Valeriy Brumel Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Valeriy Brumel

Brumel in California in 1963

Personal information

Birth name

Valeriy Nikolayevich Brumel

Born

14 April 1942
Razvedki, Amur Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

Died

26 January 2003 (aged 60)
Moscow, Russia

Height

185 cm

Weight

79 kg

Sport

Athletics

Event(s)

High jump

Club

Burevestnik Moscow

Retired

1970

Achievements and titles

Personal best(s)

2.28 m (1963)

Medal record

Olympic Games

Representing the Soviet Union
Gold	1964 Tokyo	High jump
Silver	1960 Rome	High jump
European Championships
Gold	1962 Belgrade	High jump
Universiade
Gold	1961 Sofia	High jump
Gold	1963 Porto Alegre	High jump

Valeriy Brumel (born April 14, 1942 – died January 26, 2003) was an amazing Russian high jumper. He won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics. He also broke the world record many times. Many people think he was one of the best high jumpers ever. Sadly, a motorcycle accident in 1965 ended his sports career.

Early Life and Training
Becoming a High Jump Champion
Life After Sports
Family Life
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Training

Valeriy Brumel was born in a small village in Siberia, a far eastern part of Russia. His parents were geologists, which means they studied rocks and the Earth. Later, his family moved to Luhansk. His parents taught at a university there.

Valeriy started high jumping when he was 12 years old in Luhansk. His first coach was P. S. Shtein. By the time he was 16, he could jump over 2 meters (about 6 feet 7 inches)! He used a style called the "straddle technique." This was a popular way to high jump back then. He got even better when he trained with coach V. M. Dyachkov in Moscow.

Becoming a High Jump Champion

In 1960, Valeriy broke the USSR (Soviet Union) record. He jumped 2.17 meters (about 7 feet 1 inch). This amazing jump helped him join the Olympic team. At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, he jumped the same height as the winner. But because he needed more tries, he won a silver medal instead of gold.

A plaque in Sofia, Bulgaria, remembers Brumel's world record jump of 2.25 meters in 1961.

From 1961 to 1963, Valeriy kept breaking his own world record. He improved it six times! He went from jumping 2.23 meters (about 7 feet 4 inches) to 2.28 meters (about 7 feet 6 inches). That's super high!

He also won many other big competitions:

The Universiade (a sports event for university students) in 1961 and 1963.
The European Championships in 1962.
The USSR Championships from 1961 to 1963.

Valeriy was unbeatable in 1965. But then, he had a very bad motorcycle crash. His right foot was badly broken. Doctors even thought they might have to remove his leg. Luckily, a special doctor named Professor Gavriil Ilizarov helped him. He used a new method to fix Valeriy's leg. Valeriy had 29 surgeries! Even after all that, he couldn't jump as high as before. He stopped competing in 1970. His last jump in a local competition was 2.06 meters (about 6 feet 9 inches).

Life After Sports

After retiring from high jumping, Valeriy Brumel started a new career. He became an actor and a writer. He was in a movie called Sport, Sport, Sport in 1970. He also wrote the story for another film called The Right on a Jump (1973).

Valeriy wrote many books and plays. One of his novels, Don't Change Yourself (1979), was very popular. It was translated into seven different languages! He also wrote the story for an operetta (a type of musical play) called Golden Caravel.

Family Life

Valeriy Brumel had two brothers, Oleg and Igor. Igor became a politician in Russia. Valeriy was married three times. His first wife, Marina, was a gymnastics teacher. They had a son together.

Later, in 1973, Valeriy married Yelena Petushkova. She was also an Olympic champion, winning gold in horse riding (dressage) in 1972. They had a daughter named Vlada. Valeriy later married Svetlana Belousova in 1992. They had a son named Viktor. Svetlana later started a group called the Valeriy Brumel Fund.