Biography

Valery Borzov as a graduate student at the Kiev Institute of Physical Culture, Borzov studied films of great sprinters to determine optimal sprinting techniques such as the best push-off angle and the most effective body incline at the breakaway. He won the European 100-metre sprint championship in 1969, 1971, and 1974; the 200-metre European championship in 1971; and seven European indoor titles. At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, after his two chief American challengers missed their qualifying races, Borzov won a gold medal in the 100-metre dash in 10.14 seconds. In the 200-metre he won a second gold medal, in 20.0 seconds. He also anchored the Soviet team that won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre relay.

At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Borzov again ran the 100-metre sprint in 10.14, but this time he won only a bronze medal; he also ran in the 4×100-metre relay, in which the Soviet team won a bronze medal. He married the great Soviet gymnast Lyudmila Ivanovna Turishcheva in 1977. Ankle injuries prevented him from participating in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Borzov became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1994, and he served in the Ukrainian parliament from 1998 to 2006.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jim Russell

Ukrainian sprinter, winning two gold medals (100m, 200m) at the 1972 Summer Olympics for the Soviet Union.

Minister of Youth and Sport in the USSR from 1991 to 1993 and in the Ukraine from 1993 to 1996.