The legendary swimmer Kapitolina Vasilyeva became famous for her sports victories throughout the Soviet Union. In the 1940s, she several times became the USSR champion in swimming in different styles and at different distances, broke records and won international competitions. But it was not her sports career that brought her much more fame, but her marriage to Vasily Stalin, the son of Joseph Vissarionovich.
Biography Facts
Little biographical facts about the childhood and youth of Kapitolina Georgievna Vasilyeva are known. She was born in the Vladimir province, in the village of Melenki, on August 27, 1918. The maiden name of Kapitolina is Osipova, and Vasilyeva is the name of her mother, Evdokia Sergeyevna (1899-1985). It is not known when and under what circumstances Kapitolina decided to change her father's last name to her mother's last name.
The girl grew strong, strong and strong-willed, and eventually turned into a tall blue-eyed beauty. Kapitolina received her higher education at the P.F. Lesgaft in Leningrad.
Sports career
Kapitolina Vasilyeva made a significant contribution to the development of Soviet sports. The heyday of her sports career came at the end of the 1930s - 1940s. She became the champion of the Soviet Union in crawling 19 times, on her side, freestyle, at distances from 50 meters to one and a half kilometers. She was the winner of very prestigious races on the Moscow River. In 1945, she came from Berlin with a victory in the so-called Championship of the occupying forces. Vasilyeva won other international competitions, and also she owns several records of the USSR at long and medium distances.
For every sporting victory, Vasilieva was awarded medals, which for ten years have accumulated a lot of swimmers. The career of a successful athlete contributed to the strengthening of material well-being: good money was paid for each updated record by the USSR sports committee - from eight to ten thousand rubles. The name of Kapitolina Vasilyeva in the 1940s was known to many Soviet sports fans. Her victories and achievements were often told on the radio and wrote in newspapers.
During the heyday of his sports career, Kapitolina Vasilieva gave birth to a daughter, Lina. Perhaps she was even married: this is evidenced by the fact that at the XV Championship of the USSR in swimming, held in 1946 in Moscow and Baku, the swimmer is listed among the winners as K. Vasilyeva (Mirzoyans). There is no other information about this page of Vasilyeva’s biography.
Personal life
In 1949, fate brought Kapitolina Vasilyeva with Vasily Stalin, the son of the "father of peoples." Vasily was a pilot, was interested in sports and, in particular, oversaw CSKA. The beautiful and famous athlete made a strong impression on him, and he wanted to meet her. Capitolina was the only life partner of Vasily, who liked the formidable father-in-law.
The marriage of Stalin and Vasilyeva was not registered in the registry office, since Vasily was already officially married. Then, in 1949, he just broke up with his second wife, Yekaterina Timoshenko, who bore him two children. Stalin also had two children from his first (official) marriage with Galina Burdonskaya: son Alexander and daughter Nadezhda, whom he took from his ex-wife.
The newly-minted family settled in Moscow in the mansion house No. 7 on Gogolevsky Boulevard in a large composition: husband and wife Vasily and Kapitolina, Vasily’s children from their first marriage, mother of Kapitolina Evdokiya Sergeevna and daughter of Kapitolina - Lina, whom Vasily Stalin adopted.
The atmosphere in the house was luxurious, life was rich and well-fed. But the relationship between the spouses was very difficult. On the one hand, Vasily loved Kapitolina, affectionately called her "mother", "mole", paternally caring for his adopted daughter Lina, singling out and pampering her, unlike her own children. At the request of his wife, Stalin initiated the construction of an indoor 50-meter CSKA swimming pool, where Vasilyeva worked as a coach and trained herself.
On the other hand, Stalin was a very oppressive person, and the first thing he did was put an end to his wife’s sports career, as he envied her success and self-sufficiency. The capitolina was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports, and she had to call in the Sports Committee - to pick up the certificate and badge. Upon learning of this, Stalin ordered the abolition of the title, while saying: "The sport is over!". Capitolina furiously threw her medals in the face of her husband shouting "On, choke!"
The main problem that Capitolina faced in marriage with Vasily Stalin was his addiction to alcohol. Vasilieva struggled to cure her husband, looking for the best specialists, but everything turned out to be futile. In a state of intoxication, Vasily became uncontrollable. Once he hit Kapitolina very hard because she was speaking unfriendly to a friend of Stalin, who had brought her mistress to their house, despite the fact that his wife was on friendly terms with Vasilyeva. Capitolina suffered a serious eye injury, which subsequently led to almost complete loss of vision.
Divorce from Stalin
Relations between Vasilyeva and Stalin quickly cracked, and her husband's drunkenness was the main reason. A week before the death of his father-in-law, Stalin Sr., on February 27, 1953, Kapitolina Georgievna left Vasily Iosifovich and asked Marshal N.A. for help. Bulganina, moved to an apartment near the Sokol metro station.
Two months after the death of his father, Vasily Stalin was arrested and sentenced to 8 years. Kapitolina, nevertheless continuing to love her ex-husband, periodically visited him at the Vladimir Central, where he sat, brought him various delicacies - baked veal leg, black caviar, as well as cigarettes and tea; alcohol was banned, which turned out to be very useful for the chronic alcoholic Vasily. The ex-husband wrote from the conclusion very gentle letters to his "mother-mole", recalled moments from family life, constantly asked about his daughter Lina - how she lives, how she studies. When Vasily Stalin died in exile in Kazan in March 1962, only his son and daughter from his first marriage and the third wife of Kapitolina Vasilyeva came to bury him.
