Karapetyan’s heroism

On September 16, 1976, world-champion finswimmer Shavarsh Karapetyan was finishing a 13-mile training run in Armenia when he suddenly heard a disturbing sound.

A trolley bus had fallen over a dam wall and plunged into Yerevan Lake. The 23-year-old immediately sprinted to the scene, stripped down, and dove into the sewage-strewn water to save as many people as possible.