Sergey Nikolayevich Volkov (; 19 April 1949 – 31 August 1990) was a Soviet

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

. He won the 1975 World title and placed second in 1974.

Personal life

Volkov was born on 19 April 1949 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. He was the brother of Elena Buriak, an international skating referee. With his first wife, Lyudmila, he had a son, Aleksandr, and with his second wife, Oksana, he had twin daughters, Ekaterina and Anastasia. He died from stomach cancer on 31 August 1990 in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

and was buried in Kuntsevo Cemetery in Moscow. Volkov dreamed of becoming a pilot and tried twice to enter the flight academy in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

. He failed the medical test both times due to his soft and weak knees and ankles, which would fail upon landing after a parachute jump. For the same reason he struggled with landing his jumps throughout his skating career.

Career

Volkov debuted at the 1968 European Championship, and placed 12th. In 1974, he won the silver medal at the European and

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. Volkov won the individual world title in 1975, becoming the first Soviet man to do so. Domestically he won two Soviet titles, in 1974 and 1976. Volkov participated in eight European and four World Championships. He was unbeatable in special and

compulsory figures Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For ...

. After retiring from competition he worked as a figure skating coach, and spent four months in Austria in 1990 in this capacity.

Results

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Volkov, Sergey Nikolayevich Russian male single skaters Soviet male single skaters 1949 births 1990 deaths Olympic figure skaters for the Soviet Union Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Deaths from stomach cancer World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating Figure skaters from Moscow FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Competitors at the 1970 Winter Universiade Deaths from cancer in the Soviet Union Deaths from cancer in Ukraine 20th-century Russian sportsmen