Yuriy Pimenov

Yuri Igorevich Pimenov (Russian Юрий Игоревич Пименов, bot. Transliteration Yuri Igorevič Pimenov; born 29 March 1958 in Moscow; † 19 April 2019) was a Soviet/Russian rower.

Together with his twin brother Nikolai Pimenov, Yuri Pimenov won his first world championship medal in 1979, when they lost to another pair of twins, namely Bernd and Jörg Landvoigt from the GDR, in the coxless pair and received the silver medal. The same run-in took place at the 1980 Olympic rowing competitions, with the Landvoigts taking gold and the Pimenows silver.

In 1981, the Pimenovs won their first world championship title in the coxless double. In 1983, the Pimenovs competed in the coxless quad and lost in the world championship final to the team from the Federal Republic of Germany in a hard-fought race. After missing the 1984 Olympics due to the Olympic boycott, the Pimenows competed again in the coxless double at the 1985 World Championships and won gold by less than a second over their British pursuers. In 1986, they were able to defend the title, and in 1987 they received the bronze medal. Prior to the 1987 World Championships, Yuri Pimenov had caused a stir at the Henley Royal Regatta when he abandoned the race after his British competitors Andrew Holmes and Steven Redgrave collided with a canoe. Yuri Pimenov thus forced a restart of the race, which the British now won. For the 1988 Olympics, the brothers switched back to the coxless four. In the preliminaries and semifinals, the rowers from the Soviet Union were each defeated by the boat from East Germany, which also won the gold medal in the final. The Soviet four finished five minutes after the winning boat, after a roller seat had burst in the final.

In 1990, the Pimenows won another World Championship silver medal in the double sculls; they were able to beat the British double sculls with Steven Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, but lost to Thomas Jung and Uwe Kellner from the GDR. In 1992, they took part in the Olympic Games again, but only reached the C-final and finished 15th.

In 1994 Yuri Pimenov received the Thomas Keller Medal from the World Rowing Federation FISA.