Michael "Misha" Kolganov (or Kalganov, he, מיכאל (מישה) קולגנוב, russian: Михаил Калганов; born October 24, 1974) is a USSR-born

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i sprint kayaker and former

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(1998–99). Competing in three

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 ina ...

, he won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

in the K-1 500 m event at Sydney in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. He was the flag bearer for Israel during the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Mikhail Kolganov was born in

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

Uzbek SSR Uzbekistan (, ) is the common English name for the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR; uz, Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси, Oʻzbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi, in Russian: Уз ...

, Soviet Union. He is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. and took up canoeing at the age of 14. "I was a fat young boy," he recalled, "and my parents were looking for a hobby for me that would help me lose weight." Kolganov's older brother Andrei also represented 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 nationa ...

, and was a Soviet youth champion at kayak competition. Kolganov

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

in 1995. He has represented Israel in competition since 1997. Kolganov was K-1 200 m world champion in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, and earned a K-1 500 m silver in 1998. He represented

Israel at the 2000 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. 39 competitors, 29 men and 10 women, took part in 43 events in 9 sports. The delegation of 39 athletes was the biggest at the time, and third-biggest in history, after 2008 with ...

, winning the K-1 500 m bronze medal and finishing fourth in the K-1 1000 m event. He competed on behalf of

Israel at the 2004 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. It was the nation's thirteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee of Israel sent 36 athletes to the Games, 20 men and 16 women, to c ...

, and finished fourth in the K-1 500 m. He competed on behalf of

Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This was Israel's fourteenth participation in the Summer Olympics. Israel sent 43 athletes to compete in Beijing, the largest Israeli delegation in Olympic history, with the previous ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, China, and failed to advance to the final in both the K-1 500 m and K-1 1000 m events. He has also competed in the K-2. At the 2006 European Championships in Račice, Czech Republic, he won the K2 200 m bronze medal with partner Barak Lufan. At the

2006 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships The 2006 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Szeged, Hungary, from August 17 to 20 2006. This was the second time the Hungarian city had hosted the championships, doing so previously in 1998. Men race as individuals, pairs and quad ...

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

, Hungary, Kolganov and Lufan finished fifth in the K-2 200 m and sixth in the K-2 500 m. Kolganov served in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

References

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External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolganov, Michael 1974 births Living people Canoeists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Israeli male canoeists Israeli people of Soviet-Jewish descent Israeli people of Uzbekistani-Jewish descent Jewish Israeli sportspeople Olympic canoeists of Israel Olympic bronze medalists for Israel Soviet male canoeists Uzbekistani male canoeists Uzbekistani emigrants to Israel Sportspeople from Tashkent Soviet emigrants to Israel Olympic medalists in canoeing ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in kayak Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics

Early life

See also

References

External links