Viktor Chukarin

Viktor Ivanovich Chukarin (Виктор Иванович Чукарин, Віктор Іванович Чукарін; November 9, 1921 – August 25, 1984) was the first of the great Soviet gymnasts. He won total of eleven medals including seven gold medals at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics (including Individual All-Around title in both occasions) and was the All-around World Champion in 1954. He was the most successful athlete at the 1952 Summer Olympics.

Early start
Born November 9, 1921, in Mariupol; died August 25, 1984, in Lviv.

At the age of 19 was awarded the title Master of Sport, but put off training with the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War.

Enrolled in the Lviv Institute of Physical Culture in 1946 at the age of 25, and graduated in 1950.

Champion years
Became the USSR's gymnastic individual all-around champion in 1949, and repeated in 1950, 1951, 1953, and 1955.

At the 1952 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki (the first Games to feature a team from the USSR) he won six medals, including the individual all-around by a margin of .7 points (115.7-115.0). Four years later, at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, at the age of 35, he won 5 medals.

He led the USSR to the victory at the 1954 World Championships, winning gold in the team all around and the individual all around.

In 1957 along with Larisa Latynina, Chukarin was awarded the first ever Order of Lenin given to an athlete.

He recounted his sport career in the 1955 book entitled The Road to the Peaks (Put K Vershinam). In 1961, began coaching Armenian gymnastics team. In 1963, Chukarin became an assistant professor at the Lviv Institute of Physical Culture.