Vladimir Bure

Vladimir Bure was the best Soviet freestyle swimmer of the 1970s. He competed in three Olympics and won four medals, individual 100 metre freestyle bronze in 1972, 4×100 freestyle relay silver in 1972 and 4×200 free relay bronzes in 1968 and 1972. Bure also won two World Championships silvers, an individual 100 free silver in 1975 and a 4×100 free relay silver in 1973. Bure won his only major international tournament title at the 1970 European Championships, where he won gold in the 4×100 freestyle relay.

In addition to his 1970 European Championships title, Bure won four silvers (1974/1977 100 freestyle, 1970 4×200 free relay, 1974 4×100 free relay) and two bronzes (1974 medley relay, 1977 4×100 free relay) at the Europeans. Domestically, Bure won 17 Soviet titles – six in 100 freestyle (1971-75, 1977), two in 200 freestyle (1971, 1973), two in 400 freestyle (1972, 1973), one in the 1,500 metres (1968), two in 4×100 m freestyle relay (1973, 1975), two in 4×200 m freestyle relay (1967, 1973) and two in the medley relay (1973, 1975).

After finishing his sporting career, Bure worked as a swimming coach with CSKA Moskva (1979-85) and then as vice-president of Exsport club (1985-91), where he was in charge of the administration of eight different sports. Bure has two sons Pavel and Valery, who are both ice hockey players and who won silver at the 1998 Olympics and bronze at the 2002 Olympics, respectively, and have also played in the NHL.

In 1991 Vladimir Bure moved to the United States with his two sons and has worked as a fitness consultant for the Vancouver Canucks (1994-98) and New Jersey Devils (since 1999), winning two Stanley Cups with New Jersey in 2000 and 2003. His name was engraved on the Stanley Cup in 2003.

Personal Bests: 100 m freestyle – 51.32 (1975); 200 m freestyle – 1:56.15 (1972); 400 m freestyle – 4:06.3 (1973); 1500 m freestyle – 17:25.6 (1968).