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F.I.G., Moutier, January 2002:
One of the most celebrated figures in 20th century gymnastics, the Ukrainian Boris Shakhlin,
will celebrate his 70^th birthday on January 27^th in Kiev.

Competing under Soviet colours from 1954 to 1964, Boris holds 6 Gold medals, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze taken at the Olympic Games in 1956 in Melbourne, in 1960 in Rome and in 1964 in Tokyo. Also on his record of achievements are six World Champion titles taken in Rome in 1954 and Moscow in 1958.

He is the compatriot, the intimate friend and, at the time, was the most formidable adversary of Yuri Titov, current Honorary President of the FIG, (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique). Other phenomenal gymnasts accompanied Boris Shakhlin in his career and signed with him some of the most extraordinary pages in the history of international gymnastics: the Japanese Yukio Endo, Takahashi Ondo, the Italian Franco Menichelli and the Yugoslavian Miroslav Cerar.

He was the first to give prominence to concentration and psychological effort, concepts that allowed him to obtain great security. Moreover, no one within the FIG remembers having seen Boris fall from an apparatus! Innovative in his time, his bearing earned him the nickname “Iron Mask”.

Orphaned at the age of 12 years, Boris Shakhlin was raised by his grandparents in the small village of Tumen, near Omsk. His upbringing prepared him to meet with the most difficult challenges and to bear the suffering the sport often requires. And so, with bleeding hands and a smile on his lips, he took the Silver Medal at the Horizontal Bar at the Olympic Games in Rome!

Today, this agile ‘senior citizen’ regularly participates in all FIG World Championships as a judge. His past, his knowledge and his endearing personality bring forth the admiration of all and demand the respect of everyone.

Boris will celebrate his birthday in Kiev. He will be surrounded by his friends, recalling together his extraordinary story during a ceremony led by the President of the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation, Igor Korobchinski, another Olympic medallist and hero of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

On the list of Olympic medallists awarded in gymnastics in all of IOC history, Boris Shakhlin ranks second with a total of 13 medals, behind his compatriot Nicola Andrianov, who stood on the podium 15 times.