Vladimir Parfenovich - Belarusian
Vladimir Parfenovich - Member of the World Paddle Awards Academy
- Born: 02/12/1958
- Sports: canoe sprint
- Represents: USSR (athlete) and Belarus
Vladimir Parfenovich will go down in history as one of the most successful canoe sprint paddlers having won a combined total of 12 Olympic and World Championship titles.
At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, he became the first sprint paddler to win three gold medals at the one Olympics following victories in the K1 500, K2 500 and K2 1000.
While at each of the 1981 and 1982 World Championships in Nottingham and Belgrade he repeated his Olympic success with victories in the same three events.
Throughout his time in the sport, he won a total of 15 World Championship medals, 12 gold and three silver.
After retiring from canoeing, Vladimir worked as an instructor for the Sports Ministry in Belarus, served in the KGB, was a representative for Austrian film and served time as the President of the Belarus Canoe Federation.
His real passion off-the-water was for politics however and in the year 2000, Vladimir participated in parliamentary elections in Belarus and won.
As a member of the Democratic opposition, Vladimir was often in the spotlight for his controversial views.
In 2004, Vladimir teamed up with two other members of parliament and started a hunger-strike. He also organised numerous street protests opposing the views of Alexander Lukashenko.
His strong political views lost him his position as President of the Belarus Canoe Federation in 2005 while attempts were made to also exclude him from the National Olympic Committee of Belarus.
Despite his controversial style as a politician, Vladimir will go down in history as one of the most successful canoeists to have ever paddled.
Achievements
- Three-time Olympic gold medalist
- All three at 1980 Moscow (K1 500, K2 500 and K2 1000)
- Nine-time world champion
- 1979 Duisburg (K1 500 & K2 500)
- 1981 Nottingham (K1 500, K2 500 & K2 1000)
- 1982 Belgrade (K1 500, K2 500, K2 1000)
- 1983 Tampere (K1 500)
- Three-time World Championship silver medalist
- 1978 Belgrade (K1 500)
- 1983 Tampere (K2 500 & K2 1000)
