Nel 1976, il campione 23enne di nuoto pinnato Shavarsh Karapetyan stava finendo una corsa quando vide un filobus tuffarsi in un lago. Si è tuffato per 15 piedi nell’acqua gelata e inquinata 40 volte, dando un calcio a una finestra e portando in salvo 37 persone che stavano annegando. 20 sono sopravvissuti, ma il salvataggio ha posto fine alla sua carriera.

Context: it finished his career because the water was full of sewage and broken glass and he developed pneumonia and sepsis which lead to lung damage. This courageous achievement wasn’t initially recognised due to censorship laws surrounding accidents but he was eventually awarded medals and recognition after Pravda reported on it in 1982.

Fun fact: this wasn’t the first time he did something brave, a few years earlier he was on a bus that went out of control and he successfully steered it away from going off a cliff.