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Yuriy Cheban

Yuriy Cheban
Cheban by Oniskevich.jpg

Yuriy Volodymyrovych Cheban (Ukrainian: Юрій Володимирович Чебан; born 5 July 1986 in Odessa, Ukraine) is a retired Ukrainian sprint canoeist. He is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion in C-1 200 metres.

In 2003, despite being a year younger than many of his rivals, he was a world junior silver medallist at Komatsu, Japan in the Canadian canoe C-1 1000 m and also finished fourth in the C-1 500 m event. Having won the 2004 European Junior Championships at both the C-1 500 m and C-1 1000 m in Poznań, Poland, Cheban was selected to represent Ukraine in both C-1 events at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Competing against much more experienced canoeists, he placed sixth in his initial heat of the C-1 500 m with a time of 2:00.238, qualifying for the semifinals. In the semifinal, he again placed sixth with a time of 1:53.385, and did not advance to the finals.

In C-1 1000 m, Cheban finished sixth in his heat with a time of 4:00.637. He was disqualified in the semifinal.

In 2005, Cheban and partner Petro Kruh won the European under-23 C-2 1000 m title in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. At the senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia they were the youngest of the C-2 1000 m finalists, placing ninth.

In 2006 Cheban returned to the individual C-1 event and it proved to be his most successful season yet. In July he took the C-1 500 m bronze medal at the 2006 European Championships in Račice, Czech Republic – his first senior medal. The following month he went one better, winning the silver medal at the World Championships in Szeged. Cheban would win gold in the C-1 200 m event at the 2007 championships in Duisburg.


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