Gennady Voronin

Gennady Voronin came into sports quite late, while studying at the Dzerzhinsk Chemical-Mechanical College. Primarily a sprinter, he never medaled at the World or European All-Around Championships, his best finishes being 11th at the 1957 European All-Around Championships and 13th at the same year’s World All-Around Championships, but he did win the 500 m World title in 1959 and 500 m silver in 1957. At the Olympic Games, his best finish was 5th in the 1960 500 metres. Domestically, Voronin won the all-around Soviet championships silver in 1958, also winning the 500 m title and 1500 m bronze, and adding a 500 m bronze in 1960. In 1959 Voronin married Inga Artamonova, one of the best female all-around speed skaters of the late 1950s and early 1960s, who won four World All-Around titles (1957, 1958, 1962, 1965), but missed both the 1960 and 1964 Olympics due to injury. Voronin was jealous of his wife, as her skating career was in ascendance, while his declined. He began to abuse alcohol, which led to domestic violence that ended on 4 January 1966 with Voronin stabbing his wife with a knife several times that resulted in her death. Although he never admitted to murdering his wife, saying it was an accident, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Personal Bests: 500 – 40.2 (1964); 1500 – 2:09.0 (1964); 5000 – 8:10.9 (1964); 10000 – 17:06.6 (1964).