Oleg Golovanov

Oleg Golovanov and Valentin Boreyko were the best Soviet pairs rowers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The highlight of their career was 1960 Olympics, where they won the gold medal. Before the Olympics, Boreyko and Golovanov had won silver at the 1959 European Championships and in 1962 at the inaugural World Championships. They also competed at the 1964 Olympics, where they were last in both their first round heat and the repêchage and did not advance to the final. Domestically, Boreyko and Golovanov won five Soviet coxless pairs titles together, from 1959-63. After finishing his sporting career, Golovanov worked as a rowing coach in his native Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and from 1978-88 was the coach of the Soviet national rowing team. In 1980 he was also the Soviet Olympic rowing team coach.