Latest news with #StPetersburg
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Another Bodybuilder Just Died a Horrible Death
After quitting the bizarre injections that puffed up his muscles, a Russian bodybuilder has become the latest in a long and unfortunate line of pro weightlifters to meet untimely demises. As The Sun reports, 35-year-old Nikita Tkachuk hadn't injected synthol — a so-called "site enhancement oil" primarily made up of oils like paraffin or sesame alongside a local anesthetic and benzoyl alcohol that makes muscles appear bulkier without actually causing any strength or fitness benefits — before he died of a heart attack in a St. Petersburg hospital last week. The story of how he got there is tragic, even for the morbid world of weightlifting. After winning "Master of Sports" in Russia at 21, Tkachuk began injecting synthol to appear beefier. That practice is known as "fluffing," and it produces muscles that appear, as Iron Man magazine put it back in 2013, "comically inflated." Eventually, Tkachuk signed a deal with a pharmaceutical company that contractually obligated him to keep taking the shots — a deal that turned out to be deadly. After initially being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a disorder involving tiny granules of immune cells forming on his organs, the strain from all that "fluffing" ultimately led to kidney and lung failure, and then a heart attack, his widow, Maria Tkachuk, said, per The Sun. "There were many trials over the years," said the widow Tkachuk, who is also a bodybuilder. "[His] resources ran out." Though a lot remains unclear about the man's death, including why he finally succumbed years after quitting the injections, his regret over the use of synthol — which in a 2022 video he called his "biggest mistake" — is plain as day. "If your arm is 18 inches or 20 inches, what will it change in your life?" Tkachuk said ahead of his death, per The Sun. "You're going to lose a lot of health. It's not worth it." "If I could back to 2015-2016, I would not do it," he continued. "I basically ruined my whole sporting career." Though he's joined in death by a long line of young bodybuilders who died too soon after taking various substances to either lose weight or get swole, Tkachuk's story is especially tragic because he spoke out against the injections that ultimately killed him. Now, his wife is left to pick up the pieces. "There are no other words for now," his widow said. "Only shock." More on bodybuilder deaths: If You Still Think Bodybuilding Is Healthy, This Woman Just Died at Age 20
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Colton Gordon grew up a huge Rays fan. Monday, he pitches against them
Colton Zimring Gordon was a fervid Rays fan growing up between his parents' homes in the St. Petersburg and Bradenton areas. He went to his first game at 7 months old and averaged 25-30 a year for a while. Advertisement 'We've always been Rays fans,' his father, Steve, said Sunday. 'He was the kid always chasing foul balls all game. After games, he'd beg me to take him to the parking lot so he could get autographs. He attended three of their summer camps and was in one of their TV spots.' All that allegiance will be pushed aside Monday night. Gordon, who made his major-league debut Wednesday with the Astros, will get his second start against the Rays. Some 50-70 relatives, friends and former coaches are expected to be in the stands at Steinbrenner Field to watch the left-hander take the mound. 'This is really, really exciting,' Steve Gordon said. 'It's just crazy.' Advertisement Colton dreamed of playing in the majors since the third grade, and Steve said he made it his goal to provide every opportunity to help make it happen. That included St. Petersburg's Fossil Park Little League program, travel ball with the Tampa Terror and Florida Burn (under the coaching of former Rays reliever Mark Guthrie), and Lakewood Ranch High. Colton committed to Florida and redshirted his first year. Seeking a greater opportunity for the next season than the Gators offered, he switched to Hillsborough Community College, playing on the community field adjacent to where the Astros and Rays will meet Monday. He ended up at UCF, where he worked through Tommy John surgery and recovery, and made himself into a pro prospect. With his family hoping the Rays would draft him in 2021, Gordon went in the eighth round to the Astros. He worked his way through their system, with the added benefit of pitching for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Advertisement Gordon was 4-0 with a 2.55 ERA in eight starts for Triple-A Sugar Land this season before he was summoned by the Astros. He worked into the fifth inning of his debut Wednesday against the Royals, allowing three runs. Now, he's returning home as the major-leaguer he'd wanted to be since age 10. 'It's so exciting,' Steve Gordon said, 'to see your son reach his goal.' • • • Sign up for our Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida. Every weekday, tune into our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast to hear reporter Rick Stroud break down the biggest stories in Tampa Bay sports. Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on X and Facebook.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Coming full circle for the artistic director of Cirque du Soleil's Kooza
