Vasiliy Vladimirovich Khmelevskiy ( be, Васіль Уладзіміравіч Хмялеўскі, russian: Василий Владимирович Хмелевский; 14 January 1948 – 2002) was a Soviet athlete who competed mainly in the hammer throw. He won a bronze medal at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

with a throw of 74.04 metres, behind compatriot Anatoly Bondarchuk (75.50 m) and

Jochen Sachse Jochen Sachse (born 2 October 1948 in Frankenberg, Saxony) is an East German former track and field athlete who competed mainly in the hammer throw. He competed for East Germany in the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany Ger ...

of East Germany (74.96 m). He also finished in third place at the national championships in 1971 and 1972. He achieved a personal best of 74.98 meters on 8 July 1975 in Minsk. Khmelevskiy was born and raised in Belarus, but later moved to Stavropol, Russia while serving in the Soviet Army. There he graduated from the Stavropol Pedagogical Institute. He began training in athletics in 1963 and became a member of the Soviet team in 1970. In 1972 he was awarded the Medal "For Distinguished Labour". He married a former athletics competitor, who also specialized in throwing, and took her to his native Belarus. There they raised three daughters and a son. After retirement from competitions, Khmelevskiy fell into depression and became a heavy drinker. On 30 December 1979, he set on fire, for a joke, a costumed person during a celebration in Minsk and was charged with Hooliganism. The trial and five-year jail sentence broke him. He died from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in 2002.

References

1948 births 2002 deaths Belarusian male hammer throwers Soviet male hammer throwers Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of the Soviet Union Dynamo sports society athletes Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics People from Hrodna District Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1970 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Grodno Region {{USSR-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub