In his late 20s he was well known in mighty Soviet Union. They even made a documentary about him. At the age of 29, in 1957 he got invited to mighty town of Leningrad, Russia. And offered a position as a head trainer of the city. Ivan hadn’t even dreamed about it. For 43 years now he still has not been replaced. He has become a chairman of an equestrian federation of the city of Leningrad. 

His Olympic Horse IKHOR. At the end of 1960 Ivan received a call from the sport committee of the city. They proposed to him to go and buy some horses immediately because leftovers of the budget money for the year of 1960 were about to expire in 24 hours if not spent. So without hesitating Ivan rushed to the airport. He barely made to the studfarm down .

In Ukraine he new he would have find some decent horses at. It was a dark rainy night without much of illumination. Soaking wet he had to look at the horses inside the stable with a deem light. That stormy horrible night he bought 8 horses.One or whom would later become the best horse on the planet.

One of the guards had already pulled the gun out prepared to shoot. At that point Russian vet Anatoliy Doilnev rushed to the guard asking him to somehow to  ap proach going nuts Ikhor and tries to tranquilize him. Ikhor slowly calmed down. When they landed in Mexico City Ikhor’s legs were a bloody mess. Everyone thought that not only Ikhor will compete on THESE games, but also they  doubted he would ever get recovered. For the too sleepless weeks Russian vet and Ivan Kizimov spent taking care of  Ikhor. And a couple of days before the start Ikhor was running like a young stud as if nothing had happened. It was a miracle. If not for the Russian vet and Ikhor would have been shot down. But this time as if thanking humans who helped him out, he performed like never before. He brought individual gold for his master Ivan Kizimov and his country.