Boris Nepokupnoy

Boris Nepokupnoy was the only Russian-born athlete of the five competing as a member of the Russian team in the modern pentathlon in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. At that time, only officers were allowed to participate and Finland did not have its own Army until independence in 1918. However, Nepokupnoy gave up the competition after two disciplines after an excellent start in the first discipline, shooting. He also competed in the individual sabre in fencing. After losing all three bouts in the first round, he was eliminated.

Nepokupnoy was born in the region east of the Sea of Azov, which was predominantly inhabited by Cossacks. He graduated from the 3rd Moskva Cadet Corps in 1905 and the Nikolayev Cavalry School in 1907. From 1909 he served in the 1st Taman-General-Beskrovny Regiment of the Kuban Cossack Army and in became sergeant in the 2nd Taman Regiment after attending the Tver Cavalry School in 1913.

In the Civil War, he fought for the White Movement in the Volunteer Army in the 1st Kuban Cavalry Regiment and later in the Armed Forces of Southern Russia as colonel of the 2nd Zaporizhzhya Regiment of the Kuban Cossack Army. From March 1919 he commanded the 2nd Black Sea Regiment.

After the victory of the Red Army in the Civil War, Nepokupnoy went to exile, first to the Greek island of Lemnos and then to Yugoslavia. He joined the “Free Cossack Movement” in 1929 and was elected ataman of the Cossacks in exile in Leskovac in 1933. In the 1970s, he lived in Czechoslovakia and later in the USA.