The publishing project "Vitebshchina Olympic" will be continued

October 26, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The names of 18 Olympic champions and medalists born in the Vitebsk region are immortalized in the book "Vitebsk Region Olympic", but the authors of the publication hope to add new chapters about Vitebsk Olympians to it. This was announced today in Vitebsk by Viktor Byньkov, Director of the NOC Representative Office in the Vitebsk Region, at the book presentation, according to a BELTA correspondent. The publishing project "Vitebsk Region Olympic" will have a continuation. The author team has identified the name of another, already the nineteenth, athlete from the Vitebsk region who has climbed the Olympic podium twice. "Our renowned gymnast Larisa Petrik reminded us of the name of weightlifter, Olympic gold and silver medalist Viktor Kurentsov, who was born in the Senno district," said Viktor Byньkov. The NOC Representative Office in the Vitebsk Region has already established contact with the legendary athlete and hopes to organize his trip to Vitebsk in the near future. Viktor Kurentsov was born in 1941, lost his father at the front early, then his mother, and was raised in an orphanage. During his service in the army in the Far East, coaches of the army club noticed the young man, and he began to professionally engage in weightlifting. At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Viktor Kurentsov won a silver medal, and at the next Games in Mexico City in 1968, the renowned athlete won the highest award. Today he lives in Odintsovo, Moscow region, and is an honorary citizen of this city. In addition, Viktor Byньkov hopes for a favorable outcome of the consideration in the Court of Arbitration for Sport of the case of hammer thrower Vadim Devyatovsky, who won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but the disciplinary commission of the International Olympic Committee on December 11, 2008, decided to annul his result due to a positive doping test. "We firmly believe that justice will prevail, Vadim will be returned his medal, and his name will take its rightful place in our book," he noted. In the process of working on the publication, the Vitebsk representative office of the NOC found all Olympic champions and medalists of the Games, collected rich factual material about famous Vitebsk athletes, to whom the main part of the publication is dedicated, noted Viktor Byньkov. In addition, "Vitebsk Region Olympic" tells about the history of the Olympic Games, contains reference material on all modern Games, the work of the Vitebsk representative office of the NOC, and sports facilities in the region. This popular science publication can become a good textbook for Olympic education of schoolchildren and will undoubtedly interest all sports fans interested in its history and the sports history of the Vitebsk region. The book "Vitebsk Region Olympic" was published in an edition of 1,000 copies with the financial support of the regional executive committee. -0-