Viktor Fyodorovich Markin (; born 23 February 1957 in the village of Oktyabrsky, Ust-Tarksky District,

Novosibirsk Oblast Novosibirsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southwestern Siberia. Its administrative center, administrative and economic center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of N ...

) 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 ...

athlete, winner of two gold medals at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

. After graduating from a secondary school he went to

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

, where he entered the Faculty of

Pediatrics Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, Adolescence, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many o ...

of the Institute of Medicine. Markin started athletics only at age 19 in the athletics section by the institute, coached by Aleksandr Bukhasheyev. He remained quite unknown until the Moscow

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 ...

. On 27 April 1980, in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, Markin ran a new personal best in the one lap event of 46.96 seconds. In early July Markin ran 45.34 at the Central Lenin Stadium. In the Olympic final on July 30, Markin was only fifth at the halfway mark and as the final straight opened he was still three metres behind the leader

Frank Schaffer Frank Schaffer (born 23 October 1958 in Stalinstadt (today Eisenhüttenstadt), Bezirk Frankfurt) is an East German retired athlete who specialised in the 400 metres. He won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. But with a very strong finish Markin won with a European record and world season best 44.60 (still the Russian national record over 400 m). Markin captured his second

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in the 4 × 400 m

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

when, as an anchor, he outran the winner of the

400 metre hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, onc ...

, East German Volker Beck. After a break from sports to complete his studies in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

, Markin returned at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in 1982, where he won two bronze medals (400 m and 4 × 400 m relay). At the inaugural

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 ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Markin, the only Soviet competing in the individual 400 metres (as the rest were concentrating on the relay), was knocked out of the final in an extremely close

photo finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the fini ...

by eventual bronze medalist

Sunder Nix Sunder Lamont Nix (born December 2, 1961, in Birmingham, Alabama) is a former American track and field athlete and He was an Olympic gold medalist at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the men's 4 × 400 m relay for the United States. As the world's be ...

of the United States. However, he finished on a high note as in the last event of the Championships, the 4 × 400 m relay, the Soviets won an unexpected gold.

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

already lost their winning chances on the first leg as

Erwin Skamrahl Erwin Richard Skamrahl (born 8 March 1958) is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the 200 and 400 metres. Biography At the 1982 European Championships he finished fourth in the 200 metres, won a bronze medal in the 4 × 1 ...

(who had broken Markin's European record just three weeks earlier) gave up more than ten meters to Sergey Lovachov; the other main favorites, United States, hung with the Soviets for two and a half legs until Willie Smith tumbled and fell, leaving Markin an easy job to anchor home a USSR victory. Markin decided to retire after hearing the Soviet decision to boycott 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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Markin, Viktor 1957 births Living people Sportspeople from Novosibirsk Oblast Novosibirsk State Medical University alumni Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian male sprinters Soviet male sprinters Olympic athletes for the Soviet Union Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Soviet Union World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade Friendship Games medalists in athletics Soviet Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Russian sportsmen