Dziamyan Turchyn

Who is Dziamyan Turchyn?

Dziamyan Turchyn is a Belarusian sprint canoer.

Turchyn represented Belarus at the 2003 Junior World Championships in Komatsu, Japan, finishing fourth in the kayak K-2 500 m and fifth in the K-4 1000 m finals.

Senior team leader Viktor Reneysky was looking for fresh talent for his K4 boat which had failed to maintain the progress of previous years. Turchyn was surprisingly chosen ahead of Stanislau Strelchanka to replace Aliaksei Skurkouski in the senior K-4 500 m crew.

Turchyn had been selected not just for his athletic ability but also for his phlegmatic temperament. Indeed some observers worried that he would not "wake up" for big races. His new team-mates, however, laughed off such fears and at Turchyn's first major championship, he justified their faith as the Belarusian four took the 2004 European K-4 500 m silver medal in Poznań, Poland.

At the Olympics the only K-4 race is over 1000 m and Reneysky dropped Skurkouski from the 1000 m line-up as well in favour of Turchyn. Belarus finished sixth in the Olympic final.

Still a teenager, Turchyn was the first of the juniors from Komatsu to win a senior medal and, despite the inevitable distractions, he handled his sudden success better than most. His coaches were relieved to see that their young star was still progressing well through the winter of 2004/05.