Volodymyr Kuz

Volodymyr Petrowytsch Kuz ( Ukrainian Володимир Петрович Куц ; Russian Владимир Петрович Куц / Vladimir Petrovich Kuz * 7. February 1927 in Oleksyne , Sumy , Ukrainian SSR , Soviet Union ; † 16th August 1975 in Moscow , Soviet Union) was an athlete from the Soviet Union who specialized in long-distance runner .

biography

Kuz, who served as an officer in the Red Army throughout his sporting career , first became internationally known in 1954. At the European Championships in Bern he defeated the most popular favorites in the 5000 meter race , the Czech Emil Zátopek and the British Christopher Chataway ; in the process he set a new world record . In 1955 he lost this world record to Chataway, but regained the record only ten days later.

Kuz was one of the top favorites at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne . Shortly before the games, he had set a new world record over 10,000 meters . In the final of the Olympic 10,000 meter race, Kuz led away from the start and gave the competition no chance. The 5000-meter race five days later was only a formality, and Kuz won his second gold medal.

On October 13, 1957, he improved the 5,000 meter world record to 13: 35.0 minutes, a time that Ron Clarke would not beat until 1965 . Kuz then expressed more and more trouble to keep up with the best in the world and retired from top-class sport in 1959. Kuz died of a heart attack in Moscow in 1975 at the age of only 48. He was buried in the Preobrazhenskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Web links

• Wolodymyr Kuz in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )