Background
Filatov, Sergei was born on September 25, 1926 in Tambovskaia Oblast’.
Filatov, Sergei was born on September 25, 1926 in Tambovskaia Oblast’.
Graduated from the Higher Cavalry School, 1951.
Filatov started training in competitive horse riding at the age of 27, while serving in the Soviet Army. His commander, marshal Semyon Budyonny was a keen horse rider and breeder. He was ashamed by the performance of the Soviet team at the 1952 Olympics and established his own riding school, which consisted of soldiers that he personally selected from his regiments, such as Filatov.
At the 1956 Olympics he was 11th individually and fourth with the Soviet team
In 1958, he changed his horse to the black Akhal-Teke stallion Absent, which resulted in a series of domestic and international victories. Filatov retired after failing to qualify for the 1968 Olympics and later opened his personal riding school in Moscow.
He won individual gold in 1960 and two bronze medals in 1964, individual and with the Soviet team His 1960 gold was the first achievement of this rank for a Soviet rider. He won his first national title in 1954, after less than a year of training, which followed by seven consecutive victories in 1957–1963.
