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Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, residence = , birth_date = , birth_place =

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Georgia, the Georgian SSR, or simply Georgia, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its second occupation (by the Red Army) in 1921 to its independence in 1991. Cotermin ...

, death_date = , death_place =

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, height = , weight = , website = , country = , sport =

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

, event = , collegeteam = , universityteam = , club = , team = , turnedpro = , partner = , former_partner = , coach = , retired = , coaching = , worlds = , regionals = , nationals = , olympics = , paralympics = , highestranking = , pb = , medaltemplates = , show-medals = Sergei Chalibashvili ( ka, სერგო შალიბაშვილი; ; 22 June 1962 – 16 July 1983) was a Georgian competitive diver from the

. He earned a silver medal at the European Youth Championship in 1978 in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, diving from the 10-meter

diving platform A diving platform or diving tower is a type of structure used for competitive diving. It consists of a vertical rigid "tower" with one or more horizontal platforms extending out over a deep pool of water. In platform diving, the diver jumps from ...

Death

Chalibashvili died at the age of 21 following an accident during competition at the

1983 Summer Universiade The 1983 Summer Universiade, also known as the 1983 World University Games or XII Summer Universiade, took place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between July 1 and 12, 1983. Over 2400 athletes from 73 countries participated. It was the first time Ca ...

, when he hit his head on the platform while attempting a reverse 3½ somersault in the tuck position. He fell into a week-long coma and died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

, never having regained consciousness.

Greg Louganis Gregory Efthimios Louganis (; born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic Diving (sport), diver who won gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics on the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second ...

was a participant in the competition and witnessed the incident. He remembered what had happened as follows:

I had a premonition. I closed my eyes and plugged my ears. I knew something terrible had happened when I felt the tower shake. I heard screaming. I ran to the edge of the platform and saw a lot of blood in the pool. I wanted to jump in after him, but people were yelling, 'Don't touch him! Don't touch him!' I couldn't watch anymore.

Bob Rydze, the U.S. diving coach at the Edmonton games, blamed the tragedy on the athlete's coach, saying that Chalibashvili had been having difficulty with the dive all week in practice. In answer to a journalist's question as to why Rydze did not warn Soviet coaches, he replied that he would have appeared to be interfering in the Soviet coaches' business. According to Olympic diving champion

Elena Vaytsekhovskaya Elena Sergeyevna Vaytsekhovskaya (; born 1 March 1958) is a former Russian Diving (sport), diver. She competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics, 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, where she won the gold medal in the Diving at the 1976 Summer Olympics � ...

, Chalibashvili went to the Universiade without a coach. According to reports, Chalibashvili's coach was his mother, Thais Muntean, who worked at the department of water sports at the Georgian State Institute of Physical Education (now dissolved and converted into a chair at the State University). She was absent from the competition. Subsequently, she grieved the loss of her only son and gave praise for the care given to him in an Edmonton hospital. A few years later a similar dive killed Nathan Meade (1966 – 1987), an Australian athlete in training. Greg Louganis earned a gold medal with the same dive at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

. At the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

, there was a memorial scholarship named after Chalibashvili for members of the university's swim team. Chalibashvili is the only

water sport Water sports or aquatic sports are sport, sports activities conducted on waterbodies and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * ...

s athlete known to have died as a direct result of a mishap during training or competition at an international

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

such as the World University Games,

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalibashvili, Sergei 1962 births 1983 deaths Accidental deaths in Alberta Competitors at the 1983 Summer Universiade Diving deaths Male divers from Georgia (country) Soviet male divers Sport deaths in Canada Sports competitors who died in competition Sportspeople from Tbilisi

Death

See also

References