Victor Kovalenko (; born 5 August 1950) is a Ukrainian sailor and coach, now the head coach of the Australian Olympic Sailing Team. Referred to as "the Medal Maker", Kovalenko has coached men and women sailors to 11 medals, seven of those gold, in Olympic Games, beginning in 1988.

Biography

Kovalenko was born in

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

(then Dnipropetrovsk),

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

, on 5 August 1950. He learned to sail at the local "Meteor Club" at the age of 12. He became a member of USSR national sailing team in 1973, sailing in the

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' () is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the sea forever. The myths and ghost stories are likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dutch East India C ...

and

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

classes. In 1974, he won the national Flying Dutchman championship with Valery Maydan. That year he put racing aside to complete his education at the Nikolaev State Pedagogical Institute where he graduated with majors in Sport and Sport Science. He began sailing the

470 __NOTOC__ Year 470 ( CDLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Iordanes (or, less frequently, year 1223 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

while at Nikolaev. He considers it the most difficult and most satisfying boat to sail. Kovalenko was USSR 470 champion in 1981 with Michail Kudryavtsev. His nickname was Flint. Kovalenko's competitive career ended in 1984 when USSR boycotted the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

. After his team was disbanded, he turned part-time coaching into a full-time career. In 1983, it was announced that in 1988 women would be welcome to sail in the Olympics for the first time. The 470 was named as the first women's class. It fell to Kovelenko, a junior coach for USSR, to work with an inexperienced women's team of which little was expected. In four years, he coached former rower Larisa Moskalenko and her crew, Iryna Chunykhovska to a bronze medal in the women's 470 event at the

1988 Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were repres ...

. In 1991, after the Soviet Union was dissolved, Kovalenko began coaching both men's and women's teams for Ukraine. The

1996 Atlanta 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, ...

were a huge success for the newly independent country's first Olympics.

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

brought home nine gold medals, two medals of them in sailing, one gold and one bronze. But political upheaval within the country resulted in lack of support for the sailing team. When Kovalenko was recruited by Australia, he accepted and moved to Sydney in 1997. His debut as Australia's coach at the

2000 Sydney 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 ...

resulted in gold medals for both the men's and women's teams in the 470 class. Immediately after the Sydney Olympics, he was appointed the inaugural head coach of the sailing program of the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

. Australia missed the podium in the coming 2004 Olympics in Athens, but at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, both Kovalenko's men's and women's 470 class teams each won gold medals. At the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, the team of

Mathew Belcher Mathew "Mat" Belcher, (born 20 September 1982) is an Australian sailor and a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 470 dinghy, who currently competes with crew Will Ryan. In 2011, following World Championship and World Cup success, he and Mal ...

and Malcolm Page won gold for Australia in the 470 class. Belcher and Kovalenko had then been working together for 21 years. At the

2016 Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, the team of

and

Will Ryan William Ryan (May 21, 1949 – November 19, 2021) was an American voice actor, musician and singer. He provided the voice of Petrie in the 1988 animated film '' The Land Before Time''. He was also known for his voice work as Eugene Meltsner in t ...

won the silver medal in the 470 class. His aim is to coach at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

after his wife said "Victor, you have to do Tokyo because you can’t finish your coaching career with a silver medal, you have to complete the job". Kovalenko has coached the following

470 class The 470 (Four-Seventy) is a double-handed monohull planing dinghy with a centreboard, Bermuda rig, and centre sheeting. Equipped with a spinnaker, trapeze and a large sail-area-to-weight ratio, it is designed to plane easily, and good teamwork i ...

crewed to Olympic gold medals: *1996 –

Yevhen Braslavets Yevhen Anatoliyovych Braslavets (; born 11 September 1972 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian sailor and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal in the 470 class at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, together with Ihor M ...

and

Ihor Matviyenko Ihor Matviienko (born May 17, 1971 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian sailor and Olympic Champion. He won a gold medal in the 470 class at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, together with Yevhen Braslavets. He also competed at th ...

(Ukraine) *2000 – Tom King and

Mark Turnbull Mark David Turnbull (born 11 October 1973) is an Australian sailor and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal in the 470 Class with Tom King at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He and King were inducted into the Australian Sailing Hal ...

; Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell (Australia) *2008 –

Nathan Wilmot Nathan James Wilmot (born 13 December 1979) is a sailor, and a member of the Australian sailing team. He has won five world titles along with teammate Malcolm Page in the 470 class. They also won the Olympic test event in Qingdao in 2007 and ...

and Malcolm Page; Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson (Australia) *2012 –

and Malcolm Page (Australia) *2020 –

and William Ryan (Australia) In 2017, the book ''Medal Maker'' written by Roger Vaughan on the Kovalenko's life and sailing career was published. A film about Kovalenko based on Roger Vaughn's biographical book about him of the same name ''Launch of 'The Medal Maker' – The story of Victor Kovalenko'' is currently being shot in different parts of the world.

Personal life

In 1978, Kovalenko met his wife, Tatiana Savenkova. A track athlete who ran the 400 meters, Miss Kovalenko was a coach before becoming an elementary school teacher. They are parents of one son, Vladimir, and have one grand daughter.

Accomplishments and honors as coach

*elewen Olympic medals (7 of them Gold) in 10 Olympic Games *winner, 20 world championships *two ISAF Rolex Sailors of the Year (

Ruslana Taran Ruslana Oleksiïvna Taran (; born 27 October 1970 in Yevpatoria, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian sailor. At the 1996 470-European-Sailing-Championship she won with her Partner Olena Pakholchyk the gold medal. References ...

, 470, 1997;

, 470, 2013) *winner, 14 European championships *winner, 118 world class regattas * Australian Coach of the Year – 2008, 2012 *OAM (

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

) – 2012 * Order of Merit (Ukraine) 2021 *Four medals from USSR and Ukrainian governments *Member,

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

- 2013 *Inaugural member,

Australian Sailing Hall of Fame Australian Sailing Hall of Fame was established in 2017 by Australian Sailing in collaboration with the Australian National Maritime Museum. There are two nomination categories: the sailor or athlete category; and the general category which recogni ...

– 2017 *Member, 470 class Hall of Fame *Member, ISAF Coach's Commission *Vice-President, International Coaches Association *Honorary member, Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Royal Tasmania Yacht Club, Sandringham Yacht Club, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Middle Harbor Yacht Club, Monaco Yacht Club *Ambassador,

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

– 2000, 2013, 2017, 2020, 2025

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovalenko, Victor 1950 births Living people Soviet male sailors (sport) Flying Dutchman class sailors Dragon class sailors 470 class sailors Sailing coaches Soviet sports coaches Ukrainian sports coaches Australian sports coaches Olympic coaches for Australia Australian Institute of Sport coaches Sportspeople from Dnipro Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees