Valerian Sokolov

Valerian Sokolov took up boxing in 1963 and before the 1968 Olympics was virtually unknown. In 1968, Sokolov was the surprise winner at the Soviet Championships in bantamweight and was selected for the Soviet 1968 Olympic team. At the Olympics, Sokolov won a surprising gold medal, defeating his opponent in the final, Ugandan Eridadi Mukwanga, by TKO. Sokolov repeated his Soviet title wins in 1969, 1971 and 1973, taking silver in 1972, 1974 and 1975 and bronze in 1971, but was not as successful at future international tournaments. Sokolov competed at the 1969 and 1971 European Championships, losing his second round match to Romanian Gheorghe Puşcaş in 1969 and a quarter-final match to Pole Ryszard Tomczyk in 1971. Sokolov finished his sporting career in 1975 with a record of 196 wins in 216 bouts. In 1978 Sokolov graduated from the Leningrad Military Institute of Physical Culture with a Candidate of Sciences degree in pedagogy. From 1981-86 Sokolov was head coach of the Soviet national boxing team. Beginning in 1998, Sokolov became chairman of the Coaches Committee of the Russian Boxing Federation and later headed the martial arts section of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sport in Russia.