Sergey Koplyakov

Belarussian male swimmer (former Soviet Union) born in Orcha on January 23th of 1959. The arriving to the first page of the world swimming of _Sergey Kopliakov in 1979. coming behind Vladimir Salnikov, Peter Krylov and Vladimir Rastakov, let Soviet Union get the level of the american giant, in the late 70s in the lands of the male freestyle. For the history, Kopliakov will be the swimmer who ended 15 years of american domination in the 200 m. freestyle and first man ever going under 1'50" (on april 7th of 1979 he performed 1'49"83 in East Berlin). Kopliakov debutted in 1974, at 15 years old. He won the 200 m. juniors in a people's tournament in 1969. From Minsk He went to Leningrad, one of the pilot centers of the new soviet swimming and was selected in 1976 for the Montreal Games, where He won a silver medal in the 4 x 200 m.; his best time in 200 m. that year was 1'53"37. In 1977 he was very discreet, only got a fifth place in the 200 m. of the European Championships. In 1978, in the West Berlin World Championships, He finished third in the 200 m. behind two americans with a time of 1'51"33 (new Europe record). He was revealed completly in 1978, beating on april 7th the 200 m. world record , during the first split of one 4 x 200 m. relay in a GDR /USSR meeting; after that he won the 100 m. in 51"46 and the 200 m. of the Europe Cup(London) in august and finally the 200 m. of th the Spartakiad in moscow in september with 1'50"13, showing herself as one of the most serious opponents for the american swimmers.