Viktor Pankrashkin (; 10 December 1957 - 24 July 1993) was a Soviet basketball player. Pankrashkin won a gold medal at the

1988 Summer 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 represe ...

. Also, he won one silver and one bronze at the

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

Club career

Pankrashkin only came to basketball at the age of 17. Because of his height, he was noticed by an army basketball coach. After a short time with different army teams he came to

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

, where he spent 10 years. In addition to his height, he had an enormous arm length so that he could stand on his heel and touch the basketball ring. With these physical virtues, blocked shots became his trademark. He won five Soviet championships in a row with CSKA. He celebrated his greatest triumph in 1988 when he won the gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul as a member of the Soviet national team. After 1988, CSKA got a new coach, with whom Pankraschkin fell out. He left

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 ...

and joined the new Armenian club Urartu in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. In terms of sport, however, his most successful period was over.

Disease

As early as 1986 Pankrashkin was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. He initially kept the disease a secret. The further progression of the disease made it impossible to play basketball from 1992 onwards. He died of this disease on July 24, 1993.

References

External links

* 1957 births 1993 deaths Russian men's basketball players Soviet men's basketball players Olympic basketball players for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in basketball Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in the Soviet Union 20th-century Russian sportsmen {{Russia-basketball-bio-stub