Postcard from Bishkek

 

A few years ago I was invited to consider an entry into a book of “influential” people in Kyrgyzstan … it was a great compliment, especially as I would have been one of the few foreigners to be included … but I turned it down.

Basically, it was a commercial venture where those to be featured could provide the text and photographs, (or the publishers could prepare the material and they could then veto it … if they were so inclined, then they could also place an advert on their pages), they paid a fee and received a certain number of copies free.  They could also buy additional copies to give as presents to family and friends, business partners, clients … and anyone else they wanted.  I did the maths and decided it was “good business” … for the publishers, that is.  If I had chosen to participate, the major benefit to me would be a boost to my ego.

It also made me wonder how genuine the “judgement” that I was one of the “influential people” in Kyrgyzstan really was.

However, when they gave me their sales pitch, they showed me a copy of a previous edition and as I thumbed through it I got a surprise.

“I know that man!”, I thought to myself and checked: Kanibek Osmonalievich Osmonoliev; yes, that was him alright. I quickly scanned the text to see what they said about him.      

I knew him as a quiet and softly spoken, serious minded, “no-nonsense” character and we had sat together in meetings on several occasions.  Now I discovered that he was a sportsman … a weightlifter and the first Kyrgyz to win a Gold Medal at the Olympic Games.

At that time, oversight of government policy for Tourism was under the remit of the Committee on Tourism, Sport and Youth Policy under the Kyrgyz Government. The three areas in the portfolio may seem a bit strange as “bedfellow” but it was a hangover from the days and structure of the Soviet Union.  It seemed to be the same in most of the former Soviet countries.

Tourism was not seen as as a business but as a sort of branch of “social policy” just as Sport and Youth affairs were.  It took some times before the penny dropped that whereas Tourism should be a revenue earner, bringing taxes to the budget, and should be fostered as such – whereas the other two were “spending departments” of the administration.

Then the Committee was disbanded in a government reshuffle and its duties spread between different ministries.  After several more reshuffles, it now sits in the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Information.  Once again, this particular combination may seem a little strange … but Tourism is linked with Culture in several countries … perhaps most notably in Turkey.

 Kanibek Osmonalievich was born in the village of Beisheke, in the Kemin district of Chui oblast on 19th November, 1953 … which makes him a little bit younger than me … into a family of five children.  Life has it’s difficulties and before he was two years old, his mother found herself a single parent.

He seems to have been a good student and one of his relatives intervened when they heard that the plan was for him, upon finishing school, to take a training course as a driver in order to earn some money to help support the family.  They persuaded his mother to let him continue his studies and he enrolled in the Kyrgyz State University.

It was as a student that he took up weightlifting, the sport that was to give him not only an Olympic Gold Medal, but two European Championships and four World Championships.  As is so often the case, the came about in a strange serendipitous way – almost by accident.  When it came to choosing a Sports section, he visited the Gy with a friend who, jokingly, suggested that they try their strength … indicating a set of barbells.  Kanibek lifted one with some 70 kilos of weights … and managed to do some sit-ups … which attracted the attention of the weightlifting coach … who managed to convince him – and the rest of the team – that he had a future in the sport.

By the time he was in his third year at the University, he had already become a Master of Sport in the discipline … leaving the competition reeling in his wake.   In 1975, he both graduated and became the Youth Champion of the Soviet Union.

His final thesis for his degree was : “The origin and development of weightlifting in the Kyrgyz State University” … that may seem a little esoteric and specialized but apparently it wasn’t by any means a lightweight (pun intended) work … drawing on a wide range of archival material from both the university and, indeed, from around the country.

In fact it was typical … in that as his everyday career outside sport, that is, he became a History teacher.

In 1975, he was also selected for the National Team – the is the Weightlifting team of the USSR and in 1978 he went on to win both the European and the World Championships.

When it came to the Moscow Olympics in 1980, there was intense competition for the medals – with four contestants tied on a total of 245 kg – but as Osmanaliev’s had the best individual result in the Clean and Jerk … he took the gold medal.

The Moscow Olympics are sometimes criticized as being weakened by the American led boycott but Osmonliev’s results in winning the World Championships in 1978 and 1981, as well as the European Championships four years running, (1978 to 1981), show that this was not necessarily the case.

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In 1981, he also went on to set a World Record in the Flyweight category of the sport.

After retiring from the competition, Osmonoliev returned to Frunze, (Bishkek), where he continued to teach History … but he also became a coach (becoming Head Coach of the Soviet team and later of the Kyrgyz national team) and took on a role in the administration of the Sport – becoming President of the Weightlifting Federation – which took him into government service … which is where I came across him.

 

 

 

 

Tags: For_the_Record, People