Igor Zhelezovski

__NOTOC__Igor Nikolayevich Zhelezovski ( _ru. 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.

Medals

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

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.

References

* [http://www.skateresults.com/skater/show/1219 Igor Zhelezovski at SkateResults.com]
* [http://www.desg.de/skater.php?anzeige=skater&skater=2903 Igor Zhelezovski] . "Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e.V." (German Skating Association).
* [http://www.sskating.com/index.php?name=ZJELEZOVSKIJ&fname=Igor&nat=URS&lm=m Personal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database]
* [http://web.telia.com/~u46130641/adel.htm Evert Stenlund's Adelskalender pages]
* [http://www.speedskating.ru/en/stat.html Results of Championships of Russia and the USSR from SpeedSkating.ru]
* [http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-181536-198754-94643-0-file,00.pdf Historical World Records] . "International Skating Union".