Nikolay Pimenov
Nikolai Igorevich Pimenov (Russian Николай Игоревич Пименов, bot. Transliteration Nikolay Igorevič Pimenov; born 29 March 1958 in Moscow) is a former rower who competed for the Soviet Union.
Together with his twin brother Yuri Pimenov, Nikolai 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 then won their first world 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 Pimenovs competed again in the coxless double at the 1985 World Championships and won gold by less than a second over their British pursuers. Nikolai Pimenov was so exhausted that he missed the award ceremony because he was still receiving medical treatment. In 1986 they could defend the title, in 1987 they got the bronze medal. 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 the GDR, 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 Pimenovs won another World Championship silver medal in the two-man sans; they were able to beat the British two-man 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. Nikolai Pimenov won his last big race in 1995 as a member of the Russian eight, when it won on Lake Rot in Lucerne.
In 1996 Nikolai Pimenov received the Thomas Keller Medal from the World Rowing Federation FISA. Besides his rowing career Nikolai Pimenov painted, in 1992 he was awarded the Olympic Culture Prize.
