Yuriy Kutsenko

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Yuriy Mikhaylovich Kutsenko (March 5, 1952 – May 22, 2018) was a Soviet-born Russian decathlete. He grew up in Tavrovo, Belgorod region, and played many sports as a child. After school he studied at a chemico-mechanical technicum, served in the Soviet Army, and worked at the Energomash boiler factory in Belgorod from 1974. A factory sports club invited him to try athletics, and at 23 he began focusing on the decathlon.

He quickly progressed: 1976 became a Candidate for Master of Sports; 1977 Master of Sports of the USSR; 1978 Master of Sports of the USSR, International Class. He won regional titles in GTO and long jump and also excelled in orienteering. In 1978 he joined the extramural Physical Culture Department of Belgorod Pedagogical Institute and went on to represent the USSR for VSS Trud. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, he won the silver medal in the decathlon.

After the Games, Kutsenko returned to Energomash and worked as a blacksmith for twenty years. He passed away on May 22, 2018, at age 66.