The world's oldest Sunday British Observer ranked the long-forgotten Soviet athlete Boris Onishchenko in first place among the greatest scammers in the history of sports. And there was a reason for it.
Boris Onishchenko
According to the British, this first place is explained by the fact that Onishchenko’s deception occurred at the Olympic Games with their Olympic oath to fight honestly, in the sport that is called “musketeer”, and which most of all implies knighthood. And what the British called that fraud was original, “to the point of genius.”
And yet, a louder scandal with Soviet athletes in world sports has never happened before or since.
The USSR pentathlon team is the champion of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Far left: Boris Onishchenko.
This happened at the XXI Olympiad in 1976 in Montreal, at which the USSR pentathlon team was considered the favorite, and Boris Onishchenko was the best fencer of the Soviet team.
During Onishchenko’s fight with the leader of the British team, Jeremy Fox, the Briton suddenly pulled back, and Onishchenko’s sword clearly did not hit him, but for some reason the judge’s light behind Fox lit up, and the inflicted injection was recorded. At Fox's request, Onishchenko's sword was examined by a weapons expert, and a defect was found in it in the form of some strange wiring at the base of the handle.
Checking Onishchenko's sword
The suspicious sword was replaced, the match with the British team continued, and it ended with a score of 6:3 in favor of the Soviet athletes. Moreover, Onishchenko easily defeated Fox with a “replaced” clean sword, with which he then won eight more of the next nine fights with other opponents, becoming the leader in the individual competition.
A few days later, after half of the scheduled fencing matches had taken place, the appeal jury invited representatives of the Soviet Olympic delegation to familiarize themselves with the hidden device found in the sword handle, and with their decision to disqualify Onishchenko and the entire USSR pentathlon team in the team event.
Boris Onishchenko watches someone else's fight
The injections inflicted by the fencer on the opponent were then recorded on the basis of a wire system passing through the fencer’s weapon and his clothing to an electrical device, which recorded the injection by lighting the judge’s light.
In Boris Onishchenko's sword, experts found a button built into the handle and disguised with a stitch, pressing which closed the electrical circuit and turned on the light bulb without stabbing the enemy with a sword.
Onishchenko denied that the discovered device belonged to his sword, but Soviet Olympic officials did not believe him and immediately isolated him, removing him from Olympic Village to the ship. And the next day, the Chairman of the USSR State Sports Committee and the head of the Soviet Olympic delegation, Pavlov, made an official statement in which all the accusations were admitted and the act of the Soviet athlete was condemned.
Onishchenko was flown to Moscow, where he was disqualified for life, deprived of all sports awards, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, the title of police captain and expelled from the CPSU.
The Western press changed Onishchenko’s surname to “Disonischenko”
But to the credit of sports experts, in their coverage of this story there was more bewilderment than gloating - the USSR national team was considered the undisputed favorite and was confidently heading towards gold medals in the pentathlon, and Onishchenko, even without any manipulations with wiring, was the strongest fencer of the team.
In addition, the next Olympics was in Moscow, and the last thing the Soviet delegation needed was any scandals, especially such loud ones. And the scandal was all over the world (although the USSR never found out about it) - in those days, sports television broadcasts were constantly interrupted by showing a story about the disqualification of the Soviet team.
There was only one explanation for what happened - Boris Onishchenko was then 39 years old, it was his last Olympics, and he really wanted to retire from sports as an Olympic champion. So the aging athlete committed this forgery, despite the fact that he had already won everyone, out of a panicky, unmotivated fear that something might not work out.
The further fate of Boris Onishchenko is unknown - there is no information about it in the post-Soviet press, and in the Western press various rumors circulate, either about “mines in Siberia”, or about “drunk himself and died”, or about his subsequent forgiveness and management of some Kyiv sports base . But most of all, the rumor is true that after disqualification, Onishchenko worked as a taxi driver in Kyiv.
And it also appears that Boris Onishchenko was not only one of the greatest cheaters in sports history, but also one of the greatest victims in the history of sports. Victims of victory at any cost...
