Viktor Tsybulenko
Viktor Sergeyevich Zybulenko (Ukrainian: Віктор Сергійович Цибуленко / Russian. Виктор Сергеевич Цыбуленко, English transcription Viktor Tsybulenko; born July 13, 1930 in Weprik, † October 19, 2013 in Kiev ) was a Ukrainian athlete who started for the Soviet Union and in the 1950s and early 1960s as a javelin thrower was successful. The five-time Soviet champion won in his specialist discipline a bronze, a silver and a gold medal, the latter at the Summer Olympic Games in Rome in 1960.
Career
Viktor Zybulenko wanted to be an engine driver, but was admitted to the vocational school in Kiev for the training to repair mechanic after a heart defect had been found at a medical examination. The sports ban he defied and trained under Vladimir Kozlovsky discus and shot put, before he finally came to the javelin. His new coach was Zosima Siniski ( Зосима Синиский ) in 1952 led him to win the first national championship.
In his first international appearances, the Olympic Summer Games in Helsinki in 1952 and the European Championships in Berne in 1954, he had in each case with the fourth place finish, taking a full 12 cm behind the Finn Toivo Hyytiäinen, winner of the bronze medal, was in Bern. Two years later, at the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956, he succeeded the jump on the podium: His best distance of 79.50 meters was rewarded with the bronze medal. However, it should come even better. In Rome, at his third Olympics, hurled the spear in his first attempt on the outstanding width of 84.64 m, which meant winning the gold medal with more than five meters ahead of the runner-up. At the end of his career, he finally won a silver medal: At the European Championships 1962 in Belgrade, he was beaten only the Latvian Jānis Lūsis.
Medals
- GOLD with 84.64 m in front of Walter Krüger ( silver with 79.36 m) and Gergely Kulcsár ( bronze with 77.66 meters ) at the Summer Olympic Games in Rome in 1960.
- SILVER with 77.92 m behind Jānis Lūsis ( gold with 82.04 m) and ahead of Poland Władysław Nikiciuk ( bronze with 77.66 meters ) at the European Athletics Championships 1962 in Belgrade.
- BRONZE with 79,50 m behind Norwegian Egil Danielsen ( gold with 85.71 meters) and Poland Janusz sídlo ( silver with 79.98 meters ) at the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956.