Shavarsh Karapetyan
Armenian finswimmer (born 1953)
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Key Takeaways
- Shavarsh Vladimiri (Vladimirovich) Karapetyan (Armenian: Շավարշ Կարապետյան ; born 19 May 1953) is a Soviet-Armenian former finswimmer.
- Biography Karapetyan was born on 19 May 1953, in Soviet Armenia's third largest city, Kirovakan, (now called Vanadzor again).
- On the advice of family friends, he started to learn swimming at a young age.
- In 1975–1976, Karapetyan served in a Soviet Air Defence Forces base in the Baku military district.
- The engine was left running and the bus suddenly started rolling down towards a mountain gorge.
Shavarsh Vladimiri (Vladimirovich) Karapetyan (Armenian: Շավարշ Կարապետյան; born 19 May 1953) is a Soviet-Armenian former finswimmer. He was best known for saving the lives of 20 people in a 1976 incident in Yerevan.
Biography
Karapetyan was born on 19 May 1953, in Soviet Armenia's third largest city, Kirovakan, (now called Vanadzor again). His family moved to Yerevan in 1964, where Shavarsh finished eight years of school and then attended a technical school for auto-mechanics. On the advice of family friends, he started to learn swimming at a young age. He later switched to finswimming. In 1975–1976, Karapetyan served in a Soviet Air Defence Forces base in the Baku military district.
1974 bus incident
In 1974 Shavarsh was riding a bus when the driver pulled over to check on a mechanical problem. The engine was left running and the bus suddenly started rolling down towards a mountain gorge. Karapetyan broke down the partition separating the passengers from the driver's compartment, then took control of the steering wheel and turned the bus away from the cliff.
1976 trolleybus incident
On 16 September 1976, Karapetyan was jogging alongside Yerevan Lake with his brother Kamo. Karapetyan had just completed his usual finswimming distance of 20 km (12 mi) when he heard the sound of a crash and saw a sinking trolleybus.
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