Kharis Yunichev
Kharis Kharisovich Yunichev was the first Soviet male swimmer to win an Olympic medal – at the 1956 Summer Olympics he finished third in the 200 m breaststroke event. The same year he set two European records. Yunichev was a versatile sportsman: he won three national titles, two in breaststroke swimming and one in water polo, and also competed nationally in diving. In the 1950s he was serving in the Air Force and training in the Moscow Oblast. Since the 2002, regional swimming competitions are held in Sochi in his memory.