I WAS BORN IN St Petersburg, Florida, in 1984. My mum called me Mr Sparkles or Mr Showman. I was always putting on a show. I was always entertaining whoever was around. I definitely had something. That's why I think they encouraged me to go into theatre. There was just something a little different. They recognised something special. Advertisement NO ONE KNEW I could sing until I was probably nine or 10. When they heard me sing in the school choir, that was when it turned into 'put him in lessons and let's help facilitate that as much as we can'. Jamieson Lindenberg in his youth. Photo: courtesy Jamieson Lindenberg I STUDIED AT A performing-arts high school for theatre and dance. My core education and training vocally as an artist was in this conservatory as a young adult. That is where A performing-arts high school for theatre and dance. My core education and training vocally as an artist was in this conservatory as a young adult. That is where Cirque du Soleil came to recruit ushers. We did an interview and they offered me a position as an usher for a show called Quidam that was playing at the Tropicana Field (in St Petersburg). That was my first job. I was 15. I'D NEVER HEARD OF Cirque du Soleil, but I was absolutely blown away by what I was seeing. I was studying theatre, so it was quite a contrast to Broadway, which is what I went on to do. Jamieson Lindenberg (right) at a singing competition in Florida when he was 14. Photo: courtesy Jamieson Lindenberg I BROKE SOME OF the rules – I was very late to work as a 15-year-old high-school student is – and I was let go. I was disappointed, but didn't even think about Cirque or that I could ever perform or be involved in that capacity because I finished school for theatre.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The Queen of Spades, Garsington: Romantic despair and mad obsession – with a strong whiff of sulphur
After the bright daylight and saucy flirtations of Garsington Opera's season-opener The Elixir of Love, their second night plunged us into romantic despair and mad obsession, with a strong whiff of sulphur. The titular Queen of Spades in Tchaikovsky's great opera is an elderly Russian countess who has the secret for winning cards, but it's a secret that will bring death to anyone who learns it. For the opera's bitter anti-hero Herman the way to that secret lies through the Countess's niece Lisa. But perhaps love for her will rescue him from his mad obsession? That's the intimate heart of the opera, but as this fabulous new production makes clear the story is rooted in the tensions of Russian society. Director Jack Furness and designer Tom Piper summon that world's luxuriant, telling detail as well as its huge epic sweep and barely concealed brutality. In the barracks at the very beginning we see some lads playing soldiers. It's charming, and the excellent Garsington Opera Children's Chorus savour the Russian words. But when one of them falls down the others give his head a good kicking. Later, when we see Herman explaining his infatuation with the socially unattainable Lisa to his good friend Tomsky, he gets contemptuous looks from the strolling St Petersburg high society, who admire themselves in the mottled mirrored detachable walls that make up the set. These spin round to reveal previously hidden worlds. It might be the make-believe of a Rococo theatre-in-a-theatre, or the grim cramped barracks where Herman dreams his dream of infinite wealth. This picturesque but fundamentally grim world is enlivened by the dancers in the ball scenes and above all by Garsington's lavish 32-strong chorus, breathtakingly vigorous whether they're playing eager gamblers round the gambling-table or the Countess's chattering servants. Tchaikovsky's blazing score, which ranges from Mozartian pastiche to Russian charm to the tremor and shriek of the supernatural is brought to vivid life by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Garsington's musical director Douglas Boyd. However the couple at the opera's heart are not quite so strong. Laura Wilde as Lisa has an impressive flaring voice but her performance felt rather dramatically tepid, and though Aaron Cawley's dark-grained baritone seemed right for Herman's obsession one missed a sense of that countervailing tenderness for Lisa that might have saved him. The circle of army friends around Herman were more convincingly portrayed, above all gravel-voiced Robert Hayward as the jovial, ever-optimistic Tomsky. Roderick Williams as the stuffed-shirt Prince Yelestsky who loses out to the romantically fascinating Herman provided the subtlest singing of the performance, in his aria of dignified heartbreak. However the evening's most spell-binding moment came from Diana Montague as the Countess, alone in her bedroom, recalling her young days in Paris when she learned the secret of the 'three cards'. On opening night, when the lights fell and the orchestral sound dropped to a whisper, you could feel everyone lean forward to catch the old witch's secrets. Sometimes the best moments at the opera are the quietest.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Russian captain of container ship in devastating fatal crash into oil tanker in North Sea denies manslaughter by gross negligence
The Russian captain of a cargo ship that crashed into an oil tanker in the North Sea has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of a crewman. Vladimir Motin, 59, appeared at the Old Bailey in London via video link from HMP Hull. Assisted by a Russian interpreter, he spoke only to confirm his name and plea. Mr Motin, from Primorsky, St Petersburg, was captain of the Portuguese-flagged cargo ship Solong when it collided with the US tanker Stena Immaculate off the East Yorkshire coast on March 10. Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, a Filipino crew member on the Solong, is missing presumed dead after the crash. Mr Pernia had been working in the forward deck of the container ship in an area where there was an explosion. The collision happened at about 9.47am at 10.2 nautical miles from the nearest point on the coast, a previous hearing was told. The 140m-long Solong was carrying about 157 containers. The Stena Immaculate is 183m long and was carrying jet fuel. It was anchored and stationary at the time of the collision. The Solong was travelling at about 15 knots when it hit the port side of the Stena. Rescuers saved 36 crew from both ships, according to a report produced by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch. Judge Mark Lucraft remanded Mr Motinin custody until September 10, when he will appear again for a pre-trial hearing. A provisional trial date has been set for 12 January 2026.
