The Most Famous

SWIMMERS from Belarus

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This page contains a list of the greatest Belarusian Swimmers. The pantheon dataset contains 709 Swimmers, 2 of which were born in Belarus. This makes Belarus the birth place of the 25th most number of Swimmers behind Lithuania, and Singapore.

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Belarusian Swimmers of all time. This list of famous Belarusian Swimmers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Sergey Koplyakov

1. Sergey Koplyakov (b. 1959)

With an HPI of 38.16, Sergey Koplyakov is the most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages on wikipedia.

Sergey Viktorovich Koplyakov (Russian: Сергей Викторович Копляков; born 23 January 1959) is a Russian-Belarusian swimmer who won two gold medals competing for the Soviet Union at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Sergey Koplyakov moved into top ranks of world swimming in 1979, coming behind Vladimir Salnikov, Andrey Krylov and Volodymyr Raskatov, enabling the Soviet Union to fully compete in male freestyle with American champions in the late 1970s. In sports history, Koplyakov will be the swimmer who ended 15 years of American domination in the 200 m freestyle and the first man who bested the time of 1:50 (on 7 April 1979 he achieved 1:49.83 in East Berlin). Born in Orsha, Belarus' 11th-largest city, Koplyakov debuted in 1974, at the age of 15. He won the 200 m juniors in a people's tournament in 1969. From Minsk he went to Leningrad, one of the pilot centers of the new Soviet swimming and was selected in 1976 for the Montreal Olympic Games, where he won a silver medal in the 4×200 m. His best time in 200 m that year was 1:53.37. In 1977 he was very discreet, only got a fifth place in the 200 m of the European Championships. In 1978, in the West Berlin World Championships, he finished third in the 200 m, behind two Americans with a time of 1:51.33 (new European record). He achieved high recognition in 1978, beating on 7 April the 200 m world record, during the first split of one 4×200 m relay in a GDR/USSR meeting; after that he won the 100 m in 51.46 and the 200 m of the Europe Cup (London) in August and finally the 200 m of the Spartakiad in Moscow in September with 1:50.13, showing himself as one of the most serious opponents for the American swimmers.

Photo of Aliaksandra Herasimenia

2. Aliaksandra Herasimenia (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 37.41, Aliaksandra Herasimenia is the 2nd most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Aliaksandra Viktarauna Herasimenia (born 31 December 1985) is a Belarusian former swimmer. After a medal-winning career, including gold at the 2012 World Championships and silver at the 2012 London Olympics, she became a critic of the Lukashenko regime in Belarus, and now lives in exile in Poland.

Photo of Yelena Rudkovskaya

3. Yelena Rudkovskaya (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 32.28, Yelena Rudkovskaya is the 3rd most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Yelena Grigoryevna Rudkovskaya (Russian: Елена Григорьевна Рудковская) (born 21 April 1973) is a Belarusian swimmer and Olympic champion. She competed at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where she received a gold medal in 100 m breaststroke, and a bronze medal in 4×100 m medley relay.

Photo of Yauhen Tsurkin

4. Yauhen Tsurkin (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 0.00, Yauhen Tsurkin is the 4th most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Yauhen Mikalaevich Tsurkin (Belarusian: Яўген Мікалаевіч Цуркін; Łacinka: Jaŭhien Mikałajevič Curkin; born 9 November 1990) is a Belarusian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events.

Photo of Alina Zmushka

5. Alina Zmushka (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 0.00, Alina Zmushka is the 5th most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Alina Zmushka (Belarusian: Аліна Змушка; born 5 January 1997) is a Belarusian swimmer. She competed in the women's 100 metre breaststroke at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. In 2021, she represented Belarus at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. Alina is participating in 2024 Olympics in Paris as an individual independent athlete.

Photo of Mikita Tsmyh

6. Mikita Tsmyh (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 0.00, Mikita Tsmyh is the 6th most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Mikita Dzmitryevich Tsmyh (Belarusian: Мікіта Дзмітрыевіч Цмыг; born 15 April 1997) is a Belarusian swimmer. He competed in the men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also represented Belarus at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.

Photo of Ilya Shymanovich

7. Ilya Shymanovich (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 0.00, Ilya Shymanovich is the 7th most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Ilya Syarheyevich Shymanovich (Belarusian: Ілья Сяргеевіч Шымановіч; born 2 August 1994) is a Belarusian swimmer. He is the world record holder in the short course 100 metre breaststroke and a former world record holder in the short course 50 metre breaststroke. At the 2018 World Championships he won two silver medals, one each in the 100 metre breaststroke and the 50 metre breaststroke. He won two gold medals, one in the 50 metre breaststroke and one in the 200 metre breaststroke, and a silver medal, in the 100 metre breaststroke, at the 2021 European Short Course Championships. At the 2021 World Short Course Championships he won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke.

Photo of Anastasiya Shkurdai

8. Anastasiya Shkurdai (b. 2003)

With an HPI of 0.00, Anastasiya Shkurdai is the 8th most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Anastasiya Shkurdai (Belarusian: Настасся Шкурдай, romanized: Nastassya Shkurday; born 3 January 2003) is a Belarusian swimmer. She won the bronze medal in the women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships held in Qatar. She won a gold medal at the 2019 European Short Course Swimming Championships held in Great Britain.

Photo of Vasilina Khandoshka

9. Vasilina Khandoshka (b. 2001)

With an HPI of 0.00, Vasilina Khandoshka is the 9th most famous Belarusian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Vasilina Khandoshka (Belarusian: Васіліна Хандошка; born 16 August 2001) is a Belarusian synchronized swimmer. She competed in the women's duet event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She also represented Belarus at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary and at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. In 2018, at the 2018 European Aquatics Championships, she finished in 7th place in the solo technical routine and in 8th place in the solo free routine. At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, she finished in 9th place in the solo technical routine and in 10th place in the solo free routine. Khandoshka and Valeryia Valasach also competed in the duet technical routine and duet free routine. In the duet technical routine they finished in 16th place in the preliminary round and in the duet free routine they finished in 15th place in the preliminary round. In 2021, she won the bronze medal in the solo technical routine at the 2020 European Aquatics Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.

People

Pantheon has 9 people classified as Belarusian swimmers born between 1959 and 2003. Of these 9, 9 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Belarusian swimmers include Sergey Koplyakov, Aliaksandra Herasimenia, and Yelena Rudkovskaya. As of April 2024, 7 new Belarusian swimmers have been added to Pantheon including Yelena Rudkovskaya, Yauhen Tsurkin, and Alina Zmushka.

Living Belarusian Swimmers

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Newly Added Belarusian Swimmers (2024)

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