Viktor Danilovich Saneyev was a Georgian triple jumper who competed internationally for the USSR.
12 Facts About Viktor Saneyev
2.
Viktor Saneyev was born in Sukhumi, Georgian SSR, trained in Sukhumi and Tbilisi, and died in Sydney.
3.
Viktor Saneyev took up athletics in 1956, training in the high jump at the Gantiadi boarding school; his first coach was Akop Kerselyan.
4.
Viktor Saneyev won the 1969 and 1974 European Championships, the 1970,1971,1972,1975,1976 and 1977 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
5.
Viktor Saneyev came to the 1980 Olympics hoping for a fourth gold medal, though he understood that several jumpers had better chances for a gold, especially the world record holder Joao Carlos de Oliveira of Brazil.
6.
Viktor Saneyev did not contest his foul, though it fell on his strongest jump.
7.
Viktor Saneyev later noted that the winning jump by Uudmae was likely overstepped.
8.
Viktor Saneyev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1969, Order of Lenin in 1972, and Order of Friendship of Peoples in 1976.
9.
Viktor Saneyev's brief coaching contract soon expired, and Saneyev was about to sell his Olympic medals to feed his family.
10.
Viktor Saneyev reconsidered at the last moment and took odd jobs instead, such as pizza delivery.
11.
Viktor Saneyev found a regular job as a physical education teacher at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, and later as the jumping coach at the New South Wales Institute of Sport.
12.
Viktor Saneyev died on 3 January 2022, at the age of 76.