Valery Dolinin

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s Russian rower Valery Dolinin represented the Soviet Union and won multiple medals at the Olympics and World Championships. Dolinin mainly rowed in the coxless fours, which saw him become the champion of the USSR on five occasions (1977–79, 1981–82). His first international success came at the 1976 Montréal Olympics when he won bronze in the coxless fours along with crewmates Raul Arnemann, Nikolay Kuznetsov, and Anushavan Gassan-Dzhalilov. Four years later at his home Olympics in Moskva he went one better when the Soviet team of Dolinin, Aleksey Kamkin, Aleksandr Kulagin, and Vitaly Yeliseyev won silver, finishing just behind the East Germans.

At the 1978 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand the Soviet crew of Dolinin, Kuznetsov, Vladimir Predbradzensky, and Anatoly Nemtyryov won gold in the coxless fours. Three years later the crew that won silver in the same event at the Moskva Olympics went on to win gold at the 1981 World Championships in München. Dolinin also won silver in the eight at the 1977 championships and silver in the coxless fours at the 1982 championships.