- Valentyn Mankin
Valentyn Grigoryevich Mankin ( _ru. Валентин Григорьевич Манкин) (born
August 19 1938 inKiev ) is a retired Soviet/Ukrainian sailor, three times Olympic champion for the USSR team.He trained at VSS Vodnik and scored his first Olympic triumph at the 1968 Summer Olympics in
Mexico City , when he dominated his 35 opponents in the Finn class, finishing first or second in five of the seven races to win the gold medal.At the
1972 Summer Olympics inMunich , Mankin switched classes and teamed with Vitaly Dyrdyra to win the Tempest class. At the1976 Summer Olympics inMontreal he added a silver with a new partner, Vladyslav Akimenko. At the 1980 Summer Olympics inMoscow at the age of 41 years with Aleksandrs Muzichenko and entered the Star class. The contest went down to the final race, but Mankin pulled off the victory and won the Gold Medal.As of 2005 , Valentyn Mankin remains the only sailor in Olympic history to win gold medals in three different classes. (Finn, Tempest and Star).Bibliography
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