Background
Mankin, Valentin was born on August 19, 1938 in the village of Belokorovichi, Zhitomir Oblast’.
Mankin, Valentin was born on August 19, 1938 in the village of Belokorovichi, Zhitomir Oblast’.
Graduated from the Kiev Institute of Building Engineers, 1962.
Mankin was Jewish. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow at the age of 41 years with Aleksandr Muzychenko and entered the Star class. At the end of the eighties he moved to Italy, in Livorno, as technical director and coach of Italian Sailing Federation, where he trained top generation of sailors. in Livorno also founded Olimpic Training Centre dedicated to Beppe Croce (Olympic Sailor and President of Italian Sailing Federation). (Finn, Tempest and Star).
He died on June 1, 2014, in Viareggio, Italy.
He trained at VSS Vodnik and scored his first Olympic triumph at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, when he dominated his 35 opponents in the Finn class, finishing first or second in five of the seven races to win the gold medal. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Mankin switched classes and teamed with Vitaly Dyrdyra to win the Tempest class. The contest went down to the final race, but Mankin pulled off the victory and won the Gold Meda As of 2005, Valentyn Mankin remains the only sailor in Olympic history to win gold medals in three different classes.
