Gennadiy Mikhailovich Agapov (; 5 December 1933 – 22 July 1999) was a Soviet Russian

race walk Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

er. Agapov held the unofficial

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in both the

20 km walk The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic athletics event that is competed by both men and women. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight un ...

and the

50 km walk The 50 kilometre race walk was an Olympic athletics event that first appeared in 1932 and made its final Olympic appearance in 2021. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and th ...

and placed second in the 50 km walk at the 1966 European Championships.

Career

Agapov was Soviet champion in the 50 km walk in 1962, 1965 and 1966. He competed in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Tokyo 1964 The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseque ...

and

Mexico City 1968 The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

, both times in the 50 km walk. He placed 12th in Tokyo and failed to finish in Mexico City. At the 1966 European Championships in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

he won silver in the 50 km walk, behind defending champion

Abdon Pamich Abdon Pamich (born 3 October 1933) is a former Italian race walker. He competed in the race walking event at the 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1960 and a gold in 1964. Pamich was the Olympics flag bearer fo ...

of Italy. Between 1965 and 1972, Agapov set unofficial world records in the 20 km walk, the 50 km walk and the 20,000 m track walk (the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, coverin ...

did not ratify official records at the time); with his time of 3:55:36, he was the first man to walk 50 kilometres in less than four hours.

References

1933 births 1999 deaths Sportspeople from Kaliningrad Soviet male race walkers Russian male race walkers Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for the Soviet Union World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists Soviet Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Russian sportsmen {{USSR-athletics-bio-stub