Valerian Sergeevich Sokolov (; born 30 August 1946) is a former

Soviet 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 ...

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who won the gold medal at the 1968 Summer Games. He trained at

Dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos employed electromagnets for self-starting by using residual magnetic field left in the iron cores ...

Cheboksary Cheboksary is the capital city of Chuvashia, Russia. It is a port on the Volga River. Geography The city is located in the Volga Upland region and stands on the shore of the Cheboksary Reservoir. Its area is .Resolution #2083 The satellite city ...

. Sokolov became the

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified All-Russian Sports Classification () is a system which regulates the Russian physical education system requirements for both athletes and coaches. History In the Soviet period Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR () exist ...

in 1968 and was awarded the

Order of the Badge of Honor The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

in 1969. During his career he won 196 fights out of 216.Profile in the Olympic Encyclopedia
/ref> Sokolov started boxing in a club in 1963 and was unknown before 1968, when he suddenly won the national and Olympic titles. He proceeded to win Soviet championships in 1969, 1971 and 1973, finishing second in 1972, 1974 and 1975, but had no success internationally. He retired in 1975, and three years later graduated from the Leningrad Military Institute of Physical Culture with a degree in

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

. Between 1981 and 1986 he coached the Soviet national team; in 1998 he became chairman of the Coaches Committee of the Russian Boxing Federation, and later was responsible for martial arts at the Federal Agency for Sport in Russia.

1968 Olympic results

* Round of 64: bye * Round of 32: Defeated Rafael Archundia (Ecuador) by decision, 3-2 * Round of 16: Defeated Michael Carter (Great Britain) referee stopped contest * Quarterfinal: Defeated

Samuel Mbugua Samuel Mbugua (born 1 January 1946) is a retired boxer from Kenya, who won the bronze medal in the lightweight division (– 60 kg) at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. In the semifinals he was defeated by Poland's ...

(Kenya) by decision, 5–0 * Semifinal: Defeated Eiji Marioka (Japan) by decision, 5–0 * Final: Defeated Eridadi Mukwanga (Uganda) TKO (was awarded gold medal)

References

1946 births Living people Soviet male boxers Bantamweight boxers Olympic boxers for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Boxers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Dynamo Sports Club sportspeople Olympic medalists in boxing Russian male boxers Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics 20th-century Russian sportsmen {{USSR-boxing-bio-stub