The Olympic bear is a symbol familiar to everyone. The history of the creation of the Olympic bear Olympics 1980 bear flies away

On August 3, 1980, the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games took place in Moscow, during which the mascot of the 1980 Olympics, the Olympic Bear, was launched into the sky. He was escorted with tears in his eyes to a song performed by Lev Leshchenko and Tatyana Antsiferova from the center of the Luzhniki stadium arena by Muscovites and guests of the capital.

The history of the creation of the talisman.
The history of creating the image of the Olympic Bear began in 1977, when a population survey was conducted in the country through the “In the Animal World” program and the editors of the “Soviet Sport” newspaper, where viewers were asked to choose the symbol of the Olympics. Almost unanimously, preference was given to the bear cub Misha. After the image of the mascot was approved, an order was placed with the best artists in the country. The final version was made by the illustrator of children's books - Viktor Aleksandrovich Chizhikov. His version among the 60 cubs that reached the finals was also liked by the IOC President of that time, Lord Kilanin. The organizing committee of the Moscow Olympics chose this animal as a symbol, since it has such qualities characteristic of an athlete as strength, perseverance and courage.

For the Olympic Games, a six-meter rubber mascot was created - the Olympic Bear balloon. Initially, it was planned to be manufactured in Moscow at the Research Institute of the Rubber Industry, but due to the large dimensions of the Mishka, the manufacturing process was transferred to a branch of the institute located in Zagorsk (now Sergiev Posad). For testing and in case of unforeseen circumstances, two duplicates were made.

Project "Bear".
According to the organizers, the Olympic Bear was supposed to fly high into the sky during the closing ceremony. In April 1979, in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow, work began on the “Bear” project at the Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI). A group of scientists was tasked with ensuring that the talisman rose into the air. The bear didn’t just have to fly vertically over the stadium. Having reached a certain height (3.5 m from the top edge of the stands), he had to leave the stadium as quickly as possible without touching the bowl with the Olympic flame.

At first, engineer Alexander Trusov suggested abandoning the doll and dressing the man in a bear costume, tying him to balloons inflated with helium. The test took place at the Kubinka-2 airfield near Moscow. Trusov himself went to the test and put on a suit (it was made at a fur toy factory in the Ukrainian city of Zhovti Vody) and went into flight. The first flight was successful, after which it was decided to conduct the next experiment in conditions as close as possible to the required ones: twilight, an increase of 30 meters (the height of the Luzhniki stands). But this time, at an altitude of one hundred meters, the Olympic Bear suddenly turned around, flew 50 meters, and then began to sharply go up, disappearing from sight.

After this, engineers developed a system of so-called “carrying balls”. Its essence was as follows: moving in a certain way, the balls contributed to a shift in the center of gravity of the object (the Bear), which, in turn, made it possible to control the direction of flight with a sufficient degree of accuracy. Moving in a certain way, the balloons shifted the center of gravity of the object in the desired direction. The operator in the cockpit had to control the direction of the flight in his right hind paw. But while testing this option, the doll lost control, flew over the burning Olympic torch and burst into flames. Engineer Igor Artamonov, who was sitting in the cockpit, died from his burns. Then it was decided to attach the balls only to the upper paws and ears so that the bear would not roll over.

It is still not known for certain what happened to the Olympic Bear after he left the Luzhniki Arena on an August evening in 1980 and disappeared into the sky. Whether it was a manned vehicle or just a huge rubber doll with balloons, no one knows for sure.

“The Olympic Bear is a symbol of the Moscow Olympics. How much more charming and humane he was than the monotonously beautiful and purposeful posters of the “builders of communism”! And how the story of the birth of the Olympic mascot and his subsequent fate are characteristic of that time! When he flew into the Moscow sky under the storm the soulful song of Pakhmutova and Dobronravov, even the most inveterate cynics had tears in their eyes. Two billion people around the world watched the most touching closing ceremony of the Games in the history of the Olympics. And almost no one knew what happened next to such a cute Mishka. on the outskirts of Moscow, he knocked down a beer booth, scaring two local “uncles” to death. Then for some time he was exhibited at VDNKh, next to other achievements of the Soviet national economy (record-breaking cows, the monster-like “Kirovets” tractor and the Olympic Mishka - yes). something to be proud of for the national economy!) At that time, one West German company offered to buy a rubber Teddy Bear for 100 thousand marks. Naive Germans! The Soviets have their own pride, which is not sold for despicable Deutschmarks! The bear from VDNKh was sent to one of the basements of the USSR Olympic Committee, where it stood until... it was eaten by rats."
(A. Khoroshevsky. 100 famous symbols of the Soviet era.)

you'll spoil it like that...

