted the challenge of the famous Polish champion Stanislaw Zbyszko-Tsiganevich in 1909 at the Ciniselli Circus. Stanislav promised the one who would hold out against him in the arena for 30 minutes a prize of 500 rubles. Only Zaikin accepted the challenge and stood the entire allotted time due to his skill and enormous strength.

On next year Zaikin himself challenged one of the strongest wrestlers in the world, Estonian Alexander Aberg, in Truzzi's circus. And for an hour the wrestlers were sorting out the relationship in the arena. Fight in general -.

In addition to the actual wrestling bouts, Zaikin also performed with athletic numbers. He carried around the arena on his back an anchor for 25 pounds, a barrel for 40 buckets of water, lifted the bar with a dozen spectators, etc. He lay down in the arena, and a car with passengers drove along the boards on his chest. An I-beam was bent on Ivan's shoulder, and he made ties from sheet iron.

Ivan Mikhailovich Zaikin died on November 22, 1948. A museum was opened in the house in which he spent the last 20 years of his life, and the street on which this house stood was named after him.

Today marks the 138th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding wrestler and aviator Ivan Zaikin. The famous athlete spent his last years in Chisinau.

The name of Zaikin was preserved by the capital street in the lower old town, which was so named during the Soviet Union. It was on this street that the house stood where Ivan Mikhailovich lived with his wife.

Before, before the revolution, the street was called Kamenolomnaya - stone was mined there for the construction of houses. The adits, which have remained in the thickness of the earth until now, are today mistakenly considered a kind of "underground city".

The very name "Quarry" seems to match Ivan Zaikin, a stone man, unbending with life, but at the same time kind and sympathetic, who helped many, especially children. During the Romanian occupation, the street had a different name - Dragos Voda, which is also symbolic.

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Zaikin died on November 22, 1948. His body was buried in the Central Orthodox (Armenian) cemetery. The grave of the famous Bessarabian can be found there to this day.

Zaikin, who was considered a student of Ivan Poddubny himself, a favorite of thousands and thousands of sports fans and an example for those who profess a healthy lifestyle, for many of us is almost mythology.

A native of Chisinau, and now a resident of Israel, Semyon Katsyv, remembered one thing interesting fact... Ivan's biographers hardly mention him. But we can safely say that thanks to such memories, the historical figure associated with Bessarabia and modern Moldova is becoming closer to the younger generation of Chisinau residents.

Here is the story.

"We lived in a semi-basement room on Kagulskaya Street, 5-a together with my father, mother and sister. I loved listening to my father's stories about his childhood and boy friends. I went to school and just went to the first grade. It was 1965. And Once my dad told me a story about how in the post-war 40s all boys and girls had a patron - Ivan Zaikin, who taught them many good things and who never parted with his cane with incomprehensible holes and a huge yellow lion head Instead of a knob, and when they asked him what those holes were, he replied that there were diamonds, and the lion's head was gold. Everyone laughed together, but he just smiled.

Years have passed. In 1991, my whole family and I immigrated to Israel. One fine evening of the 21st century, my wife Firushka and my children were with our parents. The 1975 film "Aeronaut" was on TV. And suddenly dad exclaimed: “Uncle Vanya! Uncle Ivan!". The film tells about the world champion in freestyle wrestling Ivan Zaikin. We all stared at the screen. And here comes the moment of Zaikin's farewell to the public and residents of the city at the Odessa circus before his departure to Paris, where he was heading to study flight. Many come out to the arena and present gifts to him. Representatives of the merchant class appear and present Zaikin with a cane decorated with diamonds and a golden lion's head instead of a knob. I looked at my father - he was crying ... ".

This story about Zaikin and his cane, about the fact that the famous wrestler and world champion, after all, did not fantasize, but spoke the truth, is valuable for its pieceiness.

It can be assumed that Zaikin sold the diamonds with which the cane was encrusted in difficult years. After all, financially winning performances did not always take place, especially since the athlete earned several severe injuries, after which, obviously, rehabilitation was required, so for some time the doctor was strictly forbidden to go to the arena.

... And, after reading this memory and remembering the image of Ivan Zaikin, captured in many photographs and newsreels, one can even imagine how an elderly wrestler, honestly telling young friends about the history of his cane, good-naturedly, and maybe with pity in his eyes, smiles, seeing the cheerful disbelief of post-war children in such facts. After all, then it was not just precious stones - sweets and, in general, good nutrition for several more difficult years remained available for these boys and girls only in pictures ...

Four facts about Ivan Zaikin:

In addition to wrestling fights, he also performed with athletic numbers. I carried an anchor for 25 pounds (409.5 kg) on ​​my back across the arena, a barrel for 40 buckets of water, lifted the bar with a dozen spectators, and so on. He lay down on the arena, and a car with passengers was driving along the boards on his chest. An I-beam was bent on Ivan's shoulder, and he made ties from sheet iron. With these numbers he toured Europe, Africa, America and even Australia.

