Valentin Vasilyevich Balakhnichev (russian: Валентин Васильевич Балахничёв; born 23 April 1949) is a Russian engineer and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

coach and a former president of the

All-Russia Athletic Federation The Russian Athletics Federation (RAF), previously named the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF; russian: Всероссийская федерация лёгкой атлетики, ВФЛА), is the governing body for the sport of athletics in ...

. After investigations into corruption involving

performance enhancing drug Performance-enhancing substances, also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. A well-known example of cheating in sports involves doping in sport, where bann ...

testing, Balakhnichev was banned for life by the IAAF.

Biography

Balakhnichev was an athlete for the

Soviet Union 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, ...

, taking third place in the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hu ...

at the 1973 national championships and representing his country at the 1973 European Indoor Championships. He retired as an active athlete in 1976 a year after receiving his degree from Moscow Power Engineering University and began his career as a coach. He was the Soviet national coach from 1978-1984. He has since earned a PhD and is a doctor of sciences in theory and methodology of physical education and sports training. Since 1991 he has been president of the

. He is also a member of the Council for Physical Culture and Sport under

President of the Russian Federation The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

and a member of the Executive Committee of the Russian Olympic Committee. He has held the positions of Vice-Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Positions in the International Sports Organizations, Vice-President,

European Athletic Association The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

, on the IAAF Marketing & Promotion Commission since 1997, a member of the council of 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 fo ...

since 2007 and Treasurer. Balakhnichev resigned his role as IAAF Treasurer amid allegations from the German broadcaster ARD that the world body is investigating a systematic doping scandal and coverup in Russia. Among the allegations was that Liliya Shobukhova, the second fastest marathoner in history paid $450,000 to avoid a doping ban. She was eventually banned, annulling her results back to 2009. Also under Balakhnichev's watch is the

Saransk Saransk (russian: Саранск, p=sɐˈransk; mdf, Саранск ошсь, Saransk oš; myv, Саран ош, Saran oš) is the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located ...

based program of Viktor Chegin, who has had at least 30 of his athletes banned for doping offenses, including Olympic and

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

champions

Elena Lashmanova Elena Anatolyevna Lashmanova (russian: Елена Анатольевна Лашманова, born 9 April 1992 in Saransk, Mordovia) is a Russian race walker. In March 2022 she accepted a two-year ban, retroactive to March 2021, and all of her re ...

and Valeriy Borchin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balakhnichev, Valentin 1949 births Soviet male hurdlers Russian male hurdlers Russian referees and umpires Athletics (track and field) administrators Russian athletics coaches Living people