Defection Perfection with Olga Sheymov

The Adrenaline Zone

Your car comes to a halt at a border checkpoint, guard dogs barking, the guards themselves talking over each other, and now one of them is about to open the car’s trunk, searching for stowaways or anything even remotely suspicious. Will he discover your husband and sleeping daughter carefully hidden behind the seats? Will your painstaking plan to defect from Cold War-era Soviet Union end in unspeakable disaster?

Olga Sheymov hails from St. Petersburg, Russia, where, after pursuing an engineering degree, she joined the Central Institute for Information. Post-graduation, she found herself amidst a tense KGB situation during her involvement with a Canadian delegation at the Student Olympic Games in Russia. However, fate intervened as she crossed paths with her future husband, Victor Sheymov, a charismatic young man who played a pivotal role in their eventual escape from the Soviet Union. Since settling in the US, Olga has graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology-College of Architecture with a Bachelor of Science, Industrial and Product Design, and is currently a versatile artist, engineer, and television producer.

Today, she joins Sandy and Sandra to recount the thrilling Cold War saga of her daring escape from the Soviet Union with her husband and daughter. She delves into life behind the Iron Curtain, the relentless pursuit of the KGB, and the meticulously planned escape involving the CIA. From Olga's childhood memories in the Soviet Union to their heart-pounding escape and the challenges of adapting to American life, this story of courage and audacity provides a shining example of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

Episode Highlights:

• Growing up in the Soviet Union under the communist regime
• The KGB’s interest in Olga working with them
• Olga’s husband Victor
• What prompted them to leave the Soviet Union
• The challenge in contacting American officials
• Keeping their desire to defect secret
• Creating their escape plan and ensuring its confidentiality
• The CIA’s involvement in their plan
• The level of stress involved in planning and executing the plan
• Olga’s retelling of the actual escape
• Getting to the United States
• Victor’s trip to China
• Going into hiding in the US
• Olga’s biggest surprise about life in the US
• How she ended up at Georgia Tech

Quotes:

"The fact that we were able to get through was a miracle."

"We had to look at everything with the mindset of an investigator, and that's what he did."

"We rarely make mistakes in analysis. We usually make them in assumptions.”

"If you start allowing yourself doubts, you cannot succeed."

"We were in a crazy place because we didn't know if someone was watching us. We were constantly trying to see if...maybe this was all a set-up."

"It felt surreal after 18 hours of nonstop adrenaline. I was still in a special mode and couldn't fully process what had happened."

"Victor did an amazing job navigating us through all the obstacles in Russia. But I also believe it was help from above."

Keep the adrenaline rush going at:

Homepage: theadrenalinezone.com

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Olga’s LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-sheymov-5407203/