On June 27, 1912, the V Summer Olympic Games came to a close in Stockholm. These Games marked the first use of photo-finish technology and electronic timing, and featured an arts competition. Incidentally, these were the last Olympic Games in which the gold medals were made of pure gold.
The next, 6th Olympic Games, as decided by the International Olympic Committee, were scheduled to take place in the summer of 1916 in Berlin. An extremely important decision was also made to hold a Winter Olympic Week during the 6th Games. The committee proposed including figure skating, hockey, alpine and cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and speed skating in the program.
The team representing the Russian Empire at the time finished 16th in the medal count at the V Olympic Games (2 silver and 3 bronze medals), and immediately after the athletes returned from the Swedish capital, preparations for the next Olympic Games began throughout the country. Winter sports also received an additional boost for their development. As a result, the 1912–1913 sports season in Kharkiv was extremely eventful.
According to contemporaries, at that time, sports in our beloved city received significantly more attention than in Kyiv or Odesa. By that time, there were already nine officially recognized sports clubs in Kharkiv.
1) 1st Gymnastics Society.
2) “Sokol” Society.
3) “Sporting Club.”
4) “Phoenix” Society.
5) Cycling and Sports Club.
6) “Helferich-Sade” Soccer Team.
7) “Mayak” Society.
8) Railroad Sports Club.
9) “Shtandart” Society.
According to sports publications of the time, Kharkiv’s speed skaters were in low spirits during the 1912–1913 winter season:
Winter itself had been stringing them along for a long time. But suddenly, a new problem arose. Instead of three ice rinks, we have only one—and even that is a pitiful, small, uncomfortable one, owned by a private individual to boot. Last season, “Phoenix” treated us to its 333-meter-long rink; now it’s downright unpleasant to even go to this one and only one.
Because of this, many people preferred to take trips along the river while there was still little snow. For example, on January 3, 1913, a group of skaters from the Cycling and Sports Club (VSK) took a trip to Khoroshevo.
Ski enthusiasts were luckier. The first races of the 1912–1913 season were organized by the VSK on Sunday, December 30. The race distance was 1 verst. G. Milfort posted the best time. His brother, V. Milfort, crossed the finish line right behind him. Next came Illarionov and L. Milfort.
The second round of the club championship was held by VSK on January 6. The course was 10 versts long and included a turn onto the Belgorod Highway. Despite the poor road conditions—which forced participants to frequently cross ditches and climb hills—as well as a headwind, Mr. Illarionov emerged as the winner. Second and third place went to the Milfort brothers. The racers did not post particularly good times in these competitions, but there were reasons for this: there was very little snow, proper training had not really taken place, and virtually all participants were competing for the first time. As we can see, cross-country skiing was only just getting off the ground in our beloved city. However, despite this, the Kharkiv athletes were brimming with enthusiasm. They sincerely hoped that these public competitions would spark interest among other athletes. At the same time, none of our city’s first skiers harbored any illusions.
The public, which is currently skeptical, will probably come to love skiing in the future.
Take soccer, for example—despite the rough play of most Kharkiv teams (though, for all we know, perhaps it’s precisely because of that), the public eagerly attends matches and takes a keen interest in the game. In Kharkiv, it seems impossible to find a boy who doesn’t know Mr. Zabolotny or Mr. Kruglik, or who doesn’t know what a “pendel” is—that’s how popular soccer is in Kharkiv. The matches draw a very diverse crowd. There’s a family who drove in, a high school student standing nearby, a blue-collar worker, and a kid who snagged a “fence ticket.” Everyone watches the game with equal enthusiasm.
Of course, skiing could never dream of such popularity. It will never win over an audience that loves to watch “Well, who’s going to break X’s leg today?” (in soccer), but skiing won’t lose anything from this—on the contrary, it will gain.
It was decided to hold the first open race—a 15-verst event for the Kharkiv City Championship—on January 13. However, due to weather conditions, the open city competition did not take place until Sunday, January 20. With a temperature of -9 and a headwind, the race began at 11:19 a.m. near the village of Ruska Lozova.
At the end of the race, Wilhelm Milfort was named our city’s top skier, completing the course—which included two major climbs—in 1 hour, 24 minutes, and 15 seconds.
Georgy Milfort came in second with a time of 1 hour, 24 minutes, and 45 seconds.
The most interesting thing is that it was a photograph of Georgy—as our city’s first skier—that was published in the pages of “Sport and Games,” a weekly illustrated magazine of that time.
Toltsman came in third—1 hour, 25 minutes.
They were all members of the VSK. This race marked the end of the season’s competitions. Going forward, the Kharkiv skiers planned to go on occasional outings only, provided the weather conditions were suitable. However, the Cycling and Sports Club’s activities were not limited to organizing ski competitions to promote winter sports.
As is well known, both ordinary residents and athletes in Kharkiv love to go ice skating. Therefore, it is not surprising that on February 9, 1913, the sports enthusiasts’ society (which, at that time, had not yet been officially registered) organized the first races for its members.
Everyone who arrived at 5 p.m. was divided into two groups:
— in Norwegian-style skating, with distances of 500 and 3,000 meters
— in classic-style skating, with a distance of 500 meters.
The results were as follows:
A week later, a competition was held to determine the VSK’s top speed skater.
In addition to members of the cycling and sports club, athletes from the “Phoenix” association served as judges.
The weather was wonderful! The sun was shining brightly, the temperature was -4 or -5, and there wasn’t a breath of wind. Everything was perfect for that race, except, perhaps, for the 150-meter track with its sharp and awkward turns. A huge crowd had come out to watch.
After a tough competition, the winners were:
The VSK had planned to hold the Kharkiv Speed Skating Championship (if the cold weather had held out). But, alas, the weather conditions made it impossible to hold the event.
This is likely why Sergei Pavlov’s photograph was posted with the following caption:
It is possible that, in the future, Milfort, Pavlov, and many other Kharkiv athletes would have brought fame to our city on the world stage by bringing home Olympic medals in 1916. Alas, this was not to be. On the morning of July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. World War I began. The VI Summer Olympic Games were canceled…
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