Viktor Saneyev

Viktor Danilovich Saneyev (born 3 October 1945) is a retired triple jumper, who competed internationally for the USSR and won four Olympic medals; three golds (1968, 1972 and 1976) and one silver (1980). He was born in Sukhumi, Georgian SSR, and trained in Sukhumi and later in Tbilisi.

Athletics career

Saneyev was born in a poor family, with disabled and paralyzed father who died when Saneyev was 15 years old. Saneyev took athletics in 1956, training in the high jump at the Gantiadi boarding school; his first coach was Akop Kerselyan. Six years later Kerselyan advised him to specialize in the triple jump. In 1963 Saneyev finished third in his first All-Union competition – Schoolchildrens' Spartakiad

The major success came in 1968, when he won at the USSR Championships and at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where on 17 October he set the World Record twice: to 17.23 m and to 17.39 m. On the same date four years later Saneyev set the World Record once again, now in Sukhumi, to 17.44 m. He won gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics and at the 1976 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1980 Summer Olympics.