Vyacheslav Nikolayevich Ivanov

Vyacheslav Ivanov, 1964

Vyacheslav Nikolajewitsch Ivanov ( Russian Вячеслав Николаевич Иванов ; born July 30, 1938 in Moscow ) is a former rower from the Soviet Union. He became the first rower three Olympic gold medals in one and among the most successful rowers at all.

Career

Ivanov began rowing in 1952. In 1955, at the age of 17, he was third in the Russian championship behind Juri Tjukalow and Alexander Berkutow . In 1956 he won his first Soviet championship title in the single, by 1966 ten more should follow. Ivanov also won at the European Championships in 1956 and was nominated for the Olympic Games in Melbourne in a single, Tjukalow and Berkutow avoided jointly in the double scull and became Olympic champion in Melbourne in this boat class.

In Melbourne Ivanov won his preliminary and also his semifinals. The other semi-final was won by the American John B. Kelly Jr. , the son of 1920 Olympic gold medalist John Kelly Sr. and brother of actress Grace Kelly . In the final, the Australian Stuart MacKenzie took the lead, after 1500 meters he was ahead of Kelly, the Poles Teodor Kocerka and Iwanow. Ivanov sprinted the last half kilometer while the others kept their pace. Ivanov had passed his three opponents by the finish line and won by five seconds over Mackenzie and Kelly.

Mackenzie proved to be Ivanov's strongest opponent over the next few years. Ivanov started twice in the renowned Henley Royal Regatta and was second behind Mackenzie. Since there were no world championships in rowing until 1962, the Australian Mackenzie was also allowed to row at European championships. In 1957 and 1958 he won in front of the West German Klaus von Fersen and Iwanow. In 1959 Ivanov was then European champion for the second time when he was able to track Klaus von Fersen in time before the finish line. In this race Ivanov was the first single-rower in history to stay under the seven-minute mark with 6: 58.8 minutes.

Mackenzie and von Fersen did not start at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Mackenzie had won in Henley, but did not appear in Rome because of an illness. In the all-German Olympic qualification, Klaus von Fersen lost to Achim Hill from East Berlin . Ivanov won his preliminaries, while Hill qualified for the finals via the repeat run . In contrast to Melbourne, six rowers could compete in the final in Rome, so there were no semi-finals. Achim Hill was in the lead for a long time in the finals, but Ivanov overtook him towards the end of the race. Ivanov ultimately won with a lead of six seconds over Achim Hill and the Pole Teodor Kocerka.

In 1962 the first rowing world championships were held on the Rotsee near Lucerne . Ivanov was able to intercept the leading Stuart Mackenzie in the final sprint and became the first single world champion in rowing.

Mackenzie was not at the start in Tokyo at the 1964 Olympic Games . Achim Hill, the US-American Donald Spero and the Swiss Gottfried Kottmann won the heats , while Ivanov had to go into the repechage after his defeat against Spero. Ivanov won his reunion. The final took place in very adverse wind conditions. After 1500 meters, Achim Hill led and Ivanov began his usual race to catch up. The troubled water cost him more strength than usual and shortly before the finish, Ivanov was in the lead, but could no longer keep his own pace. After 8: 22.51 minutes, Ivanov crossed the finish line three and a half seconds ahead of Hill, the Swiss finished third ahead of the young Argentine Alberto Demiddi .

In 1966 and 1967 Ivanov took part in international championships, but won no more medals. After missing the 1968 Olympic Games due to injury, he retired in 1969.

In addition to his successes in rowing, Ivanov was also active in other sports. In Nordic skiing, he met the requirements for the title of Master of Sports , he played football and volleyball at CSKA Moscow and competed in wrestling and boxing in the light heavyweight division.

Appreciation

tactics

Until Vyacheslav Ivanov changed the tactics in rowing, all world class rowers rowed according to the same tactical system. After the acceleration phase after the start, you reached the steady course stroke, which you held out to the finish or at least tried. Changes to the order usually only occurred when one or the other rowers lost their strength towards the end of the race.

Ivanov also drove in the line stroke after the start, but he was the first rower to increase the stroke frequency after 1500 meters and tried to overtake his opponents in the last 500 meters, which he often succeeded. This racing tactic was subsequently adopted by many rowers, which completely changed the training, because in addition to pure endurance training, there was now the training of increasing pace and top speed.

Historical classification

Even before Ivanov, three rowers had managed to win three Olympic gold medals. The Americans John B. Kelly sr. and Paul Costello had done this in the 1920s, the Briton Jack Beresford had won three gold medals and two silver medals at five Olympic Games in four boat classes from 1920 to 1936. But Vyacheslav Ivanov was the first rower to win three times in a single. Only the Finn Pertti Karppinen succeeded in this after him . And it wasn't until 1996 that the Briton Steven Redgrave managed to win a fourth gold medal in rowing, and in 2000 he even won gold for the fifth time.

successes

Olympic games

• 1956 : gold in one
• 1960 : gold in one
• 1964 : gold in one

World championships

• 1962: gold in one
• 1966: 6th place in the single

Henley Royal Regatta

• 1957 Diamond Sculls: 2nd place in the single behind Stuart Mackenzie
• 1958 Diamond Sculls: 2nd place in the single behind Stuart Mackenzie

European championships

• 1956: gold in one
• 1957: Bronze in one
• 1958: Bronze in one
• 1959: gold in one
• 1961: gold in one
• 1963: 4th place in the single
• 1964: gold in one

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle II. London 1948 - Tokyo 1964. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-328-00740-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ "The great Olympia Lexicon", Sport-Bild from June 19, 1996, p. 41.

Web links

Commons : Vyacheslav Nikolayevich Ivanov  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Vyacheslav Nikolayevich Ivanov in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )