Vyacheslav Ivanovich Lemeshev () (April 3, 1952 in

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 ...

— January 27, 1996) was an Olympic boxer from the

USSR 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 ...

. Soviet physiologists, while examining Lemeshev abilities with electronic measuring devices, discovered his extremely fast, split-second reaction, uncommon not only for boxers, but for the other athletes as well, and decisive when it comes to the counterpunches and

cross-counter A counterpunch is a boxing punch that immediately follows an attack launched by an opponent. It exploits the opening created in an opponent's guard. Technique Counterpunchers are tactical, fighters who find the middle of offence and defence as w ...

s, in which he was one of the best in the entire middleweight, though severe trauma of the left hand (Lemeshev was a southpaw) ended his olympic career, and boxing career as well, when resulted in several knockout losses in a row.

Career

Lemeshev trained at the

Armed Forces sports society The Sports Clubs of the Armed Forces, Physical Culture and Sports Association of the Soviet Armed Forces ( ''sportivnye kluby Armiy, SKA''; , ''Fizkulturno-sportivnoe obyedinenie Vooruzhonnykh Sil SSSR''), also called the Sports Clubs of the Sovie ...

. During his career Lemeshev won 103 fights out of 111.Profile in the Olympic Encyclopedia
/ref> He won the gold medal in the

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

division (–75 kg) 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 ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Lemeshev knocked out four of his five opponents to win the gold medal. He knocked out young American Marvin Johnson in two rounds in a semifinal, avenging an earlier loss to Johnson in the Soviet Union. He then scored a 1st round knockout (Time 2:17) over Reima Virtanen of Finland to win the gold medal. He also won European Championships in 1973 and 1975 and 1974 USSR Championship. He 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 1972 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 the same year.

1972 Olympic results

* Round of 32: Defeated

Wiem Gommies William "Wiem" Gommies (born 06 December 1945) is an Indonesian boxer. He competed in the men's middleweight event at the 1972 Summer Olympics. At the 1972 Summer Olympics, he lost to Vyacheslav Lemeshev Vyacheslav Ivanovich Lemeshev ...

(Indonesia) KO 1 * Round of 16: Defeated Hans-Joachim Brauske (East Germany) by decision, 5-0 * Quarterfinal: Defeated Nazif Kuran (Turkey) TKO 2 * Semifinal: Defeated Marvin Johnson (United States) TKO 2 * Final: Defeated Reima Virtanen (Finland) KO 1 (won gold medal)

References

sports-reference

External links

* 1952 births 1996 deaths Boxers from Moscow Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Soviet male boxers Middleweight boxers Boxers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Armed Forces (sports society) sportspeople Olympic medalists in boxing Russian male boxers Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Southpaw boxers 20th-century Russian sportsmen {{USSR-Olympic-medalist-stub