He had it all - crazy speed, brilliant technique, amazing composure and remarkable intelligence. He could go down in the history of world sports as a great champion, which, in fact, he was. But he was remembered for completely different reasons - as the author of an unprecedented fraud in the history of the Olympic Games. Today Boris Onishchenko turns 78 years old.
Soviet pentathlete Boris Onishchenko came to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal with the goal of winning two gold medals at once. He already had a team victory - he became the best four years ago in Munich together with Pavel Lednev And Vladimir Shmelev. But Onishchenko’s personal triumph did not happen, although there was nothing left before him. Leading after four events, he unsuccessfully ran the cross and lost the gold to the Hungarian Andras Baltso. “Since this happened, you need to provide yourself with such an advantage before running that it is impossible to miss even with a weak result in cross-country,” Onishchenko said before the Games. Readers are waiting for a continuation like “And to achieve an advantage, he trained for days without rest”? No matter how it is! The Munich vice-champion decided to seek his fortune as an electrical engineer.
In the spring of 1976, the last pre-Olympic tournament was held in London. Sometimes the strongest athletes miss such competitions, but then almost all the top athletes from Europe came to the capital of England. The competition was unconditionally won by Soviet pentathletes, which was not a surprise. But the leader of the British Jeremy Fox I decided to analyze videos of fencing matches - it was in this form that ours gained a decisive advantage. And in one of the fragments, Fox saw something incomprehensible - Boris Onishchenko’s blade clearly passed by, and the light bulb that announced the injection still lit up!
Fox skipped through this episode several times and was never able to see where the Soviet athlete ended up. His coach didn’t find the answer either. Mike Proudfoot. The invited specialists made it clear that, most likely, there were problems with the equipment - the electrical circuit spontaneously closed and gave out incorrect information. The British decided not to make any extra noise before the Olympics.
The Olympic tournament in modern pentathlon started on a hot July day. After the first event, show jumping, the USSR team was in fourth place. This type has never been successful for our athletes. But in fencing, Soviet pentathletes turned around full program. Victory in this event in one fell swoop allowed them to rise to second place with a minimal gap behind the British team. In the battle with the British, everything was revealed. Danni Natingale And Adrian Parker quickly fell victims to Onishchenko’s pressure and technique. The best remained in the opponents' camp Jeremy Fox. The British athlete realized that he had gotten too close to his opponent, finding himself within striking distance. Thanks to his excellent coordination, he managed to take a step back before Onishchenko lunged. The blade of the pentathlete from Poltava cut the air... and at that moment the lantern lit up! There is a jab in favor of the USSR! The hall is buzzing, Fox is dumbfounded.
Proudfoot jumps onto the platform and demands an investigation. First, the scoreboard was analyzed - no problems. Contacts and wires are OK. “Your sword, monsieur,” the referee says, almost like in a movie. Onishchenko is not particularly eager to give it away, but nothing can be done. The result stunned everyone - a secret button was built into the handle of Onishchenko’s sword, by pressing which he could at any time close the circuit that records the injection on the scoreboard. The organizers were completely at a loss. The arbitrator stood with a sword in his hands and did not know what to do with it. In the end, the weapon was replaced, and with the correct sword Onishchenko won the fight against Fox, and after that he won eight more.
At the end of the second day of the tournament, the disqualification of Onishchenko was announced, and with him the entire USSR national team. Only Lednev and Boris Mosolov who competed only for personal awards. Chairman of the then State Sports Committee Sergey Pavlov(by the way, our best sports boss of all time, who is definitely worth talking about separately) subjected Onishchenko to public condemnation. The athlete was immediately expelled from the Olympic Village, deprived of the title of ZMS, membership in the CPSU and disqualified for life.
It seemed that the history of the grandiose fraud had come to an end. There is only one answer to one question: why? After all, Onishchenko was the best fencer in the world pentathlon even without any secret buttons. Apparently, the answer lies on the surface - in Montreal the Soviet athlete was already 38 years old, these Games would probably have been his last. And taking personal gold at any cost became an obsession for Onishchenko.
