Balenkov, Mikhail Pavlovich

Mikhail Balenkov was born on March 6, 1940 in Leningrad . I came to rowing relatively late during my studies at the P. F. Lesgaft State Institute of Physical Culture , but quickly mastered rowing technique and began to show good results at competitions. The first time he performed in the voluntary sports society " Petrel " in four oar, later moved to eight and entered the main part of the Soviet national team.

As an athlete, he achieved the greatest success in the 1960 season, when he became the champion of the Soviet Union in the standings of eight swing and steering and, thanks to a series of successful performances, was awarded the right to defend the country's honor at the Summer Olympic Games in Rome . It started with the crew, which also included rowers Voldemar Dundur , Victor Barinov , Victor Bogachev , Nikolay Gomolko , Boris Gorokhov , Leonid Ivanov , Vladimir Malik and helmsman Yuri Lorenzson , however, they failed to get here among the winners - at the starting qualifier they finished only in fourth stage, while in the comforting race they showed the second result, losing to the team from France at the finish line.

At the end of his sports career, Balenkov took up coaching at the Znamya rowing club, where he trained many talented rowers who achieved great success at the all-Union level. Among his most famous pupils are honored masters of sports Alexei Kamkin and Valery Dolinin , winners of many international regattas, world champions, Olympic medal winners ^[1] . Trained under his leadership, the younger brother Nikolai also became a rather famous rower: a bronze medalist at the European Championship, an international master of sports. For outstanding achievements in the coaching field, Mikhail Balenkov was awarded the honorary title “ Honored Coach of the RSFSR ” ^[2] .

He died in 1995. He was buried in the Northern cemetery in St. Petersburg.

• Mikhail Balenkov - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
• Mikhail Balenkov - profile on the FISA website