The touching closing of the 1980 Olympics, which took place in the Soviet Union, is remembered by everyone who saw it. A flying bear accompanied by a symbolic song performed by Lev Leshchenko brought tears of emotion to hundreds of thousands of people. But few of those who sat in the stadium or watched the closing of the Games on TV at that moment thought about the future fate of this symbol and about where the Olympic bear landed.
A trip to history
More than 30 years have passed since the 1980 Olympics, which were held in the capital of Russia, and its symbol, the Olympic Bear, is still one of the favorite and most famous folk heroes. It was created by Viktor Chizhikov, an illustrator of books. By the way, it was the author who gave him the name Toptygin Mikhail Potapovich. This drawing was approved as a symbol of the Olympics due to the fact that it felt sports enthusiasm, strength, courage and perseverance. It was selected from over 40,000 entries.
The 1980 Olympic Bear received worldwide fame and recognition. The author of this symbol received letters from all over the world. Happy were those who could get an image of a bear, a pendant or a figurine. By the way, forthe creation of such a symbol Chizhikov was to become a millionaire. But a miracle did not happen in the Soviet Union, he was paid 2,000 rubles and forced to give up copyright on his offspring.
Closing Games
The farewell ceremony, of course, added to the popularity of the symbol of the Olympics. After all, it is still believed that the closing of the Games was especially touching. At that moment, when the Bear rose into the sky, many tears of tenderness flowed, the stadium waved to the mascot of the 1980 Games. But few people thought about where the Olympic bear landed. These questions came up a little later.
And at that moment everyone brushed away tears, listened to the heartfelt words of the song by Pakhmutova and Dobronravov called "Goodbye, our affectionate Misha." By the way, very few people knew that the flight of the symbol of the Olympics was initially rejected by the chairman of the sports committee, Grammov. On a related proposal, he wrote that teddy bears don't fly, so the idea of flight was rejected. But the main director of the Olympics could not rest on this, he was able to realize this idea only thanks to his courage and perseverance. He addressed directly to the chairman of the Central Committee of the CPSU of that time - Suslov. They approved and supported this idea.
Where is Bear?
So, the six-meter symbol of the 1980 Games flew over the stadium and almost nothing is known about its future fate. Even today, there are two versions of where the Olympic bear landed. So, the most common is the following option. The symbol of the Olympics flew to the outskirts of Moscow, where it is safelanded. True, according to the same version, he knocked down a beer booth and scared two local men very much. On this, his adventures ended, and he was exhibited at VDNKh. By the way, they say that at one time the Germans offered 100,000 marks for it, but the Union government did not even consider such an option. After the exhibition, the talisman was sent to one of the cellars, where rats eventually gnawed it.
But there is another version of how and where the Olympic bear landed. According to the second version, the talisman was blown away by wind currents in the Moscow region. To land it, test pilot Surov needed to open special valves. He successfully completed the task, after which Mishka collapsed to the ground on the Mozhaisk reservoir. But Surov died during this operation. The talisman itself also fell into disrepair and was burned. But it is currently no longer possible to find where the 1980 Olympic Bear landed, as it is destroyed anyway.
How was Mishka created?
But many are interested not only in the further fate of the mascot of the Games. Not everyone understands how back in 1980 it was possible to send a six-meter figure into a controlled flight. Indeed, coming up with an idea with a touching farewell to a bear was much easier than bringing it to life.
The bear was created at a special institute of the rubber industry. For him, rubberized fabric was first made. After that, the gluers of the balloon shop, together with the specialists of the institute, created the figure of a bear. In case ofdue to force majeure, two identical dolls were immediately made.
Flight training
But the creation of the bear turned out to be far from the most problematic stage. It was much more difficult to teach the talisman to fly. The fact is that this figure is absolutely not aerodynamic, it seemed almost impossible to send it into a controlled flight. After all, according to the idea, he had to rise above the last stands to a height of about 3.5 meters and fly away from the stadium. At the same time, it was important not to touch the bowl with fire. At first, it was decided to abandon the idea of a rubber doll altogether and send a person flying. Such tests were carried out at one of the airfields near Moscow, the engineer Trusov put on a specially prepared suit and soared sharply up with the help of balls to a great height. After that, he was never found.
Another inventor suggested controlling a rubber doll using balls that could shift the object's weight in the right direction. If everything worked out as planned, there would be no questions about where the Olympic bear is. Indeed, in his right paw, according to the idea, there should have been a person who would control the talisman. But the tests failed: the bear flew over the burning torch and flared up. The operator sitting in the doll died from burns.
After that, it was decided to fix the balls only on the ears and upper paws. Thanks to this, the bear did not roll over. As planned, he was supposed to land carefully in the Sparrow Hills area, but this plan could not be fully implemented either.least.