The Western press sometimes recalls this incident and each time talks about new consequences for the athlete. From the most delusional ones like “drunk and died” and “mines in Siberia” to “guest of honor as a victim of a criminal regime that forced athletes to cheat.” The truth, as usual, lies in the middle. At least, it is known that Boris Onishchenko still lives in Kyiv, but has no desire to communicate with journalists. He truly is not only a sports scammer, but also a victim. Not the regime, but his own blinding ambition, which forced him to commit fraud for the sake of victory at any cost.
Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1972, deprived of it in 1976). He played for Kyiv (Dynamo).
World champion:
silver medalist:
bronze medalist:
Champion of the USSR 1969-1970, 1976 in the individual competition.
At the 1976 Games, during the second event, fencing, Onishchenko defeated all his opponents. During the fight with the leader of the British team, Jeremy Fox, he unexpectedly deviated, and Onishchenko’s sword did not hit him; however, the light behind Fox, signaling the injection, still lit up.
After an examination of Onishchenko’s sword was carried out, it turned out that a “button” disguised with suede was built into the handle of the sword; By pressing this button, Onishchenko could at any time close the electrical circuit, which turned on the judge's light, and the injection was recorded.
Onishchenko was disqualified, and the USSR national team - the favorite of the competition in the team competition - lost the opportunity to fight for medals. The reaction from the Soviet delegation followed immediately: Chairman of the USSR State Sports Committee Sergey Pavlov, having convicted Onishchenko, announced his lifelong disqualification.
Exist different versions when fraud was suspected. According to one of them, already during the Olympic tournament, when during one of Onishchenko’s fights a dubious injection was recorded. According to another, even during the pre-Olympic tournament in London, Fox, studying video recordings of fights, noticed something incomprehensible, and experts confirmed that one of the injections inflicted on Onishchenko was fake; however, the British did not make a fuss until the Olympic competition.
Boris Grigorievich Onishchenko(b. September 19, 1937, Bereznyaki village, Khorolsky district, Poltava region) - Soviet pentathlete.
Honored Master of Sports (1971, deprived of it in 1976). He played for the Kyiv - sports society "Dynamo".
World champion:
silver medalist:
bronze medalist:
Champion of the USSR 1969-1970, 1976 in the individual competition.
At the 1976 Games, during the second event, fencing, Onishchenko defeated all his opponents. During the fight with the leader of the British team, Jeremy Fox, he suddenly leaned back, and Onishchenko’s sword did not touch him, stopping almost 15 cm from Fox’s chest; however, the light behind Fox, signaling the injection, still lit up. Fox demanded an examination of Onishchenko's weapons. However, initially there was no talk of fraud - a technical failure was assumed, a spontaneous short circuit of the electrical fixation circuit of the injection. An examination of Onishchenko’s sword revealed the following: a “button” disguised with suede was built into the handle of the sword; By pressing this button, Onishchenko could at any time close the electrical circuit, which turned on the judge's light, and the injection was recorded.
After the sword with a secret button was replaced, Onishchenko - the best fencer in the USSR team in modern pentathlon of that period - again defeated the Englishman with an “honest” sword, after which he continued to win, winning eight of the remaining nine fights.
Onishchenko was disqualified, and the USSR national team - the favorite of the competition in the team competition - lost the opportunity to fight for medals. The reaction from the Soviet delegation followed immediately: the Chairman of the USSR State Sports Committee Sergei Pavlov, having condemned Onishchenko, announced his lifelong disqualification. He was also stripped of all titles, awards and membership in the CPSU.
There are different versions of when fraud was suspected. One - directly during the Olympic tournament, when during the fight between Onishchenko and the Englishman Adrian Parker, a dubious injection was recorded, which was noticed by Jeremy Fox. However, according to another version, even during the pre-Olympic tournament in London, Fox, studying videos of fencing matches, noticed something incomprehensible, and experts confirmed that one of the injections inflicted on Onishchenko was fake; however, the British did not make a fuss until the Olympic competition.
