The death of one of the legendary figures of world athletics, Victor Saneyev, at the age of 76, has shown signs of regret in international sport.
Born in Georgia in 1945, representing the Soviet Union, he won gold medals in triple jump at the Olympic Games in Mexico - 68, Munich - 72 and Montreal - 76. With his triumph in the Canadian event, he equaled the feat of the jumper from longitude Ray Ewry, hammerman John Flanagan and discobero Al Oerter, all from the United States, winning three gold medals (or more) in the same Olympic Games event.
Already 34 years old, he attended the Moscow Olympics in his farewell and with the intention of matching Oerter’s four golds. He was about to achieve it in a controversial test due to his many canceled jumps. His silver medal would be the fourth Olympic medal of his career.
Many consider him the best tripler in history, although others also mention the British Jonathan Edwards, now retired, still holder of the world record of 18.29 meters since 1995.
Saneyev led a “golden generation” of triplists such as the Brazilians Nelson Prudencio and Joao Carlos de Oliveira, the Italian Giuseppe Gentile, the Cuban Pedro Pérez Dueñas, the Americans Arthur Walker, James Butts and Tommy Haines, the Polish Josef Schmidt, the Romanian Carol Corbu, the German Jörg Drehmel and the Senegalese Mamadou Mansour-Dia, among others.
On three occasions Saneyev broke the world record. His best jump was achieved in his hometown Sujumi on October 17, 1972 with 17.44 a distance with which he recovered his record of the orb that was held by Pérez Dueñas (17.40) since the Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia. , in 1971.
He also repeatedly set world records in indoor competitions.
In addition to his Olympic medals and eight USSR national crowns, Saneyev won the European Outdoor Championships in 1969 and 1974, and the European Indoor Championships six times.
He starred in what is considered the most dramatic triple jump event in Olympic history.
In the qualifying phase at Mexico-68, Italian Giuseppe Gentile had set a new world record with 17.10. The next day in the final, Gentile again broke the world record in his first jump with 17.22. But Saneyev surprised everyone in his third jump of 17.23 that placed him in the lead. Shortly after the Brazilian Nelson Prudencio led the group with 17.27 in his fifth jump.
When it looked like Prudencio would be the winner, Saneyev flew on his sixth and final attempt to a spectacular 17.39 to clinch the world record gold medal. It was on October 17, the same day that four years later he would achieve his last world record in his city.
In total, four world records were registered in that event! Something unprecedented in Olympic and world competitions, to which the conditions of the Mexican height in jumping events also contributed.
In his spectacular career Saneyev proved more than once that he had no nerves for moments of tension. In total, he broke the 17-meter barrier 60 times.
After his retirement he continued linked to athletics as a coach, and in 1983 the International Olympic Committee distinguished him with the Olympic Order. The International Athletics Federation also awarded him the Order of Silver. Throughout his career he was decorated as a “national hero” by the Soviet government.
In Georgia he was distinguished as the Best Athlete of the 20th Century.
Both World Athletics and the Georgia Olympic Committee have expressed their deep regret in separate statements for the death of the legendary athlete.
He died in Sydney, although the cause of his death has not yet been revealed. He came to Australia with his wife and 15-year-old son in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the start of a civil war in Georgia.
According to various reports, after recovering from a difficult economic situation in that country, Saneyev finally found a regular job as a physical education teacher and later as a jumping coach at the Sports Institute of New South Wales.
At the Sydney Olympics, Saneyev served as Georgia’s Olympic Attaché.
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