Sergey Kopliakov

Sergey Viktorovich Koplyakov (Russian: Сергей Викторович Копляков; born 23 January 1959 in Orsha) is a former Soviet male swimmer who won two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

The arriving to the first page of the world swimming of Sergey Kopliakov in 1979. coming behind Vladimir Salnikov, Andrei Krylov and Vladimir Rastakov, let Soviet Union get the level of the American giant, in the late 1970s in the lands of the male freestyle. For the history, Kopliakov will be the swimmer who ended 15 years of American domination in the 200 m. freestyle and first man ever going under 1:50 (on 7 April 1979 he performed 1:49.83 in East Berlin).

Kopliakov debuted in 1974, at the age of 15. He won the 200 m juniors in a people's tournament in 1969. From Minsk he went to Leningrad, one of the pilot centers of the new soviet swimming and was selected in 1976 for the Montreal Olympic Games, where he won a silver medal in the 4×200 m; his best time in 200 m. that year was 1:53.37. In 1977 he was very discreet, only got a fifth place in the 200 m of the European Championships. In 1978, in the West Berlin World Championships, He finished third in the 200 m. behind two Americans with a time of 1:51.33 (new Europe record). He was revealed completely in 1978, beating on 7 April the 200 m world record, during the first split of one 4×200 m relay in a GDR/USSR meeting; after that he won the 100 m. in 51.46 and the 200 m of the Europe Cup (London) in August and finally the 200 m of the Spartakiad in Moscow on September with 1:50.13, showing himself as one of the most serious opponents for the American swimmers.

References

• YouTube heat 200 m freestyle Olympic Games -80
• (Russian) Profile in the Olympic Encyclopedia
• (Russian) Sergey Koplyakov's biography and interview
• (English) Profile