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He was friends with Alexander Kuprin, Maxim Gorky, Fyodor Chaliapin, Alexander Blok, Alexei Tolstoy and even with Grigory Rasputin. He met him through the Tsaritsyn (Tsaritsyn - now Volgograd) priest Iliodor. When Rasputin was stabbed by a resident of Tsaritsyn Khioniya Gusev, Zaikin sent him a letter with the following words: "I pray to God for the strengthening of your mental and physical health."

In 1910 he became an aviator, made a number of demonstration flights. This career ended in failure. In Odessa, the famous writer Alexander Kuprin became a passenger on Zaikin's airplane. Heavy weight both caused the plane to crash. Fortunately, both Zaikin and Kuprin survived, but Ivan Mikhailovich's sponsors have since stopped any joint ventures with him.

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He moved to Chisinau in 1928. Organized by “ Sports arena"- an ensemble of professional wrestling athletes. Their performances, which took place on the territory of Bessarabia and Romania - in Chisinau, Orhei, Hinceşti, Iasi, Galati, were of a spectacular and educational focus. Superbly built, strong and dexterous heroes were excellent agitators physical culture and healthy way life.

Among the acquaintances of the famous strongman there were many famous people of his time, among them was the writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. Once it happened that Fortuna, hitherto zealously guarding Ivan Zaikin, turned away from him, and the fascination with aviation almost cost the life of the Volga hero and many innocent people.

In November 1910 in Odessa, watching with admiration the aerial stunts of Ivan Zaikin during a demonstration flight, Kuprin, who also loved risk and was not alien to adventurism, wished to try the "iron bird". Ivan Zaikin at that time was not yet a sufficiently experienced pilot and could not soberly assess the dangerous advantage - together with the passenger, they amounted to almost 13.5 pounds, which was no longer possible for a fragile airplane. To top it off, a strong wind rose during the risky flight, which almost turned into a terrible tragedy - the airplane began to fall directly onto the crowd of onlookers.

“I saw with some strange indifferent curiosity that we were being carried to the Jewish cemetery, where there were thousands to three people in a cramped space ...” - Kuprin later recalled in his essay “My Flight”, published in “Odessa Vedomosti”.

The inexperience of the circus aviator could lead to many casualties, but Ivan Zaikin miraculously managed to steer the airplane away from the crowd, and the car crashed to the ground without causing any harm. The pilot and passenger, fortunately, also remained intact. Perceiving the dangerous accident as an exciting adventure, Kuprin fiercely defended the innocence of his comrade in the incident: “... The fault of IM Zaikin's fall together with the airplane and me was only me, the undersigned. I sincerely thank IM Zaikin for a lot: for saving several human lives ... for his resourcefulness, composure, courage, and finally, for my own precious existence, which I am entirely indebted to him alone, "he emphasizes in the essay.

Nevertheless, after this incident, Zaikin no longer sat at the helm of the airplane. He returned to big sport, then in 1928 he moved to live in Chisinau, where he performed at the circus arena, and last years he devoted his life to training young personnel as a coach. The Volga hero Ivan Zaikin died on November 2, 1948 at the age of 68.

