Determined To Rise Above This


Shavarsh wasn’t ready to accept the fact that 17-time world champion era has ended. The thought wasn’t giving him any satisfaction and as they say, age is just a number, Sarvarsh proved it right. In late 1976, he traveled to Yerevan (Armenia’s capital). There he started training in the lake where he did 12 mile runs round to gain his lost strength. One day, while he was busy with his training he noticed something in the lake. What was that? The episode changed his life forever.

An Accident


He was doing his usual 12 miles around training in the lake when he saw a trolleybus that has fallen off the road. The bus was slowly going inside the frozen lake when he noticed that there are people inside struggling for their lives. Shavarsh was surprised to see the bystanders who kept staring at the drowning bus and not one of them was ready to help. He knew the emergency services might take a long time to reach, he decided to act!

The Bus Was Sinking

Shavarsh watched the bus drown slowly inside the waters and without thinking twice he jumped to help them. Not caring about his life he was inside the frozen lake because he knew that only he could help them before the emergency service arrived at the scene. He told the people not to enter the lake as it would be risky and he jumped when he thought the time was right

The Water Was Dirty

Not only the water was freezing but was muddy too. Shavarsh was struggling to locate the bus as he couldn’t see anything because of the mud. Relied on his sole instinct he spotted the drowning bus. He smashed the window of the bus and took one of the passengers out of it. One after another he brought all the passengers out. Did you know how many he saved that day?

Rescued 20 People


The first passenger he rescued was unconscious and it took Shavarsh a while to bring him out of the lake as he had to carry him outside. Fortunately, the emergency service didn’t take long and arrived on the scene. They saw this man going in and coming out of the water in a loop trying to save the passengers. His left leg was severely hurt by the glass of the window which tried smashing with his leg. But that cut didn’t stop him even for a second. He kept going in and rescued 20 passengers.

Gave Them New Life

What would have happened if that day Shavarsh decided not to train? Things would have been different and these 20 people whom he gave the second life wouldn’t have seen the next sunrise. It is the discipline that makes an athlete a champion. Their constant urge to beat themselves to bring out the best in them saved those people from the mishappening.