Vyacheslav Ostroukhov

Vyacheslav Ostroukhov entered the military in 1905 after passing the entrance exam for the Tiflis Infantry Cadet School. While at the school, he won prizes in shooting and fencing. In 1908, he graduated and was promoted to second lieutenant of the 18th (East) Siberian Rifle Regiment. As a junior officer of the 11th Company he served, amongst others, as instructor at the 5th Siberian Rifle Division’s school and officer in charge of the regimental shooting range. He continued to compete successfully in shooting events. In 1911, he started his training at the Main Gymnastics and Fencing School in St. Petersburg. Promoted to lieutenant, he was entered in the shot put at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm but did not start. He returned to school prior to the shot put event taking place in Stockholm.

In August 1912, Ostroukhov successfully completed his training and was assigned again to the 11th Company of the 18th Siberian Rifle Regiment until 1914. Concurrently, he served as an instructor at the gymnastics and fencing school of the 5th Siberian Rifle Division for the 1912/13 and 1913/14 terms.

After the mobilization for World War I, he was assigned to the 233rd Starobelsk Infantry Regiment but never actually reported for duty and was not involved in any operations of this unit. Instead, he served until 1916 as commander of the 5th Company of the 58th Infantry Reserve Battalion but continued to be listed as an officer of the 233rd Starobelsk Infantry Regiment, from 1915 in the rank of captain.

In September 1916, Ostroukhov was on assignment to the Officers’ Rifle School in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov), a part of the city of St. Petersburg. Later, he joined the ranks of the White Army as a staff captain. In 1919, he served in the Armored Car Training Division of Admiral Alexander Kolchak’s forces until their defeat.

By 1931, he was working as a teacher at a vocational-technical school in Verkhneudinsk (now Ulan-Ude), today the capital of Buryatia in Russia. There he was arrested by the secret police OGPU and charged with “participation in an armed uprising and organization of counter-revolutionary crimes” and sentenced to three years of exile in Western Siberia. Nothing is known about his further fate. He was rehabilitated in 1989.

Ostroukhov was married to Valentina Alexandrovna Mordovskaya. They had one daughter. He was awarded the orders of St. Stanislaus and St. Anna. Although he did not start at the Stockholm Olympics, he is reported to have received the Swedish medal commemorating the V Olympiad.