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Ukrainian canoeing mourns Vyacheslav Sorokin, a legendary canoe sprint coach, who passed away in February at the age of 78. Vyacheslav Sorokin dedicated more than sixty years of his life to canoeing, starting as an athlete himself, but his biggest achievements were made by coaching talented athletes. Sorokin’s protégée was Yuriy Cheban, two-times Olympic champion, Olympic bronze medallist and winner of eleven medals at World and European Championships, with whom he started working in 2001.

Protégées of Vyacheslav Sorokin have had much success in international arena; besides Cheban he also coached other successful paddlers such as two times Olympic Champion Serhiy Petrenko and Nikolay Zhuravsky, and also the youngest generation, including 2016 U23 World Champion Yury Vanduk. Sorokin received several orders of merit for his successful coaching career, among others Ukrainian “Sports Oscar” in 2016 in the category Coach of the year for his successful guidance of Yuriy Cheban who became Olympic Champion in Rio de Janeiro and defended his title from London.

“With Vyacheslav Mikhailovich I spent more time than with my family. He was like my second father. He is more than a coach. He was always near. We were like a father and a son. The last seventeen years of my life we spent together. Many athletes went through his hands. He taught many. He remained in the sport until the last. Even when he could no longer move, he continued to work. I recorded a video of his athletes at training, showed him and he gave advice on what needs to be corrected. He fought and stayed in the sport until the end. I don’t even know how we will do without him, without his advice and participation. It is a big loss for us and it will not be possible to replace him,” said Cheban.

Sorokin was laid to rest in Odessa and hundredths of athletes and coaches came to pay the last respect to the late legend of the sport.

We would like to express our sincere condolences to his family and friends. Rest in peace.

Photo and source: http://canoe.in.ua/1661-pshov-z-zhittya-vyacheslav-sorokn.html