Pyotr Gayevsky

Pyotr Gayevsky was of Polish noble descent and graduated from the Saint Petersburg mining institute. He competed for the sports club “Narva” and was a two time-champion of Russia in the 400 metres (1912, 1913), the event in which he competed at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. Gayevsky won two more Russian national titles, the 1,500 m in 1912 and the 110 m hurdles in 1913. Additionally, he took silver over the high hurdles and bronze in the long jump, both in 1912. At the First Russian Olympics in 1913, he won gold in the 800 m with a new Russian record of 2:05.8 and silver in the 110 m hurdles, the 200 m. and the 400 m.

In addition to athletics, Gayevsky also excelled in football and bandy. With the football team of his club “Narva”, he played in the 1911 St. Petersburg cup final and placed third in the 1912 championship of St. Petersburg. Like football he also played bandy from 1909-14, winning the St. Petersburg league title in 1910, 1913, and 1914. Representing the city of St. Petersburg, he claimed the Russian Championship Cup in 1911 and 1912. In 1915/16, Gayevsky was a member of the committee of the Petrograd Students’ Sports League as a deputy chairman, representing the mining institute.

With his wife Malvina Grigoryevna (née Syrevich) he had one daughter, born in 1913. In World War I he served as a pilot in the Imperial army. After the Civil War he moved to Moskva (Moscow) playing for various clubs there. He took up playing bandy again and was a member of the team, that won the first national championship of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) in 1922. In 1926, he won the championship of Moskva in this sport. He was eventually buried in Smolensk.

Personal Best: 400 m 52.2 (1912)