Viktor SANEYEV

                                 Olympic Triple Jump crown retained in 1972

Viktor Saneyev had established himself as the best triple jumper in the world in the final years of the 1960s, winning the 1968 Olympic and 1969 European titles, and becoming the new world record holder. In the 1970 indoor season, Viktor won the first of what would eventually become a record six European indoor triple jump titles, when he beat East Germanyís Jorg Drehmel at Vienna with a jump of 16.95m. Later that year, at Stockholm, Drehmel turned the tables on Saneyev, winning at the European Cup with a jump of 17.13m to Saneyevís second-place jump of 17.01m. In the 1971 European Championships in Athens, Saneyev led the qualifiers with a wind-assisted 16.99m on August 14, but in the final held the following day, he again narrowly lost to Drehmel, 17.16m to 17.10m, although both jumps were wind-assisted. To make matters worse, less than two weeks before the European Championships, Saneyev lost his world record to Cuban Pedro Perez. On the positive side, Viktor's 17.16m jump to win the national championships at Moscow on 17 July, and his 17.29m jump in a late season meet in Madrid, were the second and third best performances of 1971 behind Perez's world record. The showdown between Saneyev, Drehmel and Perez at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich was thus keenly anticipated, although it was somewhat diluted when Perez, hampered by injury, failed to progress past the qualifying round. In the final, on 4 September, Saneyev threw down the gauntlet to Drehmel in the first round, stretching out to a wind-assisted 17.35m . Drehmel tried his hardest to match Saneyev's jump, and came very close with a personal best of 17.31m in the fifth round, but in the end, he could not prevent Saneyev from successfully retaining his Olympic crown. (Ron Casey)

                                      Olympic Triple Jump gold No. 3 in Montreal 1976

Viktor Saneyev had received a serious challenge to his position as the world's best triple jumper in 1971, losing his European title to Jorg Drehmel (East Germany), and his world record to Pedro Perez (Cuba). Viktor rectified this situation in 1972, when he beat both these rivals to retain his Olympic crown at Montreal in September, and then on 17 October, at Sukhumi, the town of his birth, Saneyev regained the world record with a jump of 17.40m. Saneyev's next major competition was the 1974 European Championships in Rome, where he hoped to regain the European title back from Drehmel, who had produced the season's best jump of 17.06m prior to the Championships. In the final at Rome on 8 September, Drehmel took an early lead with his first round jump of 16.54m, but Saneyev settled the issue beyond doubt in the second round, with a superb leap of 17.23m, which easily earned him his second European title. Viktor was a tireless competitor for the Soviet Union in the many international matches that were contested during his career. One of his more outstanding performances in these competitions was in a UK v Soviet Union match at London (Crystal Palace) on 24 August 1975, where he won with an UK all-comers record of 16.95m . A new threat loomed to challenge Saneyev's supremacy in October that year, when Joao Carlos de Oliveira (Brazil) smashed Viktor's world record in Mexico City. In a showdown between them at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, de Oliveira gained a psychological advantage by producing the best jump of 16.81m in the qualifying round. However, in the final the following day, Saneyev reinforced his reputation as a fearsome competitor, winning his third consecutive Olympic gold medal with a jump of 17.29m. (Ron Casey)

                                    1980 Olympic Games silver medal.

By the end of 1976, Viktor Saneyev had established an incredible record in the triple jump at major championships, with three Olympic gold medals, and two golds and a silver in the European Championships. Saneyev's consistency and durability over the years had been quite remarkable for such a stressful event, but in the following two years, he was plagued by ankle injuries and underwent several operations. Despite these problems, Saneyev seemed to be well on the way to capturing his third triple jump title at the European championships in Prague on 3 September 1978, after he took the lead in round 1 with a jump of 16.84m. He extended his lead with a 16.92m jump in round 3, and then improved even further in round 5 to 16.93m. However, in round 6, relatively unknown Milos Srejovic (Yugoslavia) came through to jump 16.94m, and thus relegate Saneyev to second place by the narrowest of margins. In 1980, at age 34, Saneyev competed in his last Olympic Games in Moscow, where he attempted to equal discus thrower Al Oerter's unique feat of winning four gold medals in the one event at successive Olympics. Saneyev was troubled by leg problems in the Olympic final on 25 July, sporting a bandage below his right knee, and visibly limping away from the pit after each jump. Lying in third place on 17.07m with only one jump remaining, Saneyev called on all his competitive spirit in a magnificent last ditch effort of 17.24m, which although it improved his standing, it was only good enough to earn him a silver medal (see photo above) on this occasion. That marked the end of Saneyev's amazingly successful international career, and, maintaining his interest in athletics, he immigrated to Australia in 1990 to work as a sports teacher. (Ron Casey)