Viktor Sidyak

Viktor Alexandrovich Sidyak (Ви́ктор Алекса́ндрович Сидя́к; born 24 November 1943) is a Russian former left-handed sabre fencer, a pupil of Mark Rakita and David Tyshler.

He was known for his aggressive style and the "one-and-a-half tempo attack".

Sidyak was born in Anzhero-Sudzhensk in Kemerovo Oblast, but spent most of his childhood in Donetsk.

He started fencing at age fifteen.

In the 1960s, while training in Lvov, he represented Ukraine on the internal Soviet circuit.

He was part of the winning team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

At the world championships Sidyak's won an individual title in 1969 and team titles in 1969–1971, 1974, 1975 and 1979.

In 1970, he moved to Minsk and joined the Belarusian fencing lobby which had produced Elena Belova, Alexandr Romankov, and Nikolai Alyokhin.

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Sidyak became the first Soviet sabreur to win individual gold.

At the same Olympics, he fenced in the team final with his right eye bandaged over after having a fragment of the Italian Michele Maffei's blade removed from his eye the previous day.

Besides Sidyak, the team consisted of Vladimir Nazlymov, Eduard Vinokurov, and Viktor Bazhenov.

The Soviet and Italian teams met again in the finals, Italy taking gold, and USSR silver.

In 1994, Maffei's 1972 teammate Mario Aldo Montano invited Sidyak to coach the young fencers, including his own son, at his club in Livorno.

As of 2016, Sidyak was the chairman of the professional boxing association of Belarus.