 Onishchenko at the1972 Summer Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Native name | Борис Онищенко | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Boris Grigoryevich Onishchenko | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1937-09-19)19 September 1937 (age 88) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 74 kg (163 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Modern pentathlon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Boris Grigoryevich Onishchenko[b] (Russian:Борис Григорьевич Онищенко,pronounced[bɐˈrʲizɡrʲɪˈɡorʲjɪvʲɪtɕɐnʲɪˈɕːenkə]; Ukrainian:Борис Григорович Онищенко,romanized: Borys Hryhorovych Onyshchenko,pronounced[boˈrɪzɦrɪˈɦɔrowɪtʃonɪˈʃtʃɛnko]; born 19 September 1937) is a formerSovietmodern pentathlete who competed at the1968,1972 and1976 Summer Olympics.[1]
He was a member of the Soviet gold medal team inthe 1972 Olympics. From 1967 to 1974, he competed in sixWorld Modern Pentathlon Championships, winning gold five times as an individual or as part of the Soviet squad. He is best known for his disqualification from the1976 Summer Olympics and subsequent lifetime ban for cheating by means of an illegally modified épée.[2]
Onishchenko was born in 1937 in a village ofKhorol Raion,Poltava Oblast,Ukrainian S.S.R. He was a strong swimmer early on and taught at theDynamo Sports Club.
His first world competition was at the1967 World Modern Pentathlon Championships where he competed withStasys Šaparnis andEdvard Sdobnikov. The Soviet team won a bronze medal at the event. The following year, he took a silver medal at the1968 Mexico City Olympics with Šaparnis andPavel Lednyov. He went on to win gold five times at the world championships, one as an individual. In 1971, he was awarded theMerited Master of Sports and in 1972, he received theOrder of the Red Banner of Labour.[3]
In the1972 Olympics in Munich, he competed with the Soviet team of Lednyov andVladimir Shmelyov that captured the gold. Onishchenko himself took an individual silver medal in the event, finishing behindAndrás Balczó of Hungary.
In 1976, the 38-year old Onishchenko entered the Olympics as a three-time world champion but never having won the gold as an individual. Onishchenko was a top fencer and had won gold in the1974 World Modern Pentathlon Championships inMoscow. Although he was rated fourth, which would relegate him to being a reserve, Onishchenko won a preliminary tournament in the Soviet Union that pushed him onto the team.[4]
After the first event of the pentathlon, the Soviet team found itself in fourth place, trailing closely behindBritain.Fencing was the next event: a one-touchépée tournament. During Onishchenko's bout with British team captainJim Fox, the British team protested that Onishchenko's weapon had gone off without actually hitting anything.[5] In fact, Onishchenko's épée was in the air away from Fox when the hit was registered.[6]
Fox requested an examination of Onishchenko's weapon, which was found to be faulty, resulting in points being deducted from Onishchenko's score. However, the British team filed an official protest and demanded further examination.[6] The bout was allowed to continue, and he won by a large margin.
In electric épée fencing, a touch is registered on the scoring box when the tip of the weapon is depressed with aforce of 750 grams, completing acircuit formed by the weapon,body cord, and box. It was found that Onischenko's épée had been illegally modified to include a switch that allowed him to close this circuit without actually depressing the tip of his weapon, so he could register a touch without making any contact on his opponent. Onischenko was ejected from the competition, which forced the Soviet Union to scratch from the team event. The British team that exposed Onishchenko went on to win thegold medal.[2]
Newspapers decried him as "Disonischenko" and "Boris the Cheat".[7] Two months later it was reported he had been called before Soviet leaderLeonid Brezhnev for a personal scolding.[2]
After his lifetime ban from the sport that was issued by theInternational Olympic Committee, Onishchenko worked as ataxi driver inKyiv and competed in Soviet national events.[8]
