Oleg Felevich Bozhev (russian: Олег Фелевич Божьев) (born 25 August 1961 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 ...

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

) is a former

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

. He trained at VSS Trud.

Short biography

Competing for the

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 ...

, Oleg Bozhev had his best year in 1984 when he won a bronze medal on the 1,500 m at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, became World Allround Champion ten days later, became Soviet Allround Champion two weeks after that and skated a world record on the 1,500 m another two weeks later. He also was awarded the

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

that year. The following three years (1985-1987), he won silver at the World Allround Championships. The closest he came to winning a second World Allround Championship was in 1986 when he finished second behind

Hein Vergeer Henricus Coenradus Nicolaas "Hein" Vergeer (born 2 May 1961) is a Dutch former speed skater who became both European and World Allround Champion in both 1985 (in which year he also became National Sprint Champion) and 1986 (in which year he also ...

, with a difference of only 0.014 points, which translates to a mere 0.28 seconds of difference on the final distance (the 10,000 m). Except for one more international appearance in 1992, his last international appearance was in 1988. Bozhev currently is the senior coach of the Russian skating team.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Bozhev at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Records

World records

Over the course of his career, Bozhev skated one

world record 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 ...

: Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Bozhev skated his personal records. Note that Bozhev's personal record on the 3,000 m was not a world record because

Leo Visser Leendert "Leo" Visser (born 13 January 1966) is a Dutch former speed skater, who in 1989 won the World Allround championships and European championships. At the 1988 Olympics in Calgary he won a silver medal in the 5000 m and a bronze medal i ...

skated 3:59.27 at the same tournament. Bozhev's personal record on the big combination was not a world record either because

Nikolay Gulyayev Nikolay Alekseyevich Gulyayev (russian: Николай Алексеевич Гуляев, born 1 January 1966) is a former speed skater, considered among the world's best in the 1980s. Biography Nikolay Gulyayev trained at Armed Forces sports ...

skated 159.356 at the same tournament. Bozhev has an Adelskalender score of 159.611 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a third place.

References

Oleg Bozjev at SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database

Short biography of Oleg Bozhev
(in Russian)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bozhev, Oleg 1961 births Living people Russian male speed skaters Soviet male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters of the Soviet Union Speed skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Speed skaters from Moscow Olympic medalists in speed skating World record setters in speed skating Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists