Valeri Popenchenko

Medal record
Competitor for the  Soviet Union
Men's Boxing
Olympic Games
Gold 1964 Tokyo Middleweight
European Amateur Championships
Gold 1963 Moscow Middleweight
Gold 1965 Berlin Middleweight

Valeri Vladimirovich Popenchenko (Russian: Валерий Владимирович Попенченко) (August 26, 1937, Kuntsevo — February 15, 1975, Moscow) was an amateur boxer from the Soviet Union, who competed in the Middleweight division (– 75 kg) during his career, winning 200 of his 213 fights.

Popenchenko trained at Dynamo in Leningrad. He was the USSR Champion in 1959 and from 1961 to 1965. He became the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1964 and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in the following year. [1]

Popenchenko represented the Soviet Union at the Summer Olympics of 1964 beating Emil Schulz of the United Team of Germany in the final, after the referee stoped the contest (RSC). He was also named the Outstanding Boxer of the 1964 Olympics and given the Val Barker Trophy.

Contents

Death

In the mid 1970s Bauman Moscow State Technical University commenced construction of some new buildings and sporting facilities. As the head of culture department, Popenchenko would often visit the construction site to check the work. On February 15 1975, Popenchenko was visiting the site and while running down the stairs, where handrails were not yet installed, lost his balance, fell three floors and was killed, he was just 38 years old. He was berried at Vvedenskoye Cemetery. [2]

Olympic results

References

  1. ^ Boris Khavin (1979) (in Russian). All about Olympic Games. (2nd ed. ed.). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. pp. p. 572. 
  2. ^ http://www.peoples.ru/sport/boxer/popenchenko/ Popenchenko - people sport (Russian site)

External links