Mark Petrovich Midler (russian: Марк Петрович Мидлер; 24 September 1931 – 31 May 2012) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

fencer. He competed at four Olympic Games, and won two

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

Early and personal life

Midler was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and was Jewish.

Fencing career

Midler was a member of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

National Fencing Team between 1951 and 1967. He trained at Burevestnik in Moscow. Midler won the Soviet individual foil title six times (1954–57, 1963 and 1965) and Soviet Cup in 1961.

World Championships

Midler won four consecutive World Championships in

Foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

, in 1959 to 1962. He also won a silver medal in 1957 and bronze medals in 1959 and 1961. Along with his Soviet teammates, he won the World Team Championships in Foil five times: in 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, and 1966. They also won a silver medal in 1967.

Olympics

Midler was captain of the Foil team for the

1960 Olympic Games The 1960 Olympics may refer to: *The 1960 Winter Olympics, which were held in Squaw Valley, United States *The 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympi ...

and the 1964 Olympic Games. They won the

in Team Foil at both Olympics.

Coaching career

Midler coached fencing for the Olympic teams of the Soviet Union and Russia. From 1971 until 2000, Midler was the coach of the Soviet and later Russian national foil team. He was also the head coach of the Soviet 1980 Olympic foil team, Unified Team 1992 Olympic foil team, and Russian 1996 and 2000 Olympic foil teams.

Awards

Midler was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

in 1983. In 1960 he was awarded the

Order of the Badge of Honor The Order of the Badge of Honour (russian: орден «Знак Почёта», orden "Znak Pochyota") was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding ...

References

External links

Jewish Sports Legends bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midler, Mark 1931 births 2012 deaths Soviet male foil fencers Russian male foil fencers Jewish male foil fencers Jewish Russian sportspeople Olympic fencers of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Fencers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in fencing Burevestnik (sports society) athletes International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Russian fencing coaches