Igor Zhelezovski

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Olympic medal record
Men’s speed skating
Competitor for Flag of the Soviet Union Soviet Union
Bronze 1988 Calgary 1,000 m
Competitor for Flag of Belarus Belarus
Silver 1994 Lillehammer 1,000 m

Igor Nikolayevich Zhelezovski (Russian: Игорь Николаевич Железовский) (born 1 July 1963 in Orsha, Belarus) is a former speed skater, considered to be one of the best sprinters ever, which resulted in his nickname "Igor the Terrible". Originally competing for the Soviet Union, then for the Commonwealth of Independent States, and finally for Belarus, he became World Sprint Champion a record number of six times, a record still unequalled as of (and including the Championships of) 2007. In Soviet times, he trained at Armed Forces sports society in Minsk.

Igor Zhelezovski won silver at the World Junior Allround Championships in 1982. Specialising in the sprint, he became World Sprint Champion in 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1993. He finished eighth in the 1987 edition, having just recovered from an illness, and decided to skip the 1988 edition in favour of preparing for the Winter Olympics in Calgary that same year. These, however, turned out to be a disappointment for him, finishing sixth on the 500 m, "only" third on his favourite 1,000 m, and fourth on the 1,500 m. The remaining two World Sprint Championships he participated in, in 1990 and 1994, he finished third and sixth, respectively.

His final two seasons, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Zhelezovski skated for Belarus. After ending his skating career in 1994, Zhelezovski became president of the skating union of Belarus, a position he held for several years.

[edit] Medals

An overview of medals won by Zhelezovski at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Championships Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Winter Olympics – 1994 (1,000 m) 1988 (1,000 m)
World Sprint 1985
1986
1989
1991
1992
1993		 – 1990
World Cup 1991 (1,000 m)
1992 (1,000 m)
1993 (1,000 m)		 – 1993 (500 m)
1994 (1,000 m)
World Junior Allround – 1982 –
Soviet Allround – – –
Soviet Sprint 1985
1986
1989
1990
1991		 – 1984

[edit] World records

Over the course of his career, Zhelezovski skated four world records, one of which equalled Pavel Pegov's six year old world record on the 1,000 m:

Event Result Date Venue
1,500 m 1:54.26 26 March 1983 Medeo
1,500 m 1:52.50 5 December 1987 Calgary
1,000 m 1:12.58 25 February 1989 Heerenveen
Sprint combination 145.945 26 February 1989 Heerenveen

[edit] Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Zhelezovski skated his personal records.

Event Result Date Venue WR
500 m 36.49 21 December 1985 Medeo 36.57
1,000 m 1:12.58 25 February 1989 Heerenveen 1:12.58
1,500 m 1:52.50 5 December 1987 Calgary 1:52.70
3,000 m 4:12.85 9 January 1988 Davos 3:59.27
5,000 m 7:09.84 25 March 1983 Medeo 6:54.66
10,000 m 15:40.82 26 March 1983 Medeo 14:23.59
Big combination 166.201 26 March 1983 Medeo 162.973

Note that Zhelezovski's personal record on the 500 m was not a recognised as a world record by the International Skating Union (ISU).

Zhelezovski has an Adelskalender score of 164.015 points.

[edit] References