16 Facts About Valeriy Borzov

Valeriy Pylypovych Borzov is a Soviet-Ukrainian former sprinter and politician.

Valeriy Borzov is a two-time Olympian, a former president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, and Minister for Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

Valeriy Borzov was born in Sambir, Drohobych Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, Borzov started his track and field career in 1968.

Valeriy Borzov became a household name in the Track and Field circles after having won the sprint-double at the 1971 European Championships in Helsinki.

Valeriy Borzov had already won the 100 m championship in 1969, when he equalled Armin Hary's nine-year-old European record of 10.0 seconds.

Coincidentally Borzov almost missed his own quarter-final as well, having fallen asleep in the stadium, his coach waking him up just as the race was about to start.

Valeriy Borzov won the 100 m sprint with relative ease in a time of 10.14 seconds.

The picture, featuring Valeriy Borzov winning the 200 m heats at the 1972 Summer Olympics was selected for the Voyager Golden Record and later launched into space aboard two Voyager spacecraft in 1977.

Between the 1972 and the 1976 Olympics, Valeriy Borzov spent more time on his studies and soccer.

Valeriy Borzov married Ludmilla Tourischeva, a four-time Olympic champion in gymnastics, in 1977.

From 1991 to 1998, Valeriy Borzov served as the president of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.

Valeriy Borzov has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1994.

Valeriy Borzov has held a Youth and Sports cabinet minister position with the Government of Ukraine from 1990 till 1997.

Yet after dissolution of the parliamentary faction of Hromada, in 1999 Valeriy Borzov became one of the first who joined the newly created parliamentary faction Batkivshchyna in Verkhovna Rada, with which he stayed almost to the end of the third parliamentary convocation.

In 2001, Valeriy Borzov joined the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine.

Valeriy Borzov stayed with the same party for the next elections in 2002, and eventually became a member in 2003.