Vyacheslav Vedenin

Who is Vyacheslav Vedenin?

Vyacheslav Petrovitch Vedenin was a Soviet cross country skier who competed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, training at Dynamo in Moscow.

He won the 50 km silver at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble. Vedenin was the USSR Olympic Team Flag Bearer at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo and won three medals there with golds in the 30 km and 4x10 km, and a bronze in the 50 km. In the 4x10 km event Vedenin, starting on the last of four stages, eliminated team's one-minute lag from Norway, a unique achievement in history of this discipline. Vedenin's gold in the 30 km was the first individual win for a Soviet/Russian male skier in the Winter Olympics.

He also won three medals at the 1970 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with two golds and one silver.

Vedenin was awarded Order of the Red Banner of Labour and Order of Lenin.

Since 1989 a competition "Vedenin's Ski Track" is held yearly in Dubna in his honor.