Vyacheslav Petrovich Vedenin (Russian: Вячесла́в Петро́вич Веденин; 1 October 1941 – 22 October 2021[3]) was a Soviet cross-country skier. His silver medal over 50 km was the only medal won by a Soviet male skier at the 1968 Olympics, as his 4×10 km team placed fourth. At the next Olympics he was the Olympic flag bearer for the Soviet Union and won three medals, with golds in the 30 km and 4×10 km and a bronze in the 50 km. In the 4×10 km event Vedenin ran the last leg and won by 10 seconds, despite starting with a one-minute lag from Norway.[4] His gold in the 30 km was the first individual win for a Soviet male skier at the Winter Olympics.[1][2]

Vyacheslav Vedenin
Vedenin in 2007
Personal information
Full nameVyacheslav Petrovich Vedenin
Born1 October 1941 (1941-10)
Sloboda, Tula Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR[1][2]
Died22 October 2021(2021-10-22) (aged 80)
Height164 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight64 kg (141 lb)
Sport
SportCross-country skiing
ClubDynamo Moscow
Coached byPavel Kolchin
Vasili Smirnov[2]
Medal record
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1968 Grenoble 50 km
Gold medal – first place 1972 Sapporo 30 km
Gold medal – first place 1972 Sapporo 4×10 km
Bronze medal – third place 1972 Sapporo 50 km
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1970 Vysoké Tatry 30 km
Gold medal – first place 1970 Vysoké Tatry 4×10 km
Silver medal – second place 1970 Vysoké Tatry 50 km
Vedenin on a stamp of Ajman

Vedenin also won three medals at the 1970 World Championships with two golds (30 km, 4x10 km) and one silver (50 km). After retiring from competitions he coached skiers at Dynamo Moscow, for which he competed through his entire career.[1]

Vedenin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1970) and Order of Lenin (1972).[4] Since 1989 a competition "Vedenin's Ski Track" («Лыжня Веденина») is held yearly in Dubna, Dubensky District, in his honor.[4][1]

Vedenin had two sons, Vyacheslav and Andrey. Vyacheslav is an international skiing referee who worked at the 2014 Winter Olympics and also took Olympic Oath on behalf of officials. Andrei is a former biathlon competitor.[2]

References

edit
edit