Oleksandr Sydorenko

Oleksandr Sydorenko, also written Aleksandr Sidorenko, was a Soviet individual medley swimmer who won the 400 metre individual medley at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Born on 27 May 1960, he also took the 200 metre individual medley at the 1982 World Aquatics Championships in Guayaquil and won a gold medal at the 1981 European Aquatics Championships in Split. A silver medal in the 200 metre individual medley came at the 1983 Summer Universiade in Edmonton, and between 1977 and 1986 he became USSR champion twenty times. After competing he managed the water polo team Ilyichevets from 1987 to 2014 and later volunteered with the water polo federation of Mariupol. He married the 1980 Olympic bronze medallist Yelena Kruglova in 1982, was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples of the USSR, and died of COVID-19 in Mariupol on 20 February 2022, aged 61.