The Most Famous

SWIMMERS from Russia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Russian Swimmers. The pantheon dataset contains 709 Swimmers, 33 of which were born in Russia. This makes Russia the birth place of the 4th most number of Swimmers behind Australia, and Germany.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Russian Swimmers of all time. This list of famous Russian Swimmers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Russian Swimmers.

Photo of Alexander Popov

1. Alexander Popov (b. 1971)

With an HPI of 48.07, Alexander Popov is the most famous Russian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages on wikipedia.

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Popov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Попо́в, born 16 November 1971), better known as Alexander Popov, is a Russian former swimmer. Widely considered the greatest sprint swimmer in history, Popov won gold in the 50-metre and 100 m freestyle at the 1992 Olympics and repeated the feat at the 1996 Olympics, and is the only male in Olympic games history to defend both titles. He held the world record in the 50 m for eight years, and the 100 m for six. In 2003, aged 31, he won 50 m and 100 m gold at the 2003 World Championships.

Photo of Vladimir Salnikov

2. Vladimir Salnikov (b. 1960)

With an HPI of 45.66, Vladimir Salnikov is the 2nd most famous Russian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Vladimir Valeryevich Salnikov (Russian: Владимир Валерьевич Сальников; born 21 May 1960) is a Russian former freestyle swimmer who set 12 world records in the 400, 800 and 1,500 metre events. Nicknamed the "Tsar of the Pool", "Monster of the Waves" and "Leningrad Express", he was the first person to swim under fifteen minutes in the 1500 m freestyle and also the first person to swim under eight minutes in the 800 m freestyle. He was named the Male World Swimmer of the Year in 1979 and 1982 by Swimming World.

Photo of Oscar Grégoire

3. Oscar Grégoire (1877 - 1947)

With an HPI of 43.95, Oscar Grégoire is the 3rd most famous Russian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Oscar Grégoire Jr. (26 March 1877 – 28 September 1947) was a Belgian water polo player and backstroke swimmer who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics, in the 1908 Summer Olympics, and in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He was part of the Belgian water polo team and was able to win two silver and one bronze medal. In 1908 and 1912 he also participated in the 100-metre backstroke events, but was eliminated in the first round in both.

Photo of Nikolai Pankin

4. Nikolai Pankin (1949 - 2018)

With an HPI of 41.84, Nikolai Pankin is the 4th most famous Russian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Nikolai Ivanovich Pankin (Russian: Николай Иванович Панкин; born 2 January 1949 – 13 October 2018) was a Russian breaststroke swimmer and swimming coach. He competed at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics in the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke and 4 × 100 m medley relay. In 1968 he won a bronze medal in the 100 m and narrowly missed a bronze in the 200 m; he also swam the semifinal for the Soviet medley relay team that won a bronze medal. Pankin was less successful in 1972 and 1976, and finished close to the podium in the medley relay. At the 1970 and 1974 European Championships, Pankin won a medal in each of the three events he competed. His last international medal was a bronze in the 200 m breaststroke at the 1975 World Championships. During his career, Pankin set four world records, two in the 100 m (1:06.2 in 1968 and 1:05.8 in 1969) and two in the 200 m (2:26.5 and 2:25.4 in 1969). Domestically, he won 13 titles, in the 100 m (1969, 1971, 1974–75), 200 m (1969, 1971, 1972, 1974–75) and in the medley relay (1965, 1969, 1973 and 1975). He retired after the 1976 Olympics and then had a long career as a swimming coach in Moscow. His trainees included Dmitry Volkov.

Photo of Denis Pankratov

5. Denis Pankratov (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 37.41, Denis Pankratov is the 5th most famous Russian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Denis Pankratov (Russian: Денис Панкратов; born 4 July 1974) is a retired Russian butterfly swimmer of the 1990s, who was best known for winning the butterfly double at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States in a unique style. His 100 m butterfly triumph is particularly remembered for his swimming over 25 m of the first lap underwater and then 15 m in the opposite direction, also underwater. He trained at the Volgograd club with fellow individual gold medallist at Swimming World World Swimmer of the Year Yevgeny Sadovyi.

