Anvar Ibragimov

Anvar Ibragimov was a Russian foil fencer who won gold at the Olympics and later became the national coach. Ibragimov began fencing when he attended the Lokomotiv Children’s Sports Club, quickly making his way up to represent the national team. In 1985, representing the Soviet Union, he won a team bronze at the World Fencing Championships and an individual bronze at the Summer Universiade. Three years later he was part of the Soviet team that won gold in the team foil at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Ibragimov returned to the Olympics for the 1992 Barcelona Games, this time as part of the Unified Team, where he finished in fifth place in the team foil. He had further success at international competitions with silvers in the team foil events at the Summer Universiade in 1991 and at the World Fencing Championships in 1995.

From 2000 to 2004 Ibragimov coached the Russian junior foil team, before coaching the men’s team from 2005 to 2006. He was bestowed with multiple awards including the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1988 and the Honoured Coach of Russia in 2004. His wife Olga Velichko fenced at two Olympic Games in the 1990s, and their son Kamil competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.