Vadzim Makhneu

Vadzim Makhneu

Beijing K-4 1000 m team on a 2010 Belarusian stamp: Abalmasau, Piatrushenka, Litvinchuk and Makhneu (right)
Personal information
Born	21 December 1979 (age 36) Minsk, Belarus
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	100 kg (220 lb)
Sport
Sport	Canoe sprint
Club	Dynamo Minsk
Medal record Competitor for  Belarus Olympic Games 2008 Beijing K-4 1000 m 2012 London K-2 200 m 2004 Athens K-2 500 m 2008 Beijing K-2 500 m World Championships 2005 Zagreb K-4 500 m 2007 Duisburg K-2 200 m 2009 Dartmouth K-2 200 m 2009 Dartmouth K-2 500 m 2009 Dartmouth K-4 200 m 2009 Dartmouth K-4 1000 m 2010 Poznań K-2 500 m 2002 Seville K-4 500 m 2003 Gainesville K-2 500 m 2007 Duisburg K-2 500 m 2010 Poznań K-4 1000 m 2013 Duisburg K–2 500 m 2005 Zagreb K-4 200 m 2006 Szeged K-4 1000 m 2011 Szeged K-2 200 m 2014 Moscow K-2 500 m European Championships 2011 Belgrade K-2 500 m 2011 Belgrade K-2 200 m 2012 Zagreb K-2 500 m 2014 Brandenburg K-2 500 m

Vadzim Makhneu or Vadim Makhnev (Belarusian: Вадзім Махнеў; Russian: Вадим Махнев; born 21 December 1979) is a Belarusian flatwater canoer who has competed since 2000. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won three medals with a gold (K-4 1000 m: 2008), a silver (K-2 200m: 2012) and two bronzes (K-2 500 m: 2004, 2008).

Makhneu never represented Belarus as a junior but won four European championship gold medals for his country at under-23 level as a member of the K-4 crew.

In 2001 he was promoted to the senior K-4 boat and won his first senior medals at the European championships in Milan (K-4 500 m bronze and K-4 1000 m bronze). A year later the same crew went to the world championships in Seville and took the K-4 500 m silver medal.

In 2003, Makhneu formed a K-2 partnership with Raman Piatrushenka, moving to Mozyr to work under Piatrushenka's coach Vladimir Shantarovich. In their first season together the pair won the 500 m silver medal at the world championships in Gainesville, USA.

Both men were still competing in the K-4 as well and had won another 500 m European medal, this time silver, in 2004.

This decision was amply rewarded in 2005 when the Belarus K-4 500 m crew of Piatrushenka/Abalmasau/Turchyn/Makhneu were crowned first European and then world champions.

He would win nine more medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with a bronze in 2006 (K-4 1000 m), two more in 2007 (K-2 200 m: gold, K-2 500 m: silver), and four golds in 2009 (K-2 200 m, K-2 500 m, K-4 200 m, K-4 1000 m), and in 2010, a gold (K-2 500 m) and a silver (K-4 1000 m).

In 2005 Makhneu secretly married Alina, a receptionist of the hotel he had lived in while training in Mozyr.

His father, Gennady, finished seventh for the Soviet Union in the K-4 1000 m event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

External links

• Canoe09.ca profile
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936–2007.
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007.
• Sports-reference.com profile