Museum - Athletes' Shrine

02.12.1993 (Neatkarīgā Cīņa)

ARTURS SLIEDE - former strongman

At a time when our current super athlete Raimonds Bergmanis and his companions had not yet returned from the world championship in distant Australia, a commemoration evening for Voldemars Šmidbergs' 100th birthday was organized at the Sports History Museum on Alksnāja Street in Riga.

I accidentally learned about the memorial service for the esteemed sports museum, a pioneer and a well-known referee in the world of weightlifting, and began preparing for it.

Apparently, the quality of my sports achievements did not pass the selection competition, because I did not make it to the 50 people who were sent invitations. From my photo albums and newspaper clippings dedicated to sports, I collected everything related to Voldemars Šmidbergs. I found an epidiascope to show the pictures on the screen and went to the museum the day before the event. I was kindly welcomed by former athletes Dzintra Grundmane and Rita Vilciņa - current employees of the sports museum. Unfortunately, I had arrived too late - there was no place for my memories in the script. It is a pity, because after the official part, several guests of the evening left. This disappointed me very much, and the carefully thought-out speech at home came out jerky. I also failed to mention several episodes from my and Šmidbergs' joint sports careers. Mine - as a weightlifting competitor - and Voldemars - as a sports judge. But that wasn't what made me take up writing and write to the wider public. The morning after the memorial service, I finally realized how to explain my emotional uplift, a harmonious peace of body and soul, as if after some long-planned and well-done work.

But I'll start from the beginning. I arrived at the museum's cozy hall exactly at the time indicated in the Sports announcements. I was surprised not by the large number of participants in the evening, but by the staff. There were both former champions of various ranks and, if I may say so, champions of champions. Well, judge for yourself: Melbourne gold medalist Inese Jaunzeme, the long-time basketball queen both on the playing fields and in competitions - Skaidrīte Smildziņa-Budovska, 1936 Olympian Alberts Riekstiņš, wrestler and coach Pauls Budovskis, former world record holder in weightlifting Kārlis Pumpuriņš, boxing legend Rihards Bērtiņš, Irma Jaunzeme, an athlete from the 1950s and later a tireless sports judge, statistician and soul of the Dinamo team, Mexico City Olympian rower Vitolds Barkāns, and long-time ASK basketball player Oļģerts Hechts. Beautiful words of remembrance were spoken by Latvian Radio sports commentator journalist Gunārs Jakobsons. And the ever-present sports photographer - former volleyball referee Zigurds Mežavilks. The evening's host was former speed skater Mārtiņš Pagodkins. There were members of Voldemārs Šmidbergs' family, led by his son, a long-time fan of the sport, Austri. If fate had destined Voldemārs to experience this day himself, the good man's eyes would have become misty and in a broken voice he would have said: "Yes! I am happy! The former champions have not forgotten their way to me." Yes, those were his champions! Those were Latvian champions! I remember how in 1968, together with weightlifter Vili Pērkonas, we visited Šmidbergs' house on Augļu Street, looked at the sports equipment shed, then drank hot tea and Voldemārs pointed with trembling hands to the exhibition corner dedicated to the recently deceased athlete Renāte Lāce. The gray-bearded man proudly pointed to one corner and said: "Here is our Skaidrīte!" Well, of course, Skaidrīte Smildziņa-Budovska.

The memorial evening planned by the Sports Museum staff was, in my opinion, a great success. The lines of poetry spoken by the artist, a fragment of a video film, and the memories of fellow citizens about the life of a precise World War I aviation topographic map photographer caused amazement in the audience and at the same time a sense of pride in the stately Voldemars Šmidbergs until the end of his life. Of the 49 evening participants sitting in the hall (I counted them silently), only the employees of the independent television studio did not live to see the end of the official part. It is a pity that in the NTV evening news that evening there were only a few sentences about this event, not supplemented with a single watchable frame. Well, what! Young people probably do not understand the significance of such a moment! I think that the participants of this evening, who after reaching the appropriate number of years will probably also be honored at the Latvian Sports Museum, were able to observe with emotion the uniqueness of such a memorial. 

Although uninvited, after a couple of hours spent in such a company and atmosphere, I returned home feeling like I was flying and once again met people who had been led to Voldemars Šmidbergs' evening by bright memories. I was glad that no one from the past or present sports management had come here. There were no former bosses - current tourism, tennis or honey and butter sales specialists from the Vidzeme market. No one who was once indifferent or even hostile to the sports museum fanatic. And only the next morning did I realize that ancient sports relics continue to radiate positive energy that calms and at the same time recharges those present. Like some ancient icons in churches, where pilgrims go and find solace for a long time. And I have a firm conviction that the sports museum should become a temple for Latvian athletes.

Here, the so-called bread of the road should be given to our chosen ones before they start in foreign sports arenas with the red-white-red flag in their hands. Not in the Central Committee, as before, or in the Cabinet of Ministers, as now, is real patriotism achieved! Not the promised lats or dollars that give wings to the battles. The real sports impetus should be the pride to start under the Latvian flag! That's how the greats of sports of the former free Latvia - amateurs - started.

Much remains unexplored about this period, and our urgent duty is to summarize everything. Let's not hold a candle to the past and popularize sports! Let's restore physical education evenings in schools, meetings with prominent athletes, exemplary demonstrations. If we are really interested in physically strong Latvian youth, then let's involve them in physical education classes, encourage them to engage in real sports without doping. Let's take young people to the sports museum, show them, talk about them. That way, we will find new Inese Jaunzemes, Jānis Lūšis, Andrus Andreikos more quickly. Let's respect the history of sports, as Voldemārs Šmidbergs did. The sports museum should become a shrine for athletes!