Roman Karkachev
WINTER SWIMMING
From the 1960s to the fall of the Soviet Union, the Bolshaya Neva swimming club was the biggest winter swimming club in the Soviet Union. Among its 600 members were Soviet movie stars, famous scientists and well known theatre actors. The club was based on Zayachy Island in the Peter and Paul Fortress, the original citadel of St Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703. Club members swam in a 25-metre pool cut into the frozen River Neva, watched by crowds of spectators.