Acrobat saves his wife from downfall

Acrobats Olga and Sergey Sharkovich are husband and wife; they have been performing together for four years already

Spectators at a Saturday performance of The Wild Savannah Circus, that was on a tour in the Russian city of Volgograd, hardly understood at first that something went wrong with acrobatic stunts. In a couple of minutes the music stopped, there was some fuss among the circus personnel and the female acrobat that performed the stunt screamed and cried for help. The whole of the audience kept silent and feared the acrobats would fall down.

Acrobats Olga and Sergey Sharkovich are husband and wife; they have been performing together for four years already. The pair ignores security measures even when they perform most life-threatening stunts. They say the audience is more excited when they know the acrobats have no security belts. Saturday, Olga and Sergey performed their stunt "The Unforgettable Tango," ten minutes of love and passion at a height of 18 meters, when the incident occurred. The acrobats were slowly descending when they felt a sudden jolt at a height of 16 meters.

Later, they told that the reel got stuck and the assistant could not fix it; circus personnel immediately rushed to help the assistant and rescue the acrobats. The latter were in the air all the time while people on the circus ring were thinking on solution of the problem. Olga says it was Sergey who saved her. “He whispered I must calm down, stand on his feet and hold the bar firmly.” Within the five minutes when the acrobats were in the air, Sergey managed to support the partner and hold on to the bar himself.

Meanwhile, the audience was panic-stricken; some of the spectators even recommended how to rescue the acrobats. Fortunately, assistants managed to fix the reel, and the acrobats landed smiling to the audience. The spectators shouted bravo to the brave couple. Even the stunt turned out to be so dangerous for the acrobats they still say they will not use security belts. They added that the audience loves risk-taking acrobats.

On the photo: Acrobats Olga and Sergey Sharkovich