Kirill Putyrsky

Kirill Putyrsky was a multisport athlete, but took up his primary passion, rowing, in 1946. He won his first Soviet national title in 1950, in the eights, and earned another in the coxed fours in 1952. This led him to be selected to represent the Soviet Union in the latter event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. There, alongside Yevgeny Tretnikov, Georgy Gushchenko, Boris Fyodorov, and Boris Brechko, he was eliminated in the semi-finals repêchage. This quintet, with non-Olympian Georgy Bryulgart replacing Tretnikov, had better luck at the European Championships the following year, where they came in second behind Czechoslovakia.

Putyrsky won a final Soviet championship in the coxed fours in 1955, and then turned to coaching, focusing on the women’s national team. He later worked as a trainer in Bulgaria and East Germany, before returning to Russia in the 1970s. One of his students, Vladimir Solovyov, just missed the podium by coming in fourth in the coxed fours event at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He retired at the beginning of the 1990s.