Top Facts about Boris Shakhlin, Soviet Gymnast

One of the top facts about Boris Shakhlin is that between 1956 and 1964, he won a total of 13 medals (seven gold medals, four silver medals, and two bronze medals) with his strongest individual event being the pommel horse in which he won two gold medals in 1960 and 1964.

Boris Shakhlin’s 13 Olympic medals was a record for men until it was bettered by companion Soviet gymnast Nikolay Andrianov.

One of the top facts about Boris Shakhlin is that he also won a total of 14 medals at the World Championship competitions. Boris Shakhlin won four individual trophies at the 1958 World Championships in all-around, horizontal bar, parallel bars, and pommel horse.

As Boris Shakhlin was remarkably tall for a gymnast, his height and reach were a distinctive advantage on the horizontal bar but caused him effort on the floor exercise.

Top Facts about Boris Shakhlin, Soviet gymnast

Boris Anfiyanovich Shakhlin was born on 27 January 1932 in Ishim, Russia, U.S.S.R. and died on 30 May 2008, Kiev, Ukraine. Boris Shakhlin was a gymnast from the Soviet Union who set a career record of 10 individual trophies in the world tournaments and who also won gold medals at three consecutive Olympic Games. Boris Shakhlin’s record of seven gold medals, four silver medals, and two bronze medals in the Olympics placed him among one of the most-decorated at the Games.

Boris Shakhlin personal information

• Country represented:

  Soviet Union

• Born:

  27 January 1932, Ishim, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

• Died:

  30 May 2008 at the age of 76, Kiev, Ukraine

• Height:

  1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)

• Weight:

  71 kg (157 lb)

• Discipline:

  Men's artistic gymnastics

• Level:

  Senior international

• Club:

  Burevestnik

• Retired:

  1966

Boris Shakhlin professional career

One of the

top facts about Boris Shakhlin

is that His father worked on the railways in Soviet Union, but died when he was 12 years old. Boris Shakhlin's mother was already dead and the young Boris, who had just taken up gymnastics, had to live with his grandmother.

Boris Shakhlin began gymnastics when he was 12 years old. According to some sources, he "set a career record of 10 individual titles in the world championships and also won gold medals at three successive Olympic Games. His tally of seven gold, four silver, and two bronze Olympic medals placed him among the most-decorated at the Games".

One of the

top facts about Boris Shakhlin

is that he graduated first from the Sverdlovsk Physical Training Technical College and was particularly trained by Alexander Mishakov in Kiev. Boris Shakhlin then graduated from the Kiev Institute of Physical Culture in 1955. Boris Shakhlin first contested at international level at the 1954 world gymnastics championships, winning the silver medal on the horizontal bar.

At the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, Boris Shakhlin won gold medals for the pommel horse and as a member of the Soviet team in the combined exercises.

At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Boris Shakhlin won a total of seven medals, including a gold medal for the pommel horse and also gold medals for the parallel bars, the vault, and individual combined exercises, as well as silver medals for the rings and for the team combined exercises.

At the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Boris Shakhlin won a gold medal for the horizontal bar and silver medals for individual combined exercises and as a member of his team.

One of the top facts about Boris Shakhlin is about his retirement. Boris Shakhlin retired from his professional career at the age of 35 after he suffered a heart attack.

After his retirement in 1966 Boris Shakhlin had won 10 individual and 3 team trophies in the world championships in his 12-year professional career and had won more gold medals than any other male athlete in Olympic and world-championship tournaments.

One of the top facts about Boris Shakhlin is that he was active as an international official in gymnastics from 1968 until 1992 and was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2002.

Boris Shakhlin joined the FIG Men's Technical Committee in 1968 and continued to work on the Committee until 1992. In the 1990s and 2000s, Boris Shakhlin worked as a lecturer at the University of Kiev.

One of the

top facts about Boris Shakhlin

is that he was awarded the Red Banner of Labor in 1956 and the Order of Lenin in 1960. Boris Shakhlin was named an honorary citizen both in his birth town Ishim and in Kiyv where lived for most of his life. In 2002, Boris Shakhlin was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Experts believe that Boris Shakhlin's performances were perfect and excellent. He was very strong, his lines were always good, and he never, it appeared, made a mistake. That astonishing stability in competition, his capability to stay completely focused, "in the zone" as modern sports psychologists would say, while keeping a look of imperturbability that Charlton Heston would have admired, earned him the nickname "man of iron".

Finally, Boris Shakhlin died on 30 May 2008.

Boris Shakhlin philatelia

One of the top facts about Boris Shakhlin is that The Mongol Post issued a postage stamp in memory of Boris Shakhlin.

Boris Shakhlin medals and championships

As it was pointed out, Boris Shakhlin won several medals and championships. Now we are going to list all of his gold medals here, including Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships.

• Rome 1960 Olympic Games:

  Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Individual All-Around

• Melbourne 1956 and Rome 1960 Olympic Games:

  Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Pommel Horse

• Rome 1960 Olympic Games:

   Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Vault

• Rome 1960 Olympic Games:

   Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Parallel Bars

• Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games:

   Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Horizontal Bar

• Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games:

   Olympic Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Team All-Around

• Moscow 1958 World Championships:

   Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Individual All-Around

• Moscow 1958 World Championships:

  Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Pommel Horse

• Moscow 1958 World Championships:

  Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Parallel Bars

• Moscow 1958 World Championships:

  Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Horizontal Bar

• Frankfurt 1955 European Championships:

  Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Individual All-Around

• Frankfurt 1955 European Championships:

  Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Pommel Horse

• Belgrade 1963  European Championships:

  Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Rings

• Frankfurt 1955 European Championships:

  Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Parallel Bars

• Frankfurt 1955 European Championships:

  Champions in Artistic Gymnastics in Men's Horizontal Bar

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