We are looking for relatives. [email protected]
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Ivan Mikha; Ylovich Zai; kin (November 5, 1880, the village of Verkhnee Talyzino, Simbirsk province - November 22, 1948, Chisinau) - Russian wrestler, aviator, circus artist. Stage name - Air Captain and Iron King.
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“Half a century ago, a famous wrestler, twice world champion, as well as one of the first Russian aviators, Ivan Mikhailovich Zaikin, died in Chisinau.<…>... As one might expect, the date passed unnoticed and unmarked. Alas, we have nothing to say about the current fate of the Zaikin house-museum in Chisinau. The small house was kept by the widow of the athlete Anna Fominichna, who for ten years after the death of her husband was the director, caretaker and guide in one person. The house stood on the Kamenolomnaya street of the Moldovan capital. In 1948, the street was renamed Ivan Zaikin Street, and it retains this name to this day. In Soviet times, there was, and not only on paper, even the Zaikin Foundation (to support young sports talents - wrestlers and weightlifters). Now, of course, no traces can be found from this fund. It is gratifying that in today's Moldova they still remember Zaikin, and even a postage stamp with the image of the champion was issued, and a page dedicated to him appeared on the Internet on the website “My city of Chisinau”.
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In 1925 - America, then Cuba, then Romania. Since 1928 he has been living permanently in Chisinau with his wife Anna Fominishna. Zaikin more and more often dreams of returning to his homeland, to his native Volga region. On November 22, 1948, at the age of 68, I.M. Zaikin died, never having time to fulfill his cherished desire - to visit the Volga ...
(M.I.Khramov)
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I. Zaikin had two nieces Zaikina Darya Alekseevna and Tamara Morgunova, was married to a physicist, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Moldavian SSR Tadeusz Malinovsky (1921-1996).
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Immediately after receiving the first international title, he becomes the owner of a land plot in Atyashev. For some reason, he did not want to return to his native Verkhneye Talyzino ... In Atyashev, Zaikin arranges an estate. Atyashev's men bring home for her from Alatyr. It has three rooms, two Dutch women, one Russian stove. There is a veranda with multi-colored glass. Alleys and an orchard are laid on the site. From the alleys, according to the living Atyashevites, only one giant poplar remained (more recently there were four of them). A school was placed in the house at the beginning of the Soviet regime. Then the building was wiped off the face of the earth. Now you can only fantasize what the estate of the famous strongman looked like ... The site, by the way, is located to the right of the Atyashevo sign at the entrance to the village.
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Born in 1880 in the village of Verkhneye Talyzino (now the Sechenovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region), which is located only 11 km from Atyashev, if you draw a straight line. At the age of 9, he was transported by his parents to the Volga, to Samara. The family was in poverty, and the boy had to work from the age of 12. Then there was participation in Tsaritsyn in the athletic arena of the merchants-millionaires of the Merkuliev brothers, who, in fact, gave Zaikin the path to life. Having won in 1904 in kettlebells at the All-Russian Amateur Championship, he became a professional athlete and wrestler.
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1920, they again drew attention to the school, and the new Primary School was opened in the house of the last private owner of the village Atyashevo - ex-world champion in classic wrestling Zaikin Ivan Mikhailovich.
Ivan Mikhailovich should be given a separate place in our story. This person of remarkable strength is fondly remembered by the Atyashevites to this day, although, in general, he did not do anything special for the village. Apparently, they are impressed by the fact that Zaikin himself is from the peasants, as well as the combination of tremendous strength with kindness - this has always been appreciated by ordinary people.

Ivan Mikhailovich Zaikin was born on November 5, 1880 in the old Russian village of Verkhneye Talyzino (no more than 20 versts from our Atyashev).

The family from which he emerged has long been famous for its strength and prowess. His grandfather Zinovy, a former serf of the landowners of the Pashkovs, had remarkable strength. More than once the grandson heard from him a sad story about how he “withered”. “It was a long time ago ... I once brought grain to the mill to grind ... the master drove up with the guests ... called him over and said:
- I put a stake on you, Zinovy ​​- a hundred rubles in silver ... I bet that you will carry the millstone over there on that hillock ... prove it to them, brother ... if you prove it, I will give it generously ...
I figured it’s not far away, and the millstone didn’t seem particularly heavy. They put him on my back. I carry it, nothing. Then, I see that I can’t stand it any longer - I’ll fall. I would have to throw it off, but pride would not allow it. With the last bit of strength he got up. I threw off the millstone. And he himself fell. Since then, it has withered away ”(A. Svetov, Ivan Zaikin. M., 1957, p. 8).
Zaikin's father, Mikhail Zinovievich, also had a huge physical strength and dexterity, had a cheerful and gentle character. Mikhail Zinovievich most often showed his prowess and strength to the carnival, outside the outskirts, during fist fights, where he had no equal. They were "wall to wall". The lower part of the village is poor against the upper part of the village - the rich. Mikhail Zinovievich was the leader of the "lower" ones. Little Vanya wanted to become strong, dexterous and cheerful, like his father. After a terrible drought that swept the Volga region in 1889 and the famine that followed, many peasants were forced to leave their native villages in order to find side earnings on the side. So the Zaikin family, after many vicissitudes of life, ended up in Samara. My father got a job as a loader on the Volga pier. Vanya was, by that time, fifteen years old, and in his strength he was not inferior to adults. Once Mikhail Zinovievich, feeling his muscles, said with concern: “It's time, son, to get down to real work. Let's go to the loading. " And he was enrolled in the artel of loaders.
I liked Vanya in the artel. The movers fell in love with the young strong man. V free time Vanya and his friends loved to visit fairs. Once their attention was attracted by a large crowd of people. Surrounded by the crowd, a hefty clerk lifted a two-pound weight over his head and threw it into the air.
- Well, who else can? - addressing the crowd, he asked with a grin.
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Atyashevskaya children's library of the RM
Privolzhsky District
Region / Oblast Republic of Mordovia
Category Budget
Library type Specialized children
Library status District library
Head Antonova Elena Mikhailovna
Postal address 431800, Republic of Mordovia, Atyashevsky district, rp. Atyashevo, st. Centralnaya, 28
Phone8 8 83434 2 30 97
Email [email protected] ail.ru