Honestly, I googled for half an hour - there is no official information...
There are many versions, very different...
Here are the main ones -

First and official. The bear took off from the Luzhniki Stadium with the help of balloons and helium, which he himself was pumped up with while being rubber, and landed 15 minutes later on Vorobyovy Gory. All. How he could do this is not explained. It’s so “simple” to take off and land at the planned location. It must be said that this version is very truthful, with the exception of the important details of controlling Mishka, the flight itself and the flight time. The question just arises, how did Potapych manage to do everything so smoothly himself? After all, the robotics of those times were hardly capable of such maneuvers with such a large and complex aircraft, which was called the Olympic Bear balloon. Well, at that time there was no such device that you could control it from a remote control on the ground, or rather, there was no time for such serious work, and it was necessary to make do with a simpler option than remote control.

Second version. The bear was controlled by a pilot, a test pilot, who was located in his right leg and controlled it with the help of balls. Up to the waist it was ballast, then there was helium in a rubber shell, plus the balls themselves which the pilot manipulated. The balls were divided into two equal groups, the control principle was that the pilot pulled that group of balls in the direction where he needed to turn. Everything seems logical. One can imagine that by “waddling” with the help of groups of balls from side to side (just by analogy with the gait of a bear), the Bear could be brought to the landing point, and then, having released the helium, sit down. The version is beautiful, but its authors did not take into account the fact that there is such an atmospheric phenomenon as wind, which could blow in a different direction, and given the high windage of the product, no amount of manipulation of the balls would force Mishkin to change course back to the wind. Do you believe that Soviet scientists and designers who worked on the project would not have taken into account such a factor as wind?! Soviet scientists, not Papua New Guinea scientists, those who sent autonomous modules to the moon, were the first to go into space, etc.

According to the third version he fell in an unknown location in Moscow, knocking down a beer stall (!) and two citizens. According to this version, it turns out that he could have attacked the Kremlin and the Kurchaty Institute, for example, or simply hit the windows of some residential building, delighting citizens who had not moved away from the sentimental ceremony of farewell and closing of the Olympic Games on TV. So to say: - Hello, here I am, Mikhail Potapych Toptygin - Olympic, in person, the same goofball I look like, flesh and blood, my dear, uncontrollable Russian bear!

Version four the most fantastic and no less beautiful. Misha flew all the way to the Mozhaisk reservoir, also controlled by a pilot. The pilot seemed to be unable to cope with the landing and, due to strong winds, flew away from Moscow a hundred kilometers (!), where he undertook landing maneuvers to bleed off the helium, but gusts of wind strongly knocked him to the ground. The pilot died. Imagine the posthumous order of the Hero of the Soviet Union, to a test pilot who died on a secret mission while piloting the Olympic Bear! And it happened on the territory of the Vympel camp site. The version that he was shot down by valiant air defense somewhere in the Moscow region, I think, is not worth considering. Although who the hell is not joking, if they missed the German pilot Rust (who landed on a sports airplane on Red Square) in the future, why in the past would such a serious structure as the air defense near Moscow not bother to mistake Mishka for an enemy bomber...

The complete truth about the last flight of the Olympic Bear at the 1980 Olympics.

I want to tell you a real story about the Olympic Bear, about the same one that took off on balloons from the Luzhniki Stadium on the closing day of the 1980 Olympics. The fact is that this information is not disclosed to a wide range of the public, and what is available is some kind of tales from the realm of science fiction, I mean information that can be gleaned from the media and the Internet. We will consider Mishka’s final project, and will omit the experiments that preceded this project, which are also legendary.

I know this information from a friend of my father, who was associated with the Olympic Committee in those years, and one day, while visiting us at home and in a state of good drinking, he divulged this secret, covered in darkness and fantasy. I didn’t pay much attention to this topic, and had already forgotten to think about it, until recently I accidentally saw a bunch of tales and legends on this topic on the Internet. I felt offended that instead of the truth, which the people might already know, some base nonsense is being presented. In general, there is no special secret there, there is simply a certain technology of the project itself and how it all turned out, and where our affectionate Misha finally landed. True, I cannot guarantee one hundred percent what I will tell you, but judging by logic, that’s how it was and it couldn’t have been any other way. And I have no doubts about the source of information; if this person said anything, it was only about what he actually knows.

