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Josip Broz Tito
In ancient Greece, the home of the Olympic Games, the period between the two festivals of the most prepared athletes was called the Olympics. It lasted four years. When the Games were held, the wars were interrupted. Peace reigned. The modern games were renewed in Athens in 1896. They were not at the end of the Olympics only when peace was broken in modern civilization.
Olympism suffered because of the First and Second World Wars. Today, in peacetime, the war of humanity with the corona virus has taken its toll.
For the first time in history, the competitors will not be reflected in the leap year, but in the so-called idle. Tokyo was supposed to host the XXXII Olympic Games 2020, but necessity postponed the celebration of a healthy body and a healthy spirit for this summer (July 23 – August 8).
Finnish beauty queen Armi Kusela, who is 86 years old today, had a solemn role after the final match at the Olympic football tournament in Helsinki, on August 2, 1952. Shortly before the honor of giving flowers to the players of the two national teams, she was chosen Miss World.
Once again, as four years earlier against the Swedes at Wembley (3: 1), the Yugoslav team lost the battle for gold, and for a long time resisted the Hungarian light cavalry, which reached the finals with a goal difference of 18: 2. Vladimir Beara was first defeated by the opponent’s captain Ferenc Puskas in the 70th minute, and two minutes before the end of the match, Zoltan Cibor shook the net – 2: 0. Just as Miroslav Brozović stood gloomily on the podium in London while the winning anthem was being played, so did the pity for gold appear on the face of Ivica Horvat, the leader with the armband around 1952.
Beara, Stankovic, Crnkovic…
In the first round, Yugoslavia defeated India with 10: 1. The Soviet Union, whose athletes returned to the Olympic Games, slipped against Bulgaria with 2: 1, and all three goals fell in the first overtime. Fate wanted the warring parties to meet in the next game.
In the light of the Resolution of the Inform Bureau from 1948, by which the disobedient Yugoslavia was expelled from the organization of the communist parties at the dictation of the USSR, that match was really more than a game. At the Ratina Stadium in Tampere, two opposing views of the post-war world from the eyes of two uncompromising leaders met. Yugoslav and Soviet footballers played among themselves, and in fact Tito and Stalin played against each other.
Both locker rooms were overwhelmed with nervousness. The burden was placed on the backs of the players of the two teams by various commissioners and envoys, imposing on them the crucial political and ideological significance of the outcome. Just before going out to the match, Tito’s telegram was read to our frightened and faded players.
– Our legs were cut off. Now you play when Tito writes to you – Bear once recalled.
One of the greatest football players of his time, Zlatko Tchaikovsky, addressed his teammates in the style of a military leader who knows that fate can be cruel on the battlefield.
– Today we become either heroes or cowards for people at home!
The judge was Englishman Arthur Ellis. Beara, Stankovic, Crnkovic, Tchaikovsky, Horvat, Boskov, Ognjanov, Mitic, Vukas, Bobek, Zebec came out on the field in blue jerseys. The oldest football fans still know that line-up by heart, almost seven decades later.
In the first half, in front of 17,000 or so spectators, only one team played. With the goals of Mitic in the 29th minute, Ognjanov in the 33rd and Zebec in the 44th, Yugoslavia took the lead with 3: 0. Special envoys from Moscow read the letter to the Soviets during the break.
Mauser shot
As soon as he started from the center again, Bobek increased it to 4: 0. Bobrov reduced, but soon Zebec returned the Yugoslavs with a four-goal advantage with his second goal. At 5: 1, Mitic did not use the colossal opportunity, because they unsuccessfully wanted to play face to face with the goalkeeper. The Balkan mentality, or who knows what, suddenly the sure victory of the “blues” was no longer so certain. Players in red shirts spread their wings with two quick goals. In just 12 minutes, from 77th to 89th, they scored four.
Bobrov, one of the world’s leading players at the time, was a triple scorer. Five years earlier in Zagreb, he had a meniscus operation on the famous Dr. Ferdinand Grospić, who performed the same procedure on Mitic’s knee in 1947. The Yugoslav and Soviet football players had a friendly relationship from the previous days, but the Soviets, at the dictates of the party, simply kept silent in their mutual meetings.
5: 5 remained in overtime. It flinched when the ball hit Beara’s tripod. Then no penalties were taken, but in two days, on July 22, a new match was played at the same place. The three-member selection committee (Milorad Arsenijević, Aleksandar Tirnanić, Leo Lemešić) and coach Toni Pogačnik had the required task to restore composure to the players in 48 hours.
A shot from a “Mauser” pistol in a villa on Brdo near Kranj, where Tito was staying, announced the final victory of Yugoslavia against the USSR. The car went downhill for a short time, because Bobrov brought the Reds to the lead in the 6th minute, but Mitic made a turnaround in the 19th, Bobek from the penalty spot in the 29th and Tchaikovsky in the 54th – 3: 1.
The victory resonated strongly in the world, and in the Soviet Union it was almost silent.
Yugoslav footballers received hurricane encouragement. In the quarterfinals, Norway was defeated 5: 3, and in the semifinals, West Germany fell 3: 1, which, like the USSR, returned to the Olympic scene in 1952.
Rasformirani CDSA
Today’s CSKA from Moscow originates from 1911. Throughout history, it changed its name, and in 1951 it became the Sports Club of the Central House of the Soviet Army, abbreviated CDSA.
Since he was a dick of the USSR, and he gave the most members of the national team to the 1952 Olympic team, he paid tribute. It was disbanded on August 18, shortly after the Soviet debacle in Tampere. It was renewed under the same name in the fall of 1953 by a decree of the Minister of Defense. CSKA has been called since 1960.
Racin’s shock
During the match, Yugoslavia agreed with the transmission of two radio journalism legends Radivoje – Raća Marković from Belgrade and Hrvoje Macanović from Zagreb.
– When I saw that ball going towards the goal, I thought: is it possible that after 5: 1 it will be 5: 6. And just something cut in my throat. I realized I couldn’t say another word. I lost the gift of speech. It was such a shock. And fear, of course. Hrvoje had to continue the broadcast – Markovic described in his book “Goal, goal, goal” the moment when the Soviets hit the tripod in overtime.
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