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| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | January 6, 1923 Alekseyevka, Khvalynsky Uyezd, Saratov Governorate, RSFSR, Soviet Union | |||||||||||
| Died | November 22, 2007 (aged 84) Moscow, Russia | |||||||||||
| Height | 176 cm (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||
| Weight | 66 kg (146 lb) | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||
| Event(s) | Steeplechase, 5000 m, 10,000 m | |||||||||||
| Club | Dynamo Moscow | |||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 3000 mS – 8:48.6 (1952) 5000 m – 14:08.8 (1952) 10,000 m – 30:20.0 (1950)[1] | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Vladimir Dmitriyevich Kazantsev (Russian: Владимир Дмитриевич Казанцев, 6 January 1923[2] – 22 November 2007) was a Russian long-distance runner who won a silver medal in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 1952 Olympics. He set world's best times in this event in 1951 and 1952 and won the Soviet title in 1950–53. In the Olympic final he had a 20 m lead with 700 m remaining but injured a tendon in a bad landing after a water jump and was overtaken by Horace Ashenfelter.[3]
Ashenfelter was an FBI agent, while Kazantsev was a KGB officer who retired in the rank of lieutenant colonel. He fought as a private in the German-Soviet War at the Kalinin Front, was wounded in action in 1942, and awarded the Order of the Patriotic War.[4] Besides his KGB service Kazantsev taught physical education at the Soviet Police Academy and worked as an athletics coach, preparing the Soviet team to the 1964 Olympics.[3]