To complete the picture, let's look at the versions that exist.

The first and official one. The bear took off from the Luzhniki Stadium with the help of balloons and helium, which he himself was pumped up with while being rubber, and landed 15 minutes later on Vorobyovy Gory. All. How he could do this is not explained. It’s so “simple” to take off and land at the planned location. It must be said that this version is very truthful, with the exception of the important details of controlling Mishka, the flight itself and the flight time. The question just arises, how did Potapych manage to do everything so smoothly himself? After all, the robotics of those times were hardly capable of such maneuvers with such a large and complex aircraft, which was called the Olympic Bear balloon. Well, at that time there was no such device that you could control it from a remote control on the ground, or rather, there was no time for such serious work, and it was necessary to make do with a simpler option than remote control.

Second version. The bear was controlled by a pilot, a test pilot, who was located in his right leg and controlled it with the help of balls. Up to the waist it was ballast, then there was helium in a rubber shell, plus the balls themselves which the pilot manipulated. The balls were divided into two equal groups, the control principle was that the pilot pulled that group of balls in the direction where he needed to turn. Everything seems logical. One can imagine that by “waddling” with the help of groups of balls from side to side (just by analogy with the gait of a bear), the Bear could be brought to the landing point, and then, having released the helium, sit down. The version is beautiful, but its authors did not take into account the fact that there is such an atmospheric phenomenon as wind, which could blow in a different direction, and given the high windage of the product, no amount of manipulation of the balls would force Mishkin to change course back to the wind. Do you believe that Soviet scientists and designers who worked on the project would not have taken into account such a factor as wind?! Soviet scientists, not Papua New Guinea scientists, those who sent autonomous modules to the moon, were the first to go into space, etc.

According to the third version, he fell somewhere in Moscow, hitting a beer stall (!) and two citizens. According to this version, it turns out that he could have attacked the Kremlin and the Kurchaty Institute, for example, or simply hit the windows of some residential building, delighting citizens who had not moved away from the sentimental ceremony of farewell and closing of the Olympic Games on TV. So to say: - Hello, here I am, Mikhail Potapych Toptygin - Olympic, in person, the same goofball I look like, flesh and blood, my dear, uncontrollable Russian bear!

Version four is the most fantastic and no less beautiful. Misha flew all the way to the Mozhaisk reservoir, also controlled by a pilot. The pilot seemed to be unable to cope with the landing and, due to strong winds, flew away from Moscow a hundred kilometers (!), where he undertook landing maneuvers to bleed off the helium, but gusts of wind strongly knocked him to the ground. The pilot died. Imagine the posthumous order of the Hero of the Soviet Union, to a test pilot who died on a secret mission while piloting the Olympic Bear! And it happened on the territory of the Vympel camp site. The version that he was shot down by valiant air defense somewhere in the Moscow region, I think, is not worth considering. Although who the hell is not joking, if they missed the German pilot Rust (who landed on a sports airplane on Red Square) in the future, why in the past would such a serious structure as the air defense near Moscow not bother to mistake Mishka for an enemy bomber...

These are actually all versions of Misha’s flight. You can come up with your own. For example, Misha fell into the Moscow River, swam to the Southern Port, taking with him a dozen buoys along the way, where he crashed into a tourist liner, which, after hitting Misha and the buoys, ran aground. The captain drowned himself out of shame and fear (fatal victims are a must, without them the version is a bit dry).

Now about how it really happened. But everything was not as smooth as the organizers would have liked, to say the least. But for the sake of order, let me remind you once again that it was in principle possible to make the Bear completely controllable from the ground, just as the lunar rovers were controlled via satellite by operators on the ground. But there was neither time nor such colossal costs for this, given that they did not want to authorize the project at all due to the wording that bears do not fly.

