Vadzim Makhneu

Vadzim Makhneu or Vadim Makhnev ( _be. Вадзім Махнеў; _ru. Вадим Махнев) (born December 21, 1979 in Minsk) is a Belarusian flatwater canoer. He is a former world champion and Olympic medallist.

Makhneu never represented Belarus as a junior but won four European championship gold medals for his country at under-23 level as a member of the four-man (K4) kayak crew.

In 2001 he was promoted to the senior K4 boat and won his first senior medals at the European championships in Milan (K4 500m bronze and K4 1000m bronze). A year later the same crew went to the world championships in Seville and took the K4 500m silver medal.

In 2003 Makhneu formed a K2 partnership with Raman Piatrushenka, moving to Mozyr to work under Piatrushenka's coach Vladimir Shantarovich. In their first season together the pair won the 500m silver medal at the world championships in Gainesville, USA. At the 2004 Summer Olympics they took the bronze medal.

Both men were still competing in the K4 as well and had won another 500m European medal, this time silver, in 2004. The K4 boat had finished sixth in the Athens K4 1000m final and after the Olympics Makhneu suggested they take a break from the K2 event in order to concentrate fully on the K4.

This decision was amply rewarded in 2005 when the Belarus K4 500m crew of Piatrushenka/Abalmasau/Turchyn/Makhneu were crowned first European and then world champions.

At the beginning of the 2006 season the Belarusian four confirmed their status as the top 500m crew in the world, winning the first two major races of the international season by a clear margin. As Makhneu has pointed out however, the K4 500m is not on the Olympic schedule and they must improve their 1000m performances if they wish to become Olympic champions in Beijing.

National team leader Viktor Reneysky is also keen for Makhneu and Piatrushenka to compete in the K2 again at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and they made a surprise reappearance in the K2 at the Duisburg regatta in 2006.

Makhneu is 195 cm (6'5") tall and weighs 91 kg (200 lbs). In 2005 he secretly married Alina, the receptionist of the hotel he had lived in while training in Mozyr.

World Championship Medals

*2005 - gold medal, K4 500m, 1:20.898
*2005 - bronze medal, K4, 200m, 30.565
*2003 - silver medal, K2 500m, 1:28.954
*2002 - silver medal, K4 500m, 1:23.219

ee also

* List of canoe/kayak athletes by country