Photo of Igor Polyansky

6. Igor Polyansky (b. 1967)

With an HPI of 34.26, Igor Polyansky is the 6th most famous Russian Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Igor Nikolaevich Polianski (Russian: Игорь Николаевич Полянский) (born 20 March 1967 in Novosibirsk) is a former backstroke swimmer from the USSR. Polianski trained at Dynamo in Novosibirsk. In 1986, he became the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR. From 1985 to 1990, Polianski was a member of the USSR National Team. He won three medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, including the gold in the 200 m backstroke. Polianski won gold medals at the 1986 World Aquatics Championships in the 100 m backstroke and 200 m backstroke and a bronze medal in the 4×100 m medley. On 3 March 1985 in Erfurt, GDR, Polianski set the new world record in the 200 m backstroke at 1:58.14 that stood six years. Three years later, he improved the world record time in the 100 m backstroke three times: first on 15 March and 16 March in Tallinn, USSR, to 55.17 and 55.16 respectively, and then on 16 July in Moscow to 55.00. The latter was beaten by David Berkoff a month later. In 1989, Polianski graduated from the Omsk State Institute of Physical Culture. He lives in New Zealand and runs a swimming school, Waterlions, in partnership with his wife. He is a member of the Auckland Swimming Community, coaching from the Epsom Girls Grammar and Massey High School campuses.

Photo of Natalia Ishchenko

7. Natalia Ishchenko (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 33.80, Natalia Ishchenko is the 7th most famous Russian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Natalia Sergeyevna Ishchenko (Russian: Наталья Серге́евна Ищенко; born 8 April 1986) is a retired Russian synchronized swimmer, five-times Olympic champion and nineteen-times world champion. Ishchenko announced her retirement from sports in April 2017. Since November 2017, she has served as Minister of Sports of Kaliningrad Oblast.

Photo of Yuliya Yefimova

8. Yuliya Yefimova (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 33.05, Yuliya Yefimova is the 8th most famous Russian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Yuliya Andreyevna Yefimova (Russian: Юлия Андреевна Ефимова, also romanized Efimova; born 3 April 1992) is a Russian competitive swimmer. She is the Russian record holder in the 200 metre individual medley (short course), 50 metre breaststroke (short course and long course), 100 metre breaststroke (short course and long course), and 200 metre breaststroke (short course and long course). After making her Olympic debut in 2008, she went on to win the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke in 2012, and silver medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke in 2016. She is a six-time World Champion, winning the 50 metre breaststroke in 2009 and 2013, the 100 metre breaststroke in 2015, and the 200 metre breaststroke in 2013, 2017, and 2019. In 2019, she became the first woman to win the 200 metre breaststroke at a FINA World Aquatics Championships three times. She is a former world record holder in the long course 50 metre breaststroke. She has won 109 medals, including 48 gold medals, at Swimming World Cups. After failing a drug test, Yefimova was disqualified from competition for 16 months, from October 2013 to February 2015, was stripped of her results and medals at the 2013 European Short Course Championships, and four of her world short-course records were invalidated.

Photo of Svetlana Romashina

9. Svetlana Romashina (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 32.85, Svetlana Romashina is the 9th most famous Russian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Svetlana Alekseyevna Romashina (Russian: Светлана Алексеевна Ромашина, IPA: [svʲɪˈtɫanə rɐˈmaʂɨnə]; born September 21, 1989) is a former Russian synchronized swimmer. She won a total of 41 gold medals while competing in four Olympic Games, seven world championships, and six European championships. After winning two golds at the 2020 Summer Olympics, she became the most decorated athlete in the history of her sport. After leading the Russian Olympic Committee squad to victory at the Tokyo Games, Romashina announced the end of her Olympic career.

Photo of Nina Zhivanevskaya

10. Nina Zhivanevskaya (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 32.32, Nina Zhivanevskaya is the 10th most famous Russian Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Nina Aleksandrovna Zhivanevskaya (Russian: Нина Александровна Живаневская, born 24 June 1977) is a 5-time Olympic backstroke swimmer from Russia, who has swum for Spain since 1999, following her marriage to a Spaniard (and moving to Spain). She swam at the 1992 Olympics for the Unified Team, Russia at the 1996 Olympics, and Spain at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics. At the 1992 Games, she won a bronze medal in the 4×100 m medley relay, and was the youngest member of the Unified Team swimming squad (18 men and 11 women), with 15 years and 35 days. She won the bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke a year later at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Zhivanevskaya took part in the 2008 Olympic Games, reaching the semi-finals in the 100 m backstroke. After this event, she announced she was retiring from the sport so that she could concentrate on her family.

People

Pantheon has 60 people classified as Russian swimmers born between 1877 and 2004. Of these 60, 58 (96.67%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Russian swimmers include Alexander Popov, Vladimir Salnikov, and Denis Pankratov. The most famous deceased Russian swimmers include Oscar Grégoire, and Nikolai Pankin. As of April 2024, 27 new Russian swimmers have been added to Pantheon including Nikolai Pankin, Nina Zhivanevskaya, and Yevgeny Lagunov.

Living Russian Swimmers

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Deceased Russian Swimmers

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Newly Added Russian Swimmers (2024)

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