So. The bear was indeed rubber, filled with helium and with ballast from the waist to the bottom; there was also a pilot-operator cabin in the lower right paw, and there was also control using groups of balls for turning to the sides. But there was something that was not mentioned anywhere, and this is a very important detail in managing the facility. What can't an airship fly without? That's right - no engines. It was located in the back, or rather right on the soft spot, or the fifth point. It was an electric motor that rotated a screw or propeller, almost like Carlson's. Both the propeller and, of course, the engine were inside the product; the propeller was hidden by a piece of durable material, which at the same time allowed the outgoing flow from the blades to pass through. So Mishka was not a product balloon, it was still a product airship. The ballast used was batteries for the engine, the engine itself, the operator, and sand at the very bottom of the hind legs to cushion the landing. In the cockpit, the operator had control of the balls, altitude and flight direction sensors, a viewing slot disguised as a white stripe on the paw (it can be seen in the photo) with a good overview, and automatic and manual adjustment of helium bleeding. The pilot also had constant communication with the ground. There was no backup copy of Mishka. The reasons are different, from lack of money (millions of rubles were spent on the Olympics) to lack of time.

The flight had to be almost entirely controlled from the ground by the special flight headquarters in terms of all maneuvers of the object. The operator carried out commands, reported instrument readings and controlled the flying object. The operator was a test pilot. The headquarters on the ground was located in the area of ​​the observation deck on Vorobyovy Gory; there were also three mobile groups in cars in case of force majeure, which were on duty at Vorobyovskaya Embankment, Kosygina Street, and Universitetsky Prospekt. The landing site was a closed area between Kosygina Street and Universitetsky Prospekt; there was a lot of open space for landing there. Accordingly, people from the flight group were also on duty there.

The flight plan was simple. Misha takes off from Luzhniki to a certain height, already facing the direction of flight (towards the University and Sparrow Hills). Then, having reached his altitude by bleeding helium (this is what the only automation at the facility did), the operator turned on the engine and began to smoothly move in a straight line to the landing site. In case of deviation from the course, the operator had to use groups of balls to correct. Having reached the landing site, release the gas and sit down. This was actually the flight plan. The test flight took place on the eve of the closing of the games, where the object landed at the designated location without any incident. The flight also took place late in the evening. After which Mishka was deflated and taken back to the stadium. It is worth noting one more important detail. The flight across the landscape took place at a descending altitude, since the object flew to a hill (Sparrow Hills) and, accordingly, having reached a certain altitude, arrived at the landing site without changing the altitude corridor with a lower altitude from the ground. Which was convenient in terms of landing.

Now about the final flight itself. How it really happened. The beginning of the flight was documented by television footage. The bear soars smoothly into the night sky of Moscow. After which he occupied his high-altitude corridor and the operator turned on the engine at the lowest speed. Next, Mishka leaves the field of view of people at the stadium and enters the zone of direct control of the flight headquarters. All the way to the Moscow River, the flight was ideal in direction and altitude, but when crossing the river, somewhere in the middle of it, Misha began to drift to the left of the flight direction, probably it was a gust of wind from the river. The operator began to level the course with balls, but Mishka did not react and continued to turn to the left. A command was received from the ground to increase engine thrust during maneuvering. Perhaps this command was a fatal mistake. Due to the increased thrust, Misha did the opposite and instead of turning to the right - in the right direction, he spun even more to the left and was now flying with his back in the direction of flight, that is, he turned 180 degrees. The pilot had no choice but to turn off the thrust completely. But not only was he already flying backwards, he also began to spin around his own axis, as if in a tailspin in the same left direction. This is probably where the rumors come from about a strong wind that carried him away beyond Mozhai. Nothing other than a gust of wind can explain this behavior of the object, although the weather was not windy. People on the ground panicked, the situation was clearly getting out of control. Moreover, Mishka changed course, now he was moving exactly in the direction of the river, just along its flow, and at the same time he was spinning. The horror of the situation was that further along this direction there was a metro bridge with the Leninskie Gory metro station, and there was a possibility of crashing into it. Also, the plans did not include flying over the bridge, where the object could be noticed. Fortunately, the operator was able to stop Mishka’s rotation, but the bridge was inexorably approaching, and the landing site remained further and further away. On the ground, they make a decision to make an emergency landing on the river bank, Vorobyovskaya embankment near the bridge towards the University. The operator is given the order to release the gas and move to the right. Here everything depended on the operator’s flying skill, luck, and the air flow itself. And the air seemed to calm down over Mishka, and he managed to turn around and face the shore. The operator opened the valves and began releasing helium. And then there was a new misfortune, the gas began to come out too quickly, and Misha was rapidly descending, and it became clear that he would not reach the shore and would crash into the water, and this was absolutely no good, because that’s how he would swim to the South Port, to the chickens’ laughter . The Earth gives the order to press the secret red button under the left ball control lever, which the operator has not been told anything about before. The operator, without hesitation, presses it and immediately with a sharp push Mishka goes up. This triggered the jet nozzles of the secret jet engine in the soles of Mishka’s paws, and also in the upper paws. The overload was such that it is not clear how much g, but the operator lost consciousness.

