View source for Pyotr Bolotnikov

{{short description|Soviet long-distance runner}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
|name = Pyotr Bolotnikov
|image = Pëtr Bolotnikov Roma 1960.jpg
|imagesize =
|caption = Pyotr Bolotnikov, 10000 meters final, [[1960 Summer Olympics]] [[Rome]]
| sport = [[Track and field#Running|Track]]
| event = [[5000 metres|5000 meters]], [[10,000 metres|10,000 meters]]
| nationality = [[Soviet people|Soviet]] <br> [[Russians|Russian]]
|alias =
|club =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|3|8}}
|birth_place = Zinovkino, Krasnoslobodsky District, [[USSR]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|2013|12|20|1930|3|8}}
|death_place = [[Krasnoslobodsk, Republic of Mordovia|Krasnoslobodsk]], [[Republic of Mordovia]], [[Russia]]
|collegeteam = 
|height =
|weight =
|turnedpro =
|retired =
|pb = '''[[5000 metres|5000 meters]]''': 13:38.2<ref name="All-Athletics">{{cite web|url=http://www.all-athletics.com/node/286001|author=All-Athletics|title=Profile of Pyotr Bolotnikov}}</ref> <br> '''[[10,000 meters]]''': 28:18.1<ref name="All-Athletics"/>
|olympics =
|worlds =
|highestranking =
|coaching =
|updated =
|medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Athletics at the Summer Olympics|Athletics]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{URS}} }}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold | [[1960 Summer Olympics|1960 Rome]] | [[Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics|10,000 metres]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[European Athletics Championships|European Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1962 European Athletics Championships|1962 Belgrade]] | [[1962 European Athletics Championships – Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 metres]]}}
{{MedalBronze| [[1962 European Athletics Championships|1962 Belgrade]] | [[1962 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres|5000 metres]]}}
}}
'''Pyotr Grigoryevich Bolotnikov''' ({{langx|ru|Пётр Григо́рьевич Боло́тников}}; 8 March 1930 – 20 December 2013) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Track and field]] athlete who competed mainly in [[long-distance running]] events.<ref name="GRE">[[Great Russian Encyclopedia]] (2005), [[Moscow]]: Bolshaya Rossiyskaya Entsiklopediya Publisher, vol. 3, p. 731</ref> He was the winner of the [[10,000 metres]] at the [[1960 Summer Olympics]].

Born in [[Zinovkino]], [[Krasnoslobodsky District, Mordovia Republic|Krasnoslobodsky District]], [[Mordovian ASSR]] (now the [[Republic of Mordovia]]), Bolotnikov started athletics only at age twenty, when he joined the [[Soviet Army]]. He trained at [[Spartak (sports society)|VSS Spartak]],<ref name="Khavin">{{cite book|script-title=ru:Всё об олимпийских играх|trans-title=All About Olympic Games|first=Boris|last=Khavin|publisher=[[Fizkultura i sport (publisher)|Fizkultura i sport]]|edition = 2nd|pages=534|year=1979|location=Moscow|language=Russian}}</ref> coached by [[Grigory Nikiforov]].<ref name="GRE"/>

Bolotnikov won his first national championship title in 10,000 m in 1957, when he surprisingly beat the great [[Vladimir Kuts]] in a finishing straight by 0.2 [[second]]s. He became the double Soviet champion in 5000 m and 10,000 m from 1958 to 1962. He also won the national 10,000 m title in 1964 and national cross country title in 1958. In 1959 he became the [[Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR]].<ref name="Khavin"/>

Bolotnikov participated already at the [[1956 Summer Olympics]], but without any success. At the [[Rome]] Olympics in 1960, Bolotnikov controlled the 10,000 m race from the start to end, beating the main favourites [[Hans Grodotzki]] from [[Germany]] and [[Murray Halberg]] from [[New Zealand]] by five seconds. On 5 October 1960, in [[Kiev]], Bolotnikov lowered the [[10,000 metres world record]] by almost twelve seconds to 28:18.8.<ref name="IOC">{{cite web|title=Athletics - World Record progression|work=[[International Olympic Committee]]|url=http://www.olympic.org/common/asp/download_report.asp?file=en_report_69.pdf&id=69|accessdate=January 3, 2007}}</ref>

Just two weeks before the [[1962 European Championships in Athletics|1962 European Championships]] in [[Belgrade]], on 11 August 1962 in [[Moscow]], Bolotnikov lowered his own 10,000 m world record by 0.6 seconds to 28:18.2,<ref name="IOC"/> thus becoming the main favourite at [[long-distance running|long distances]] at the Championships. He easily won the 10,000 m run, but was surprisingly beaten to third in 5,000 m.

After the unsuccessful [[1964 Summer Olympics]], Bolotnikov decided to retire from athletics in 1965. He received the [[Order of Lenin]] in 1960.<ref name="Khavin"/>

Bolotnikov died on 20 December 2013, at the age of 83.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rusathletics.com/nov/news.13634.htm |title= Не стало легенды спорта|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date= 2013-12-21|website=Лёгкая атлетика России |publisher=Russian Federation of Athletics |accessdate=20 December 2013}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-ach|rec}}
{{succession box|before={{flagicon|URS}} [[Vladimir Kuts]] |title=[[World record progression for the Men's 10,000 m|Men's 10,000 m World Record Holder]]|years=15 October 1960 – 18 December 1963 |after={{flagicon|AUS}} [[Ron Clarke]]}}
{{s-sports}}
{{succession box|before={{flagicon|FRG}} [[Friedrich Janke]]|title=[[5000 metres#Men's seasons best (outdoor track)|Men's 5000 m Best Year Performance]]|years=1960|after={{flagicon|NZL}} [[Murray Halberg]]}}
{{succession box|before={{flagicon|NZL}} [[Murray Halberg]]|title=[[5000 metres#Men's seasons best (outdoor track)|Men's 5000 m Best Year Performance]]|years=1963|after={{flagicon|USA}} [[Bob Schul]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions 10000 m Men}}
{{Footer European Champions 10000 m Men}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolotnikov, Pyotr}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:Russian men long-distance runners]]
[[Category:Soviet men long-distance runners]]
[[Category:Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Spartak (sports society) sportspeople]]
[[Category:World record setters in the sport of athletics]]
[[Category:European Athletics Championships medalists]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics]]
[[Category:Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery]]
[[Category:Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism alumni]]
[[Category:Athletes from Mordovia]]
[[Category:Soviet Athletics Championships winners]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian sportsmen]]