The legendary high-mountain skating rink “Medeu” celebrates its 50th anniversary

Medeu is the world’s largest high-altitude winter sports complex with the largest artificial ice field area, which occupies 10.5 thousand square meters. It is a state monument of urban planning and architecture of republican significance.

The skating rink built half a century ago is considered to be the hallmark of Almaty. During the Universiade 2017, I worked here as a sports journalist and met people who, secretly wiping away tears, touched the ice with their hands, because at one time they performed at the Medeu, then they brought their pupils here, and even when speed skating was gone under the roofs of ice stadiums, they remembered the ice arena among the mountains of the Trans-Ili Alatau. And today, accompanying tourists, I hear stories of people from different parts of the CIS about postcards with views of the Medeu tract and photographs where their parents are depicted against the backdrop of the legendary skating rink. That is, everyone who came to Almaty considered it necessary to check in this iconic place.

It all started much earlier

In fact, the history of the skating rink began earlier, long before the appearance of a well-maintained stadium. In those years, most of the gatherings and competitions in the Soviet Union in speed skating took place in Siberia, where frosts hold down the ice for many months, but athletes from the Kazakh SSR have repeatedly noted that the ice is faster at home. Then, at the Spartak stadium in Almaty, a skating rink was flooded, where many skaters were able to exceed their own records. Thus, the idea of ​​building a skating rink on the banks of the Malaya Almatinka River, which originates in the glaciers of the northernmost range of the Tien Shan Mountains, the Zailiysky Alatau, was born.

From the memoirs of the skating coach M.U. Hwana: “In December 1948, a decree was issued on the mass development of physical culture and the conquest by Soviet athletes of the world championship in the most important sports. All world records in speed skating were set on high-mountain skating rinks – Squaw Valley, Dallas. If the world record for 500 meters was 41.9 seconds, then the USSR record was 43 seconds. We needed a training ground in the middle mountains. Konstantin Kudryavtsev was the champion and record holder of the USSR, one of the country’s leading coaches, who stood at the origins of the formation of Soviet speed skating. He was looking for a place for such a skating rink in Transcarpathia, the Urals and the Caucasus, and found it in the Zailiysky Alatau. Water from Malaya Almatinka was directed through a hose to the cleared area, the ice was filled in, it was leveled, markings were made and the first start was organized. There was a result, and the news of this spread throughout the country, and abroad they were surprised: they say, in the Union they set a record among the steppes. I was in my last year at the Lesgaft Physical Education Institute in Leningrad.”

So the stars converged at one point, and in the 49th the construction of a 400-meter platform was started. The skating rink opened on February 5, 1951, and on that day, skater Sofya Kondakova set two world records on the virgin ice of the Medeu. The natural skating rink lasted 17 winter sports seasons, and during this time 47 world records were set here. There are no impurities in the structured melt water, which was taken from Malaya Almatinka, and as soon as the sun was hot, the ice became especially slippery. So “Medeu” with natural ice became a phenomenon in speed skating.

The greatest invention of our time

From the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez: “Jose Arcadio Buendina paid 30 reais. A shaven-headed giant with a furry body, a copper ring in his nostril and a heavy iron chain around his ankle guarded a chest similar to those in which pirates keep their treasures. When the giant lifted the lid, a piercing cold blew from the chest. Inside there was nothing but a huge transparent block stuffed with an uncountable number of white needles; falling on them, the evening light scattered into thousands of multi-colored stars.

“This is the largest diamond in the world.

“No,” the giant corrected him, “it’s ice.

José Arcadio put his hand on the ice and held it there for several minutes. And his heart, which had come into contact with the mystery, sank with fear and delight… Having paid another five reales, José Arcadio Buendía solemnly placed his hand on the block, as a witness testifying in court puts it on the Bible, and exclaimed:

“This is the greatest invention of our time.”

Boris Yaglinsky arrived in Alma-Ata from Kyiv in 1958 and first of all visited the Medeu tract. Then the young engineer did not yet know that he would have to build a new one with artificial ice on the site of the old skating rink …

From the memoirs of B.P. Yaglinsky: “It was a completely uncomfortable skating rink, but it already had a name. The name “Medeu” sounded in many languages ​​of the world, and the reason for such a triumph was the fact that world records were set on its ice from the first days of its existence.

Yaglinsky was appointed chief engineer for the construction of the Medeu sports complex and became a co-author of the ice field construction project. In 1972, a high-altitude sports complex with artificial ice was built. The construction of the skating rink was declared a shock Komsomol construction site, more than 1,300 people took part in it. Given the high seismicity of the region, its structure is designed as a monolith. Fast ice, crystallized from melted glacial water and caressed by the mountain sun, allowed Soviet skaters to win many high-profile victories from foreign rivals. Then “Medeu” was nicknamed “factory of records”.