When he woke up, it was winter, and he was crawling in his arms away from his burning plane. Black sky and white snow, the heat of fire and the frost of a winter forest. Then you yourself remember what happened. Hunger, cold, the sounds of cannonade... I ate bark, frostbite, my own, the hospital.... But the pilot-operator’s legs were never cut off. They cut off his hands. Why is history silent? Perhaps as an experiment.

In the zone, Misha Olympiysky behaved obediently, was released early, and remained living in Siberia. It’s closer there, somehow closer, than in these official, crummy capitals. Again nature, the green sea of ​​taiga. And the old woman calls him nothing less than “my affectionate Misha.” Otherwise, you can’t squeeze the stumps into a fist...

Here's the story. This is how it really happens in life. They say they found Mikhasya in the morning on the outskirts of the village, still alive, the drunk went to a neighbor for more moonshine, and met a connecting rod bear. He tore him hard, but strangely not to death. He really got tired of it quickly, he kept delirious about some kind of gas, he kept shouting: “The gas is going away, the gas is going away!” They didn't fill enough helium, whores! Just like that, he left as soon as the sun went down. He gave up the ghost, which means...

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 tenderness 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 where the Olympic bear landed.

Excursion into 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 - still remains one of the favorite and most famous folk heroes. It was created by Viktor Chizhikov, a book illustrator. By the way, it was the author who gave him the name Mikhail Potapovich Toptygin. This drawing was approved as a symbol of the Olympics due to the fact that it conveyed sports enthusiasm, strength, courage and perseverance. It was selected from over 40,000 options.

1980 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, for creating such a symbol Chizhikov should have become a millionaire. But a miracle did not happen in the Soviet Union; he was paid 2,000 rubles and forced to renounce the copyright to his brainchild.

Closing of the Games

Of course, the farewell ceremony added to the popularity of the symbol of the Olympics. After all, it is still considered that the closing of the Games was especially touching. At the moment when Mishka rose into the sky, many tears of emotion flowed, the stadium waved to the mascot of the 1980 Games. But few people thought about where the Olympic bear landed. These questions arose a little later.

And at that moment everyone was blinking away tears, listening to the heartfelt words of the song by Pakhmutova and Dobronravov with the title “Goodbye, our affectionate Misha.” By the way, very few people knew that the flight of the Olympic symbol was initially rejected by the chairman of the sports committee, Grammov. On the corresponding proposal, he wrote that bears do not 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 turned directly to the chairman of that time - Suslov. They approved and supported this idea.

Where is Mishka?

So, the six-meter symbol of the 1980 Games soared over the stadium and almost nothing is known about its further fate. Even today, there are two versions of where the Olympic bear landed. So, the most common option is the following. The symbol of the Olympics flew to the outskirts of Moscow, where it landed safely. True, according to the same version, he knocked down a beer booth and really scared two local men. This was the end of his adventures, 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 government of the Union did not even consider this option. After the exhibition, the talisman was sent to one of the basements, where rats eventually chewed it up.

But there is another version of how and where the Olympic bear landed. According to the second option, the talisman was carried 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, but Surov died during this operation. The talisman itself also fell into disrepair and was burned. But at present it is no longer possible to find where the 1980 Olympic Bear landed, since it was destroyed anyway.

How was Mishka created?

But many are interested not only in the future fate of the Games mascot. Not everyone understands how, back in 1980, it was possible to send a six-meter figure into a controlled flight. And indeed, coming up with the idea of ​​a touching farewell to the bear was much easier than bringing it to life.

The bear was created at a special institute of the rubber industry. A figure of a bear was first made for him. After that, the gluing men of the balloon workshop, together with specialists from the institute, created a figure of a bear. In case of force majeure, two identical dolls were made at once.

