Soviet gymnast Boris Shakhlin, 76
Posted: Thursday, June 5th, 2008 6:25 pmJanuary 27, 1932 - May 30, 2008
When the Soviet Union began competing at the Olympic Games in 1952, its biggest successes came in sports with a premium on long hours of disciplined training, such as weightlifting, wrestling and particularly gymnastics, where there was a tradition of excellence. After Viktor Chukarin had won the men’s combined exercises title in the 1952 and 1956 Games, his training partner, Boris Shakhlin, maintained the dominance, collecting 13 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, including that for the combined exercises in Rome in 1960. … Read full obituary
