Valeriy Sergeyevich Skvortsov (russian: Валерий Скворцов; (31 May 1945 – 24 September 2021) was a

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er who represented 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 ...

in the 1964 and 1968

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. Skvortsov was first noticed by Soviet high jump coach Viktor Lonsky, who offered him training in a converted sports gym located within the walls of an old Catholic cathedral. His sports career began to accelerate as he won various local high jump competitions and later was invited to Moscow to train for the Soviet Olympic team. Skvortsov had subsequently participated in the

Tokyo Olympic Games Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics * 1964 Summer Olympics * 2020 Summer Olympics (held in 2021) See also

* Tokyo bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics * Tokyo Paralympics (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

of 1964, where he took the 14th place in the high-jump final with a jump height of 2.06 meters. Valeriy Brumel from the Soviet Union), and

John Thomas John Thomas may refer to: Politics United Kingdom * John Thomas (c. 1490–1540/42), British Member of Parliament for Truro * John Thomas (c. 1531–1581/90), British Member of Parliament for Mitchell * John Thomas (British politician) (1897 ...

from the United States won the gold and silver medals, respectively. At the

1966 European Indoor Games The 1966 European Indoor Games were the first edition of what later became the European Athletics Indoor Championships. These games took place on 27 March 1966 at Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, a city of West Germany. It was the only edition held on a s ...

championship in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, Skvortsov won first place with a career best jump of 2.17 meters. At the

1968 European Indoor Games The 1968 European Indoor Games were held between 9–10 March 1968 at Palacio de Deportes, Madrid, the capital of Spain. The track used for the championships was 182 metres long. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Participating nations ...

he successfully defended his title as the European high jump champion winning first place again with 2.17 meters. Skvortsov participated in the

1968 Summer Olympics 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 ...

Mexico city Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, where he competed with Dick Fosbury and Valentin Gavrilov. His 2.16 meter jump secured him a fourth-place finish.High jump results: Olympics 1968
/ref> After a leg injury forced him to stop competing, Skortsov continued as a high jump trainer in Moscow (Dinamo) and then went to work as the head of

Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

security. Skvortsov is currently retired and resides in

Moscow, Russia Moscow ( , American English, US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia. The city stands on t ...

References

External links

*
Berdichev and Viktor Lonsky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skvortsov, Valeriy 1945 births 2021 deaths Olympic athletes for the Soviet Union Ukrainian male high jumpers Soviet male high jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) People from Berdychiv FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1965 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Zhytomyr Oblast