Flight training

But creating the bear turned out to be far from the most problematic stage. It was much more difficult to teach the mascot to fly. The fact is that this figure is absolutely not aerodynamic, sending it into a controlled flight seemed almost impossible. After all, according to the plan, it was supposed 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 of fire. At first, it was decided to abandon the idea of ​​a rubber doll altogether and send a man into flight. Such tests were carried out at one of the airfields near Moscow, engineer Trusov put on a specially prepared suit and soared sharply with the help of balloons to a great height. After that he was never found.

Another inventor proposed adjusting the control of a rubber doll using balls that could shift the weight of the object in the desired direction. If everything had worked out as planned, there would have been no questions about where the Olympic bear was. After all, according to the plan, a person was supposed to sit in his right paw, who would control the talisman. But the tests failed: the bear flew over the burning torch and burst into flames. The operator sitting in the doll died from burns.

After this, it was decided to attach the balls only to the ears and upper paws. Thanks to this, the bear did not roll over. According to the plan, it was supposed to land carefully in the Sparrow Hills area, but this plan could not be fully implemented.

35 years ago, on July 19, 1980, the XXII Summer Olympic Games opened in Moscow.
These were the first Games in the history of the Olympic movement in Eastern Europe, and also the first in a socialist country. The Olympic Games took place over 15 days in Moscow, with some competitions held in other cities of the USSR - Kyiv, Leningrad, Minsk and Tallinn.

This bear cub Misha, beloved by many adults and children, will turn 38 years old this year. It was a symbol of the XX Olympic Games held in Moscow in 1980.

It was invented by the artist in 1977 Victor Chizhikov. That's how it was.

Long before the start of the Olympics, in 1977, in the program “In the Animal World,” TV presenter Vasily Peskov conducted a survey of television viewers. Most of our fellow citizens cast their votes for the bear, as a truly Russian animal (although it was strongly “propped up” by the elk). Therefore, “at the top” it was decided that the mascot of the Moscow Olympics should be the club-footed Mishka.

The Organizing Committee of the Olympics began to receive drawings depicting bears. More than 40 thousand people took part in the competition. But a drawing that could really become a symbol of the Olympic Games in Moscow could not be found. After all, it was necessary to portray not just Toptygin, a Russian bear. His strength and power had to be combined with good nature and hospitality. He didn't have to be aggressive, but at the same time he had to be willing to stand up for himself. These are all the qualities that are inherent in the Russian soul.

Viktor Chizhikov tried to embody them in his image. He invented his Mishka smiling. To do this, the bear's face had to be given a white color, although such bears do not exist in nature. While working on the sketch, Victor’s experience as a children’s artist came in handy. And the director of the Moscow Zoo, Igor Sosnovsky, even determined the age of the bear cub - 3 months.

But the Olympic symbols were absent from the picture. The artist thought...


The creator of the Olympic "Toptygin" recalls that he immediately ruled out the option with a medal around his neck - it was trivial. The artist tried to “put” a cap on the bear, but his ears got in the way. When the deadlines began to draw near, the decision came by itself: Mishka, surrounded by Olympic rings, appeared to Chizhikov in a dream.
“I woke up instantly and wrote everything down. In the morning I went to the Olympic Committee, took the original and drew a belt. This option was accepted.”

The Olympic bear has truly become a favorite not only of the Olympic participants, but has received recognition all over the world. Viktor Chizhikov said that people from all over the world wrote to him. He corresponded with schoolchildren from the Polish city of Swidvena for five whole years, until they graduated from school. He sent them badges with a bear cub and books from which they studied Russian.


A letter came from America from schoolgirl Jennifer Shatter: “Dear Mr. Chizhikov, I have saved up 10 dollars, I am sending you a check, send me the Olympic Bear, I saw his photo in our newspaper.” At that time there were still few images of Mishka, but then a pendant appeared, a porcelain bear cub. Victor sent all this, but did not receive an answer, and it was stupid at that time to wait for a letter from the USA.

The following letter came from India: “I am a millionaire, I can come to the Olympics anyway, but I would like to receive an invitation from you.” Unfortunately, this letter arrived after the Olympics.

One day, merchant marine sailors told Viktor Alexandrovich the following story: when they were in New Guinea, they went into the hut of the local Papuan leader. So he had a poster with a picture of Mishka hanging on his wall!

