Denis Pankratov (; born 4 July 1974) is a retired Russian

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

swimmer of the 1990s, who was best known for winning the butterfly double at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, United States in a unique style. His 100 m butterfly triumph is particularly remembered for his swimming over 25 m of the first lap underwater and then 15 m in the opposite direction, also underwater. Two-time "Swimming World" Swimmer of the Year. In 2004 he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF). He trained at the Volgograd club with fellow individual gold medallist at "Swimming World" Swimmer of the Year

Yevgeny Sadovyi Yevgeny Viktorovich Sadovyi (; born 19 January 1973) is a retired Russian Freestyle swimming, freestyle swimmer who won three gold medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona and was subsequently chosen by ''Swimming World magazine'' as the ...

Biography

Pankratov was born in

Volgograd Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. At the age of 16, in 1990 and again in 1991, he won the Junior European Championships in the butterfly. In his first international appearance at senior level, he placed 6th in the final of the 200 m butterfly at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. In 1993, at the European Championships in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, Pankratov won his first international medals, with gold medals in the 200 m butterfly and 4×100 m medley relay and a silver medal in the 100 m butterfly. He repeated this performance in the 1995 European Championships in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, this time winning all three gold medals and breaking Pablo Morales's nine-year-old 100 m butterfly world record with a time of 52.32. He held the 100 m butterfly world record for over two years, until it was broken by Michael Klim. At the 1994 World Championships in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Pankratov swam head-to-head with all the best swimmers of the world. He won the 200 m butterfly, placed second in the 4×100 m medley relay and third in the 100 m butterfly. This competition established Pankratov as the leading butterflier in the world and two years later in

, at the

, he won two gold medals, one each in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly and a silver medal in the 4×100 m medley with his

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n teammates. His 100 m butterfly victory was another world record of 52.27 s, breaking his own record set the previous year. Uniquely, he won the 100 m butterfly by swimming more than 25 m of the first lap underwater and then 15 m in the opposite direction, also underwater. His submarine technique caused a rule change to restrict butterfly swimmers to 15 m underwater (humans swim slower than the speed which they gain from diving and gliding and bouncing off the walls), in line with the other strokes. Pankratov attempted to repeat his success at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and finished 7th in the 200 m butterfly. He retired in 2002. In total, he set seven world records, three long course and four short course. His two long course 100 m butterfly world records stood for two years until broken in 1997, and his 200 m butterfly world record of 1:55.22 lasted five years before broken by Tom Malchow of the United States. His short course world records included two in the 100 m butterfly and one each in the 50 m and 200 m butterfly, set in 1997. He was named as the male World Swimmer of the Year by ''

Swimming World magazine } ''Swimming World'' is a US-based quarterly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'' (kn ...

'' in 1995 and 1996 and was named as the male European Swimmer of the Year in the same years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pankratov, Denis 1974 births Living people Swimmers from Volgograd Olympic swimmers for Russia Olympic swimmers for the Unified Team Russian male butterfly swimmers Olympic gold medalists for Russia Olympic silver medalists for Russia Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics World record setters in swimming Russian male freestyle swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Goodwill Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games 20th-century Russian sportsmen

Biography

See also

References

External links