Vasiliy Khemelevskiy

URSMen

Vasiliy Vladimirovich Khmelevskiy (Belarusian: Васіль Уладзіміравіч Хмялеўскі, Russian: Василий Владимирович Хмелевский; 14 January 1948 – 2002) was a Soviet athlete who competed mainly in the hammer throw He won a bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics with a throw of 74 04 metres, behind compatriot Anatoly Bondarchuk (75 50 m) and Jochen Sachse of East Germany (74 96 m).

He also finished in third place at the national championships in 1971 and 1972 He achieved a personal best of 74 98 meters on 8 July 1975 in Minsk Khmelevskiy was born and raised in Belarus, but later moved to Stavropol, Russia while serving in the Soviet Army There he graduated from the Stavropol Pedagogical Institute He began training in athletics in 1963 and became a member of the Soviet team in 1970.

In 1972 he was awarded the Medal "For Distinguished Labour" He married a former athletics competitor, who also specialized in throwing, and took her to his native Belarus There they raised three daughters and a son After retirement from competitions, Khmelevskiy fell into depression and became a heavy drinker On 30 December 1979, he set on fire, for a joke, a costumed person during a celebration in Minsk and was charged with hooliganism He died from heart failure in 2002.