By the way, for creating such a symbol Chizhikov should have become a millionaire. But a miracle did not happen in the Soviet Union; he was paid 2,000 rubles and forced to renounce the copyright to his brainchild.

The Olympic Bear became a symbol of the 1980 Games thanks to his good nature and charm. The final evening was especially memorable for the Olympic participants and spectators, when the stands of the Luzhniki stadium with tears in their eyes saw off Mishka flying away in balloons to the words of the wonderful song by Alexandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov “Goodbye, our affectionate Misha!”

Love for our Mishka still lives in the hearts of people all over the world.

However, the most mysterious Olympic legend is connected precisely with the famous symbol of the Games - the Olympic Bear, which, in front of millions of Soviet people, so beautifully flew away from the stadium on the closing day of the Olympics.
According to the official version, the bear, which, like the balloons, was made of rubber and inflated with helium, landed a quarter of an hour after takeoff on the Lenin Hills. But for people versed in technology, a reasonable question immediately arises: how could he land at the appointed place? After all, at that time the technology had not yet reached the level to fit Mishka with a built-in navigator controlled by a remote control...
There is also a version that inside the huge bear there was a human pilot who manipulated the balls and thus controlled the flight. Well, what if the wind blew in a different direction?
According to the third, unofficial version, everything turned out not so beautifully, and the bear collapsed in some residential area of ​​​​Moscow, knocking down a beer stall and with it two citizens standing at this stall.
The fourth version is tragic. They say, controlled from the inside by a pilot, the bear flew all the way to the Mozhaisk Reservoir. And then the unexpected happened: a strong wind rose, the balloon bear was blown to the ground, and the pilot died... This allegedly happened on the territory of the Vympel camp site. But, of course, the whole story was kept secret: why spoil people’s mood?

By the way, very few people knew that the flight of the Olympic symbol was initially rejected by the chairman of the sports committee, Grammov. On the corresponding proposal, he wrote that bears do not 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 turned directly to the chairman of the CPSU Central Committee of that time, Suslov. They approved and supported this idea.

Let's look at some versions in more detail.

Where is Mishka?

So, the six-meter symbol of the 1980 Games soared over the stadium and practically nothing is known about its further fate. So, the most common option is the following. The symbol of the Olympics flew to the outskirts of Moscow, where it landed safely. True, according to the same version, he knocked down a beer booth and really scared two local men. This was the end of his adventures, 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 government of the Union did not even consider this option. After the exhibition, the talisman was sent to one of the basements, where rats eventually chewed it up.

But there is another version of how and where the Olympic bear landed. According to the second option, the talisman was carried 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 at present it is no longer possible to find where the 1980 Olympic Bear landed, since it was destroyed anyway.

How was Mishka created?

But many are interested not only in the future fate of the Games mascot. Not everyone understands how, back in 1980, it was possible to send a six-meter figure into a controlled flight. And indeed, coming up with the idea of ​​a touching farewell to the bear was much easier than bringing it to life. The bear was created at a special institute of the rubber industry. First, a rubberized fabric was made for it. After this, the gluers of the balloon workshop, together with specialists from the institute, created the figure of a bear. In case of force majeure, two identical dolls were made at once.

Flight training

But creating the bear turned out to be far from the most problematic stage. It was much more difficult to teach the mascot to fly. The fact is that this figure is absolutely not aerodynamic, sending it into a controlled flight seemed almost impossible. After all, according to the plan, it was supposed 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 of fire. At first, it was decided to abandon the idea of ​​a rubber doll altogether and send a man into flight. Such tests were carried out at one of the airfields near Moscow, engineer Trusov put on a specially prepared suit and soared sharply with the help of balloons to a great height. After that he was never found.

Another inventor proposed adjusting the control of a rubber doll using balls that could shift the weight of the object in the desired direction. If everything had worked out as planned, there would have been no questions about where the Olympic bear was. After all, according to the plan, a person was supposed to sit in his right paw, who would control the talisman. But the tests failed: the bear flew over the burning torch and burst into flames. The operator sitting in the doll died from burns. After this, it was decided to attach the balls only to the ears and upper paws. Thanks to this, the bear did not roll over. According to the plan, it was supposed to land carefully in the Sparrow Hills area, but this plan could not be fully implemented.