BODYBUILDING HISTORY. PROHIBITED SPORT. HOW IT WAS IN REAL

BODYBUILDING HISTORY. PROHIBITED SPORT. HOW IT WAS IN REAL

Let us speak about one more historical moment of bodybuilding and let You judge about us by our works, not words.

For quite a long period of time bodybuilding was prohibited in the USSR and it was not supported in all socialist World. Everywhere gyms were closed, contests prohibited, sportsmen were  prosecuted, media flew  as maximum dirt as possible to bodybuilding. Under pressure of the Communist Party the Ministry Sport USSR (Union Soviet Socialist Republics) issued a strict order against bodybuilding and this way they had a law basis to follow bodybuilders. For many years of prosecution in the Sport Ministry (Goskomsport) employed former weightlifter E.MOROZ (later V.TAMARLAKOV) had been responsible for bodybuilding. A step below of them was another one representative Lithuanian ROMANAS KALINAUSKAS. Everybody was afrayed to fight or even to say a single word to stand for bodybuilding. As in such a wide territory nobody organized bodybuilding contetsts, but EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS dared to do it first with „Amber Prix International“ in Klaipeda (Lithuania). ROMANAS KALINAUSKAS  and other high officials wanted to stop him saying that in case the new procecutions started they are not going to loose their Communist Party certificates and they will stay away from EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS. Nevertheless E.DAUBARAS  did it on his own risk. The contest in Klaipeda took place, only the EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS played his game with the Sport Ministry and he had to make some artificial changes adding power exercises to the usual programme.  Just after this EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS  started active correspondence with the Sport Ministry USSR as well as with main USSR political media: newspapers „Pravda“, „Izvestija“, „Soviet Sport“, which used to publishe awfull articles against bodybuilding (like „Trijanskij kon kulturizma“..). Then EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS  wrote a number of articles protecting bodybuilding and started to collect signatures of known people under these articles. It became the pettition to unite people to protect bodybuilding sport (these historic materials are in the archieves of the WFF-WBBF International (World Fitness Federation, World Body Building Federation). Then EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS  on his risk went to Moscow to register and present these materials at the Central Committe Communst Party USSR and Ministry Council USSR. When back to Lithuania EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS  sterted to receive lots of calls from the Central Committe Communst Party USSR. The discussion started. It was evident that some positive agreement may happen. That bothered Lithuanian Communist Leaders. Finally the telepfone of EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS was totally swiched off line and they invited EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS  to Klaipeda Headquarters asking to stop pushing highest USSR officials. At the same time though bodybuilding was a prohibited sport they gave EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS permittion to organize anual „Amber Prix International“ in Klaipeda. It is not a secret that for many years „Amber Prix International“ was the only one International bodybuilding contest in the Socialist World and until 1988 it served as a not official Championship of the USSR. If not the „Amber Prix International“ nuobody knows what would have been the history of bodybuilding in the USSR and all Socialist World. Nobody knows how the Socialist bodybuilding sport would have met the first USA bodybuilders that came to the USSR under the leadership of the Owner and life President IFBB (International Federation of Body Builders) BEN WEIDER. BEN WEIDER  was an old personal friend of EDMUNDAS DAUBARAS. For many years they bogth had active correspondence, a number of mutual meetings in various countries. Finally they were working on the setting a Join-Venture Company (again these documents are in the archieves of the WFF-WBBF International (World Fitness Federation, World Body Building Federation).