Gennadiy Mikhailovich Agapov (russian: Геннадий Михайлович Агапов; 5 December 1933 – 22 July 1999) was a Soviet Russian

race walk Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

er. Agapov held the unofficial

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in both the 20 km walk and the

50 km walk The 50 kilometre race walk was an Olympic athletics event that first appeared in 1932 and made its final Olympic appearance in 2021. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the ...

and placed second in the 50 km walk at the 1966 European Championships.

Career

Agapov was Soviet champion in the 50 km walk in 1962, 1965 and 1966. He competed in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in Tokyo 1964 and

Mexico City 1968 The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

, both times in the 50 km walk. He placed 12th in Tokyo and failed to finish in Mexico City. At the 1966 European Championships in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

he won silver in the 50 km walk, behind defending champion

Abdon Pamich Abdon Pamich (born 3 October 1933) is a former Italian race walker. He competed in the race walking event at the 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1960 and a gold in 1964. Pamich was the Olympics flag bearer fo ...

of Italy. Between 1965 and 1972, Agapov set unofficial world records in the 20 km walk, the 50 km walk and the 20,000 m track walk (the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

did not ratify official records at the time); with his time of 3:55:36, he was the first man to walk 50 kilometres in less than four hours.

References

1933 births 1999 deaths Sportspeople from Kaliningrad Soviet male racewalkers Russian male racewalkers Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for the Soviet Union World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists Soviet Athletics Championships winners {{USSR-athletics-bio-stub