Ivan Aleksandrovich Kalita (russian: Иван Александрович Калита; 14 January 1927 – 29 March 1996) was a Soviet

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal in team

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

at the

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. Kalita was the oldest Olympic participant from USSR (49 years and 197 days during

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

in Montreal).

Biography

From December 1944 he served as a horse breeder in the cavalry school of equestrian instructors . Ivan Kalita took part in five consecutive Summer Olympics (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976), taking part in the individual and team dressage championships. His trainers were Grigory Anastasiev and Nikolay Sitko. He made his debut at the Olympic Games in 1960 in Rome at the age of 33, finished fifth in the individual championship. He graduated from the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (russian: Военная академия имени М. В. Фрунзе), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (rus ...

(1961). He played for CSKA. Member of the

CPSU "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

since 1952. Four years later, in

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, Kalita was 15th in the individual championship, and as part of the USSR national team, he won bronze in the team championship at the ''Moara'' (together with Sergei Filatov and

Ivan Kizimov Ivan Kizimov (russian: Иван Михайлович Кизимов; 28 May 1928 – 22 September 2019)

). In 1968, in

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, Kalita was 4th in the individual championship (gold was won by Ivan Kizimov). As part of the USSR national team, Kalita won silver in the team championship at ''Absinthe'' (together with Ivan Kizimov and Yelena Petushkova). In 1972, in Munich, Kalita on ''Tarifa'' became the 5th in the individual championship, and as part of the USSR national team he became the Olympic champion in team dressage. This was the first victory of Soviet athletes in team competitions in all types of equestrian sports at the Olympic Games. At the time of his victory in Munich, Kalita was already over 45 years old, which made him one of the oldest Olympic champions in the history of the USSR. Four years later, in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Kalita performed for the last time at the Olympics and became the 13th in the individual championship, and as part of the USSR national team he took 4th place in the team championship. At the time of his last performance in Montreal, Kalita was 49 years and 197 days, making him the oldest participant in the Olympic Games in all sports in the history of the USSR. Even during his sports career, Ivan Alexandrovich became a coach. Since 1978 he coached the USSR national team. At the 1992 Games in

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, Kalita was the coach of the United Dressage Team . He died on March 29, 1996, and was buried at the 42nd section of the Khimki cemetery.

References

1927 births 1996 deaths Soviet male equestrians Russian dressage riders Olympic equestrians of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Equestrians at the 1960 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1964 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1968 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1972 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Frunze Military Academy alumni {{USSR-equestrian-bio-stub