Viatcheslav Ekimov

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Olympic medal record
Men's Cycling
Gold	1988 Seoul	Track Team Pursuit
Gold	2000 Sydney	Road Time Trial
Silver	2004 Athens	Road Time Trial

Viatcheslav Ekimov in the prologue of the 2006 Tour of California

Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov (Russian Вячеслав Владимирович Екимов; born February 4, 1966 in Vyborg near St Petersburg, Russia), nicknamed Eki, became a professional bicycle racer in 1990. He won two Olympic gold medals: in the track team pursuit in Seoul (1988) for the USSR and in the road time trial in Sydney (2000) for Russia. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Ekimov won the silver medal for Russia in the men's road individual time trial, losing to Tyler Hamilton who, despite later being convicted of doping, was allowed to keep his gold medal. Ekimov started 15 Tours de France and finished every one of them, tying him at second with Lucien Van Impe for the record number of Tour finishes.

Ekimov started training as a cyclist at age 12 with a bicycle school affiliated with the famous centre of Alexander Kuznetsov. He trained in Leningrad at Lokomotiv and later Armed Forces sports society in the Soviet time.

In the 2003 Tour de France Ekimov placed 10th in the prologue. He was a key force in the winning team time trial effort in stage four and was important to Lance Armstrong's fifth Tour victory both on the flats and in the mountains.

Ekimov was awarded the title of Russian Cyclist of the Century in 2001 and retired that same season only to rejoin the team the next year. Ekimov first joined the USPS team in 1997 as its first key international signing. At the 2000 Olympics, Ekimov pulled off one of cycling's great upsets by winning the Gold medal in the time trial.

Ekimov continued to race for US Postal (later the Discovery Channel). During the final stage of the 2006 Tour de France, he announced that that tour, his 15th, would be his last. He was honoured by the peloton on the final stage, who allowed him to lead them over the line on the first of the eight laps of the Champs-Elysees

[edit] Career highlights

2005:
- Stage 4 (ITT), Three Days of De Panne
2004:
- Stage 4, 2nd Overall, Tour of Holland
- 2nd Stage 4, 2nd Overall (0'19"), Tour de Languedoc-Roussillon
- 2nd (Silver Medal), Athens Summer Olympics Men's Time Trial
- 5th Overall, Tour de Georgia
- 5th, GP Eddy Merckx
2003:
- Stage 4 (ITT) and Overall, Ronde Van Nederland
- 3rd, Paris-Roubaix

2000:
- 1st (Gold Medal), Sydney Summer Olympics Men's Time Trial
- GP Eddy Merckx (teamed with Lance Armstrong)
- Three Days of De Panne
1997:
- Russia National Road Race Champion
1996:
- Three Days of De Panne
1995:
- Tour DuPont (2nd overall)
- 4th, Paris-Roubaix
1994:
- Tour DuPont (1st overall)
- Veenendaal-Veenendaal
1992:
- Züri-Metzgete
1988:
- Regio Tour
- Vuelta a Tachira