“Medeu is not an architectural, but a technical structure, and the USSR State Prize was awarded to the creators of the stadium for solving technical problems,” Yaglinsky recalled. “But it must be admitted that Arystan Kainarbaev and Vladimir Katsev created a wonderful architectural appearance of the facility, which was a model of sports construction. I was the chief engineer, and we were faced with the task of creating conditions for obtaining high-quality ice, and personally I was puzzled by the conditions for the durability of the rink. It was required that the artificial ice be of the same quality as the natural ice of the Medeu, and that it should hold for three to four months a year. This was achieved through the development of a special cooling system, the placement of tube batteries to create a one-dimensional temperature field, and the results of this solution confirmed the world records that athletes began to set after the rink was put into operation. The second task is to create a durable structure, and for 24 seasons Medeu has existed without a major overhaul, and this is an unprecedented service life.

Boris Pavlovich Yaglinsky kept photographs, booklets and a guest book of Medeu guests from the 1970s and 1980s. Leafing through the yellowed pages, we read and are proud of the people who laid the first stone in the foundation of the glorious ice rink.

“The most beautiful ice rink in the world. You will again win the most world records” (George Hesler, ISU Honorary Secretary, Switzerland).

“The stadium’s ice is very good, it’s amazing, especially when the sun is shining. I think the stadium is the best in the world” (Gunnar Ecker, coach, Norway).

“The ice stadium is the best in the world, it is well located in a gorge protected from the winds. The ice is of very good quality. A magnificent architectural ensemble, everything here contributes to high results. Bravo to the creators for a magnificent building!” (Jean Eckling, referee, France).

Medeu – proper name

When I tell tourists that the Medeu tract is named after Medeu Pusurmanov, they are surprised. Now, if a museum were created in the tract, where the history of this place would be reflected … In addition, once the well-known skater Lyudmila Voronina once donated her skates to the museum …

By the way, she starred in an episode of the film “Angel in a skullcap.” Then the director of “Kazakhfilm” Shaken Aimanov came to the training and told the girls that he wanted to film the city so that one day the Winter Olympic Games would be held there. It turns out that this is an old dream of Almaty residents. So, Voronina played an athlete who fell during the competition, and the stands buzzed in disappointment, and the actress Amina Umurzakova, who was looking for a bride for her son and warmed up with a glass of cognac, decided that such a bride would suit them very well. Among the archival documents is a petition from the volost third aul of the Vernensky district of the Maloalmatinskaya volost Medeu Pusurmanov to the governor of Semirechie, which sets out a request to provide “a place for the construction of wooden houses near the Kim asar gorge” next to the dacha of General Kolpakovsky. Answer: he and his relatives can “build housing and outbuildings without any permission from the administration.” It turns out that Medeu Pusurmanov was respected in Verny! He settled near the Kim asar gorge, where he built several wooden houses. Subsequently, the first Forest School in the republic was opened in one of them. In 1930, commissioner and writer D. Furmanov ordered the opening of the first recreation area in the tract with a koumiss clinic in the building of the former Forest School.

The herds of Medeu Pusurmanov grazed in the mountains. The elim website says: “At the same time, there is no reason to take Medeu for a simple settled pastoralist. A man quite enlightened for his time, Medeu freely communicated and enjoyed authority among his famous contemporaries, such as General G. A. Kolpakovsky, architect and architect A. P. Zenkov, scientists N. G. Moiseev, E. O. Baum and other prominent officials of the city of Verny. His associates and friends were the merchant I. Gabdulvaliev, M. Zhumabayuly, the father of D. Kunaev, A. Zhienkulov, the grandfather of the famous dancer S. Zhienkulova, the merchant N. Pugasov and others.

Medey myz aidyny is the most visited sports facility in the country, and the Medeu tract remains the most popular vacation spot for Almaty residents and city guests. Going to the Small Almaty Gorge, where the designated tract is located, be aware that training camps, republican, all-Union and international competitions were held on the Medeu. About 70 years ago, fearless roe deer walked in a birch grove, goats and cows grazed. Here they always played hockey, skaters and figure skaters trained.

The work of the Almaty theatrical artist Sergey Kalmykov “Medeo” has been preserved, photographs of those times when professional photographers worked at the skating rink have been preserved.

And Medeu is also a junction station, from where the paths of tourists, climbers, skyrunners, skiers and snowboarders leave for different gorges.