Sergey Anatolevich Khlebnikov (russian: Серге́й Анатольевич Хлебников; 28 August 1955 – 12 June 1999) was a Russian

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. ...

who competed 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 ...

in the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

. He was born in

Sortavala Sortavala (russian: Сортавала; Finnish and krl, Sortavala; sv, Sordavala); till 1918 Serdobol (russian: Сердоболь) is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish bord ...

and died 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 ...

by drowning in the Mitinskoe pond. "An oak of a man," the Western press described him as a "tank" and a typical product of communism.

Career

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Khlebnikov was one of the perennial favorites in the sprint events, battling often with fellow Soviet sprinter

Yevgeny Kulikov Yevgeny Nikolayevich Kulikov (russian: Евге́ний Никола́евич Кулико́в, born 25 May 1950 in Sverdlovsk Oblast) is a former speed skater who specialised in the sprint. Yevgeny Kulikov trained at Burevestnik Voluntary Sp ...

, Japanese sprinter Akira Kuroiwa, Norwegian sprinter

Frode Rønning Frode Rønning (born 7 July 1959) is a former speed skater and coach from Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost ...

and American all-rounder

Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the ...

. Throughout his career, his biggest rival, even his "archrival," was Canadian skater

Gaétan Boucher Gaétan T. Boucher, (born May 10, 1958), is a Canadian former speed skating Olympic champion. Biography Boucher first trained in ice hockey, the leading sport in Canada but then changed to speed skating after winning a national title in 1972. ...

World championships

Khlebnikov's first medal as a sprinter came in 1981, when he finished second in the world sprint championship in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, after Boucher fell in the 500 meters. He won his only world sprint championship in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

in 1982. The next year, in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, a fall in the 500 meter race meant he lost the crown to Akira Kuroiwa. In 1984, he finished second in the world sprint championship in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

after leading on the first day, but the next year, his career as the strongest Soviet sprinter was over,

Igor Zhelezovski Igor Nikolayevich Zhelezovski or Ihar Mikałajevič Žalazoŭski (russian: Игорь Николаевич Железовский; be, Ігар Мікалаевіч Жалязоўскі; 1 July 1963 – 12 June 2021) was a Soviet and Belarusian ...

("Igor the Terrible") having become world sprint champion in 1985.

Olympic participation

In 1980 Khlebnikov finished ninth in the 1000 meters and 15th in the 500 meters competition; the speed skating competition was dominated by Eric Heiden. Four years later, at the Olympics in

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 ...

, Khlebnikov was outmatched by Gaétan Boucher, who dominated the short events with gold in the 1000 and the 1500 meters; Khlebnikov won the silver medal in the 1000 meters and the

1500 meters The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

. In Sarajevo he competed in the 500 meters event as well, but a false start cost him the chance at a medal.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khlebnikov, Sergey 1955 births 1999 deaths People from Sortavala Soviet male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters of the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in speed skating Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists