5 August 2024
By Tim Koch
It has been reported from Moscow that the great Soviet sculler, Vyacheslav Ivanov, has died, Tim Koch writes.
Ivanov took up rowing at the age of 15 in 1953 and by 1955 had won the USSR junior championships and had come third in the senior championships. He went onto become the first man to win the Olympic single sculls three times (1956, 1960 and 1964), a feat since only equalled by one other. At the inaugural World Rowing Championships in Lucerne in 1962, Ivanov became the first-ever single sculls World Champion.
Other notable wins in the single included eleven Soviet titles, four Golds in the European Championships and five wins in the Philadelphia Gold Cup (1956, 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964). Strangely, he never won Henley’s Diamond Sculls; he was defeated in the Diamonds of 1957 and 1958 by the great Australian sculler Sam Mackenzie (who Ivanov had beaten in the 1956 Olympics).
During the so-called Cold War, Soviets (“Russians”) were regarded with suspicion by the West, but Ivanov, the great athlete, handsome and likeable, was the rare exception.
A full appreciation will follow.
Vyacheslav Nikolayevich Ivanov, born 30 July 1938, died 5 August 2024.
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According to the website thegoldcup.org, Ivanov won the Philadelphia Gold Cup five times. Regarding MacKenzie, I remember his first name to be Stuart.
Dagobert, you are right, thegoldcup.org says that Ivanov won in 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964. The text has been corrected.
“Sam” was Stuart Alexander Mackenzie’s nickname (from his initials, “SAM”).
I recall being on the river bank at Henley, in the Stewards Enclosure, near the finish, almost alone, when an early heat of the Diamond sculls came by. It was Mackenzie, perhaps 20 lengths in the lead. When he saw me on the bank he stopped rowing and shouted to me: “Clap, it’s a record!” He then rowed on. The record at that time was eight minutes exactly. His time that day was 8:01! His stop cost him the record. Stuart A Mackenzie – SAM as he was often called – was certainly a character. This would have been in 1962, 1963 or 1964, probably on a Thursday.
Great story, Rodney.