Viatcheslav Ekimov

Viatcheslav Ekimov, born 4 February 1966 in Vyborg, is a Russian former professional racing cyclist who won three Olympic gold medals and was named Russian Cyclist of the Century in 2001. He began training at the age of twelve at a bicycle school linked to Aleksandr Kuznetsov's centre and later trained in Leningrad with Lokomotiv and the Armed Forces sports society during the Soviet era. His first Olympic title came in the track team pursuit at Seoul in 1988 for the USSR. He then won the road time trial at Sydney in 2000 for Russia in an upset, and at Athens in 2004 he took silver in the same event, which was upgraded to gold after the winner Tyler Hamilton admitted doping. Ekimov joined the USPS team in 1997 as its first key international signing, briefly retired in 2001 and returned in 2002, and became a trusted helper to Lance Armstrong. He started and finished fifteen Tours de France and ended his riding career in 2006. He then worked as a directeur sportif and was general manager of the Russian Katusha team until the end of 2016.