Viktor Sidyak

Viktor Sidyak, born on 24 November 1943, is a Russian former left-handed sabre fencer, a pupil of Mark Rakita and David Tyshler, known for an aggressive style and the one-and-a-half tempo attack. Born in Anzhero-Sudzhensk in Kemerovo Oblast, he spent most of his childhood in Donetsk, started fencing at fifteen, and in the 1960s represented Ukraine on the internal Soviet circuit while training in Lviv. He was part of the winning team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and at the 1972 Munich Games he became the first Soviet sabreur to win individual gold, then fenced the team final with his right eye bandaged after a fragment of Michele Maffei's blade was removed from it the day before; the Soviet team took silver behind Italy. At the world championships he won an individual title in 1969 and team titles in 1969 to 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1979. He moved to Minsk in 1970 and from 1994 coached young fencers in Livorno, including Aldo Montano.