International Swimming Hall of Fame Honorees By Country (Russian Federation)

He was born in Moscow in 1941, during WWII, and grew up in Moscow at the height of the cold war. It was when sports in the Soviet Union were under the supervision of the ministry of defense and Boris Popov began his playing water polo at the TsSK Navy Children’s School. From 1960 through 1973 he played for the Moscow State University team and in 1964, was a member of the Soviet team that won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and gold at the 1966 European Championships.

Her first sport was figure skating. Then she saw rhythmic gymnastics on TV and she left the ice for the ribbon and mat, but not for long. At the age of six, her mother took her for swim lessons where she was exposed to synchronized swimming. She immediately loved the sport. Early on in her career, she was tested by her coach to see if she was really serious about synchronized swimming. She was asked to give up her favorite foods of chocolate, cakes and chips. She loved the sport more, gave the foods up and the rest, as they say, is history.

She tried gymnastics, dancing and swimming before she joined the synchronized swim-ming team at the age of five. It was at the Seagull Sports School where she learned to love the water and sports, and it became her second home.

Simeon Boychenko was a real-life sports idol to the Russian people in the pre-World War II era. Some thought he might become as famous as the American superstar, “Tarzan,” Johnny Weissmuller, but Simeon Boychenko had his own story to write. He was born in 1912 and grew up in the small village of Marievka in the Ukraine, on the Ingul River, where he spent a lot of time swimming as a child.

This eight-time World Champion was unbeatable in major international competition beginning with her 2004 debut in Dubai as a 16-year-old, to her dramatic victory at the inaugural Olympic open water race at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Following in the wake of Russia’s Simeon Boychenko was Leonid Meshkov. Born in Volgograd in 1916, he showed promise as a swimmer. In 1936 his family moved to Leningrad so he could train at the “Dolphin Sports Club.” In 1940, Meshkov, like Boychenko, broke the recognized world record in the 100-meter butterfly-breaststroke, and European records in the 200 and 400-meter freestyle. Also like Boychenko, his times were not recognized.

When he first appeared at the Voronezh Children’s Sports School at the age of seven, no one could have imagined that this youngster would one day reign as the Czar of Diving. Although physically strong and fearless, he was very inflexible and didn’t know how to swim. Yet Tatiana Starodubtseva, the school’s diving coach saw in him the courage, perseverance and determination that would make him one of the greatest divers in the history of the sport.

She is one of the most decorated synchronized swimmers in history with a combined 19 gold and two silver medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cups and World Trophies.

Aleksandr Popov dominated swimming’s marquee events, the 50m and 100m freestyle, and became the world’s premier sprinter during the 1990s. He won a total of nine Olympic medals at three Olympic Games from 1992-2000, including four individual gold medals.

Russia’s international breakthrough in synchronized swimming started at the 1993 Junior World Championships in Leeds when Olga Brusnikina won all of the solo, duet and team events. That same year, she was a member of the team that won at the European Championships.