Yuri LOBANOV

In 1972, Yury Lobanov became the first athlete from Tajikistan to win an Olympic gold medal, winning gold in the C2-1000 m with Lithuanian Vladas Česiūnas. Lobanov also competed at the 1980 Olympics, winning the C2-1000 m bronze with Vasyl Yurchenko. Born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to Russian parents, Lobanov and his older brother Mikhail, who would later became a two-time World Champion, took up canoeing in their teens with a local club. Lobanov was on the Soviet national team from 1971-80. Competing mostly in Canadian doubles, Lobanov was a 10-time World Champion – C2-500 in 1974-75; C2-1000 in 1974, 1977, 1979; and C2-10K 1973-75, 1977, 1979. He also won three lesser medals at the Worlds.

Lobanov was an 11-time Soviet Champion – C1-10K in 1976; C2-500 in 1973; C2-1000 in 1972, 1974, 1977-80; and C2-10K in 1974, 1977, 1979. Lobanov retired from sports after the 1980 Olympics and later worked as a canoeing coach. In the 1980s and 1990s he was head coach of the Tajikistan national canoeing team, but at the end of 1990s he moved to Moskva, where he worked as a coach with CSKA Moskva.