Viktor Pankrashkin

Personal information
Born	(1957-12-10)10 December 1957 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	24 July 1993(1993-07-24) (aged 35) Moscow, Russian Federation
Nationality	Russian
Listed height	2.16 m (7 ft 1 in)
Listed weight	115 kg (254 lb)
Career information
Playing career	?–1992
Position	Center
Career history
?–?	SKA Lvov
?–1979	SKA Riga
1979–1989	CSKA Moscow
1989–1990	Urartu Yerevan
1991–1992	Metall Tula
Career highlights and awards
6× Soviet League champion (1980–1984, 1988)
Medals Men's Basketball Representing  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Men's basketball FIBA EuroBasket 1983 France 1987 Greece

Viktor Pankrashkin (Russian: Виктор Александрович Панкрашкин; 10 December 1957 - 24 July 1993) was a Soviet basketball player.

Pankrashkin won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Also, he won one silver and one bronze at the EuroBasket.^[1]

Club career

Pankrashkin only came to basketball at the age of 17. Because of his height, he was noticed by an army basketball coach. After a short time with different army teams he came to CSKA Moscow, where he spent 10 years. In addition to his height, he had an enormous arm length so that he could stand on his heel and touch the basketball ring. With these physical virtues, blocked shots became his trademark. He won five Soviet championships in a row with CSKA. He celebrated his greatest triumph in 1988 when he won the gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul as a member of the Soviet national team. After 1988, CSKA got a new coach, with whom Pankraschkin fell out. He left Moscow and joined the new Armenian club Urartu in Yerevan. In terms of sport, however, his most successful period was over.

Disease

As early as 1986 Pankrashkin was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He initially kept the disease a secret. The further progression of the disease made it impossible to play basketball from 1992 onwards. He died of this disease on July 24, 1993.