Close call: Arizona Airspeed and Russia at the World Meet 1999 in Australia

posted Apr 27th, 2012 - It is time to continue with the coverage of the Russia 8way history that the NSL News began on 5 May 2012. The visit of the Russian 8way team Sky Panthers Barkli at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 had sparked the new topic, as several former 8way world champions are still active team members.

The last update on 10 March 2012 explained how the Russian 8way team came dangerously close to Arizona Airspeed in 1999 and lost the gold medals due to the penalty situation: "Russia had actually outscored Airspeed by six points (219 - 213) within working time. The judges did not like the Russian performance and deducted ten points after five infringements, while Airspeed lost only two points."

Sky Panther Oleg Shalamykhin had expressed the feelings of his team members: "We did not win silver medals - We lost the gold medals..."

4way until two weeks before the World Meet 2001

Several 8way members of 1999, including Oleg Shalamykhin, then joined 4way teams as player coaches, while Alexander Beloglazov continued his 8way project with good financial support by Anton Malevsky. He wanted to go after the 8way gold medals once again, this time at the World Meet 2001 in Spain. The following two years were a rollercoaster with a happy end for Russia.

The performance of the 8way team naturally dropped since Alexander Beloglazov had to replace some of the key players. The lack of progression made old and new 8way members wonder if there would be a chance for Russian gold medals in 2001 at all. Eventually, there were voices who brought up the option of bringing back members of the 1999 lineup, who were neither opposed to the 8way project nor to the comeback idea.

There was still a major obstacle since Vladimir Pavlenko and Oleg Shalamykhin had a contract with Igor Sitnikov's 4way team, and the boss did not agree to let them go. However, destiny changed the situation when Igor Sitnikov injured himself seriously during a training camp. He changed his mind in the ambulance on the way to the hospital: "You are free now..."

	Surprising 8way lineup at the World Meet 2001 in Spain

Next day, Vladimir Pavlenko and Oleg Shalamykhin were back in the 8way team after a 2-year break, and Oleg Shalamykhin remembered the first training jumps: "All members were shining with happiness after landing. We all understood that we still had a chance for gold medals in Spain."

However, there were only two weeks left before the start of the World Meet 2001. The Russian 8way team struggled to complete 70 training jumps before it was time to travel to Grenada where one of the most dramatic events in the history of Formation Skydiving competition would unfold.

Communication technology in 2001 was different compared to the Facebook age, and it was a surprise for most people in Spain when almost exactly the same Russian 8way lineup of 1999 was finally registered for the World Meet 2001. The 2000 lineup was expected to compete in Grenada, and nobody knew what had changed. Then the 8way drama began.

Arizona Airspeed lineup in 2001

The 8way teams completed two rounds on the first meet day. Russia was two points behind Arizona Airspeed after one infringement, which caused a 2-point deduction by then. Oleg Shalamykhin said that his team had dinner, prepared the following rounds and went to the hotel thinking that the day was over. They had seen Airspeed and the Brazilian team go to the hotel, as well.

8way veteran Alexander Beloglazov wanted to wait for the official announcement, but the team members persuaded him to go to the hotel. Meet management and announcements had not been perfect on the first meet day, Oleg Shalamykhin recalled, and the official announcement might have never come. So the Russian 8way team just followed the experienced Airspeed competitors.

The complete team arrived at the hotel, gathered in one room and had a glass of wine. The next moment, delegation member Alexey Kastornov, the only Russian with a mobile phone, came running to the hotel room and said that a 15-minute call for Round 3 came just after the team had left the dropzone.

	Cheers and celebration for the winners and for great sports

Oleg Shalamykhin said that his whole team ran to the car and raced back to the competition site - but it was too late. The judges had already posted a zero for Round 3. Airspeed had made it to the jump plane in time and enjoyed a 17-pointer on the scoreboard. The Airspeed members had mobile phones and knew early enough that Round 3 would be completed this evening.

However, Airspeed did not appreciate the situation. In fact, team captain Jack Jefferies was upset and unhappy about the lack of communication with the Russian team. He approached the devastated Russians and encouraged them not to give up: "Guys, do not worry, everything will be fine. We will make sure that you can jump Round 3. It is not THEIR competition (pointing in the direction of the judges and organizers) - this is OUR competition!"

Jack Jefferies and Alexander Beloglazov worked together late into the night to draft an official request to the organizers. Then they went to all 8way team captains and asked them to sign the petition. Oleg Shalamykhin remembered that all teams except France signed the petition. However, the pressure on France was eventually too strong, and the French 8way team gave up the opposition.

Russian 8way team and fans at the awards banquet

The Russia 8way team actually did Round 3 later in the meet, after Round 5 or Round 6, and outscored Airspeed by a point. The US team was still up by five points after Round 6 and carried a 3-point lead into Round 10, even though Russia had become the stronger team in the second half of the meet.

The final act of the incredible drama was the actual Round 10, and it began with the draw for the sequence. The Russian team liked the sequence and still saw a chance if they performed very well and if Airspeed delivered only an average result for the round. The atmosphere was extremely tense, as Oleg Shalamykhin remembered:

"We were approached by many people and had to answer many questions, all related to the current situation. It hurt our preparations for the final jump very much, even though we really wanted to answer them. I felt that I should rather be prepared for the jump, instead of speculating and maybe dreaming..."

	Arizona Airspeed and Russia minutes after Round 10

The moment of truth was coming, no matter what, and those 50 seconds of Round 10 in 2001 meant a lot for the Russian competitors, maybe more than anything else in their life times...

Oleg Shalamykhin said that the final round wasn't that good: "At the beginning of the jump, after the execution of Block 4, before the Hope Diamond, I was a little off level, and we lost a few seconds. After landing, we thanked each other, but we were not too excited. We thought that our performance would not win a gold medal at a World Meet. Then we saw the US 8way team, and their smiles told us that they had a good jump. Alright, that was probably it..."

Oleg Shalamykhin took a break in a quiet corner to reflect about life and the competition. Finally he decided to go back and watch the final outcome, even though he does not like to watch the live judging.

Happy end after 2001 rollercoaster

The whole crowd was in the viewing area to watch the final showdown. The Russian Round 10 was first and showed a 23-pointer. Airspeed was next, and the Russian team noticed instantly that their own engineering was the faster one. Oleg Shalamykhin stood close to his long-time friend Vladimir Pavlenko, and together they counted the points.

Approximately 8 seconds before the end of the working time Vladimir Pavlenko whispered: "I think we won." He was right when the final screen showed a 19-pointer for Airspeed. Oleg Shalamykhin could not believe it yet, even though the entire hangar exploded with applause and cheers. He only remembered that it seemed like the whole skydiving world was happy for the Russian 8way team.

	image by: Omniskore

His team mostly appreciated how sincere Arizona Airspeed was in congratulating their tough opponents. The 8way Excalibur sword was in Russian possession for the first time in history. It was difficult or impossible for anybody to imagine the feelings of the Russian 8way team members. Oleg Shalamykhin returned to Russia with a special Tshirt made for the occasion and given to him by Solly Williams. He will never forget that a very wealthy Russian skydiver told him at home that he "would not hesitate to give all my money, my whole business to be wearing this Tshirt." Oleg Shalamykhin still wears it...

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