| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mark Petrovich Midler | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 September 1931 Moscow, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 31 May 2012 (aged 80)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Fencing | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Burevestnik Moskva | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mark Petrovich Midler (Russian: Марк Петрович Мидлер; 24 September 1931 – 31 May 2012) was a Soviet Russian foil fencer. He competed at four Olympic Games, at which he won two gold medals.[3]
Midler was born in Moscow, in the Soviet Union, and was Jewish.[3][4][5][6][7]
Midler was a member of the USSR National Fencing Team between 1951 and 1967.[8][3] He trained at Burevestnik in Moscow.[9][3]
Midler won the Soviet individual foil title six times (1954–57, 1963, and 1965) and the Soviet Cup in 1961.[3]
Midler won four consecutive World Championships in Foil, in 1959 to 1962.[3] He also won a silver medal in 1957 and bronze medals in 1959 and 1961.[10][3] Along with his Soviet teammates, he won the World Team Championships in Foil five times: in 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, and 1966.[3] They also won a silver medal in 1967.[3]
Midler was captain of the Foil team for the 1960 Olympic Games and the 1964 Olympic Games.[3] They won the gold medal in Team Foil at both Olympics.[3]
Midler coached fencing for the Olympic teams of the Soviet Union and Russia.[3] From 1971 until 2000, Midler was the coach of the Soviet and later Russian national foil team.[3] He was also the head coach of the Soviet 1980 Olympic foil team, Unified Team 1992 Olympic foil team, and Russian 1996 and 2000 Olympic foil teams.[3]
Midler was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.[11] In 1960 he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.[9]
