Vitaly Romanenko

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameVitaly Petrovich•Romanenko
Used nameVitaly•Romanenko
Original nameВиталий Петрович•Романенко
Other namesVitaliy Petrovych Romanenko, Віталій Петрович Романенко
Born13 July 1926 in Rusaniv, Kyiv (UKR)
Died3 October 2010 in Kyiv, Kyiv (UKR)
AffiliationsSKA Poltava oblast
NOC Soviet Union
Nationality Ukraine
Medals OG
Gold 1
Silver 0
Bronze 0
Total 1

Biography

Born in a small village near Kyiv, Ukraine, Vitaliy Romanenko’s family fled to Novosibirsk in 1940 to escape World War II. Romanenko voluntarily enlisted with Red Army in 1943, when he was 17-years-old and stayed with the force for nearly 50 years, retiring during the fall of the Soviet Union as a colonel. He took up sport shooting in 1948 and was on the Soviet national team from 1953-65. Romanenko won the 1956 Olympic running target gold medal, won nine World Championships (1954 – individual running target single, team running target single and double; 1958/1961/1962 – team running target single and double) and European champion four times (1955/1959 – team running target single and double). He also won 20 Soviet titles between 1954-64. After finishing his sporting career, Romanenko worked as a shooting coach with the Soviet national and Olympic teams, with his most famous pupils, Yakiv Zhelezniak and Aleksandr Gazov, winning Olympic titles.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal Nationality As
1956 Summer Olympics Shooting URS UKR Vitaly Romanenko
Running Target, Single and Double Shot, Men (Olympic) 1 Gold

Special Notes