I have a good companion, let’s say Miron, now a young man. He is a childhood disabled - polio, walks with great difficulty, relying on a rod, but the saturation of the biography is enough for ten healthy and still remains. I will try to tell one of his stories.

He then lived in Makievka, worked in the mine. Not in the mine, of course, but in the mine management. They had money, had good friends, had a fun company, often drank together. Friends went to the crawl, and Miron with them, of all the exercises he could only snatch the rod lying, this was what he did. Once I heard that there would be a world powerlifting championship among disabled people in Hungary, just lying on the floor, and I thought what if not to go there. Further from his face, for minor inaccuracies, please do not pin, I did not turn on the dictionary, tell me how I remembered.

“We had to start the Ukrainian tournament. Last month, I did not exercise at all. Coming to the medical unit for a certificate, the mesister says: you have high pressure, not for loads. I: Okay, I will not be stressed, yes, completely, that is, halfway, just to get to the World Cup. I come, and there all the guys do not read me, former athletes, disabled became after injury - amputation or a vertebral fracture, but still the catches are the ones. I dropped 120 kilos, nothing at all. Normal weight starts at 160. I went to the coach and said:
Take me when I get to Europe. A month before the championship, I will be training, I promise to bring a medal.
He looked at it with doubt, but said:
“You don’t have a budget, but if you find $400, go for your own. There is a seat in the bus, half a squad. Well, that is, five stitches, two working legs on all. And in your weight category we have none, the rest are all lightweight.

Well, I scratched 400 bucks and came to Budapest. They all stayed together in a hotel, ate together, and I was a mansion. I came to the gym late, lightweights already started to compete. I see that in my category up to 100 kg three participants registered, and in the next over 100 - only one German.

I think: you have to get into 100+, then the silver medal is guaranteed. He weighed 98 kg with pennies. I went to the buffet, took two liters of juice, I remember, they only had cherry. Two liters of beer would be poured into yourself without problems, but beer is not possible, doping control. Pip-drinked this juice, some of it drank. Another coin in the socks was pushed and weighed. 100 kg and 100 grams.

The German in the first attempt ordered 130 kg, and I - 115, to be sure to take, then the medal and points to the team in the team count. He saw that I was so weak and said the second weight was 140. I’m also 140, it’s my personal record, but if I take it, I’m ahead because I’m lighter. He takes easy, and I am at the limit of strength. There are strict rules, the bar should go strictly horizontally, you cannot wait. It happened, I counted.

There is a third attempt. I have a chance if he orders a lot of weight and doesn’t take it. But he is a German, accuratist, ordering a minimum of 142.5, to be sure. And he is wrong, the stick went wrong, he did not count the attempt. All in all, I became a champion. The coach rushes to embrace me: no one else in the Ukrainian team took gold, I brought the most points. In the team rankings, Ukraine shares 3-4 place out of 12 countries. Later, I was fed with the team, and I did not go back to the end of the bus by the mansion, but with all the boys."

Then Miron began to exercise seriously, pushed out 180 kg and more, won a few more medals and even went to the Paralympics. There, indeed, did not shine, but there is also a story about it, I will tell you if you like this one.