Retired Armenia athlete Shavarsh Karapetyan appointed advisor to the head of the Republic of Bashkortostan
Retired Armenian finswimmer, best known for saving the lives of 20 people in a 1976 incident in Yerevan was appointed adviser to the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, a federal subject of Russia. The respective decree was signed by the Head of Republic Radiy Khabirov, Bashinform news agency reported.
In his new position Karapetyan will serve on voluntary basis tasked with oversighting the development of physical education and sports in the region.
Karapetyan is a Merited Master of Sports of the USSR and a ten-time World Record-breaker in finswimming. He became well known in the former USSR for his heroic actions of saving peoples' lives from a sinking trolleybus which had gone out of control and fallen from a dam wall.