Viktor Aleksandrovich Sidyak (; born 24 November 1943) is a Russian former left-handed sabre fencer, a pupil of

Mark Rakita Mark Semenovich Rakita (; born July 22, 1938) is a two-time Olympic champion sabreur and coach from the Soviet era. Early life Rakita was born in Moscow, USSR, and is Jewish. Fencing career Rakita started fencing when he was 14. He would pract ...

and David Tyshler. He was known for his aggressive style and the "one-and-a-half tempo attack".

Biography

Sidyak was born in

Anzhero-Sudzhensk Anzhero-Sudzhensk () is a town in the Kuznetsk Basin in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located to the north of the oblast's administrative center of Kemerovo and to the east of the Tom River, on the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Population: ...

Kemerovo Oblast Kemerovo Oblast (, ), also known as Kuzbass (, ), after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Kemerovo is the administrative center and largest city of the oblast. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Rus ...

, but spent most of his childhood in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

. He started fencing at age fifteen. In the 1960s, while training in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, he represented Ukraine on the internal Soviet circuit. He was part of the winning team at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

in Mexico City. In 1970, he moved to Minsk and joined the

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian fencing lobby which had produced Elena Belova, Alexandr Romankov, and Nikolai Alyokhin.По золоту с каждых Игр
. peoples.ru At the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

in Munich, Sidyak became the first Soviet sabreur to win individual gold. At the same Olympics, he fenced in the team final with his right eye bandaged over after having a fragment of the Italian Michele Maffei's blade removed from his eye the previous day. Besides Sidyak, the team consisted of Vladimir Nazlymov, Eduard Vinokurov, and Viktor Bazhenov. The Soviet and Italian teams met again in the finals, Italy taking gold, and USSR silver. In 1994, Maffei's 1972 teammate

Mario Aldo Montano Mario Aldo Montano (born 1 May 1948) is an Italian fencer. He won a gold and two silver medals in the team sabre at three Olympic Games. He also competed at the Mediterranean Games in the individual sabre event where he won silver medals in 197 ...

invited Sidyak to coach the young fencers, including his own son, at his club in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

. At the world championships Sidyak's won an individual title in 1969 and team titles in 1969–1971, 1974, 1975 and 1979. As of 2016, Sidyak was the chairman of the professional

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

association of

References

External links

Biography from the Russian Fencing Federation
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sidyak, Viktor 1943 births Living people Soviet male sabre fencers Russian male sabre fencers Ukrainian male sabre fencers Olympic fencers for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in fencing Fencers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Soviet Union Summer World University Games medalists in fencing Medalists at the 1970 Summer Universiade Armed Forces (sports society) sportspeople Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Left-handed fencers Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour People from Anzhero-Sudzhensk Sportspeople from Kemerovo Oblast 20th-century Russian sportsmen 20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen

Biography

See also

References

External links