View source for Boris Onishchenko

{{short description|Soviet modern pentathlete (born 1937)}}
{{fnh|Grigoryevich|Onishchenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
|name           = Boris Onishchenko
|image          = Boris Onishchenko.jpg
|caption        = Onishchenko at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]]
|fullname       = Boris Grigoryevich Onishchenko
|native_name    = {{lang|uk|Борис Онищенко}}
|country        = Soviet Union
|birth_date     = {{birth date and age|1937|9|19|df=yes}}
|birth_place    = [[Khorol urban hromada|Bereznyaky]],{{efn|Now in [[Lubny Raion]], [[Poltava Oblast]], Ukraine.}} [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], Soviet Union
|death_date     =
|death_place    =
|hometown       =
|residence      = [[Kyiv]], Ukraine
|training       =
|height         = 178 cm
|weight         = 74 kg
|event          = [[Modern pentathlon]]
|pb             = 
|medaltemplates = 
{{MedalCountry | the {{URS}} }}
{{MedalOlympic}}
{{MedalSilver| [[1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Mexico City]] | [[Modern pentathlon at the 1968 Summer Olympics|Team]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]] | [[Modern pentathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics|Team]]}}
{{MedalSilver| [[1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]] | [[Modern pentathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics|Individual]]}}
{{MedalWorldChampionships}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1967 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1967 Jönköping]]|Team}}
{{MedalGold|[[1969 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1969 Budapest]]|Team}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1969 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1969 Budapest]]|Individual}}
{{MedalSilver|[[1970 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1970 Warendorf]]|Team}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1970 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1970 Warendorf]]|Individual}}
{{MedalGold|[[1971 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1971 San Antonio]]|Individual}}
{{MedalGold|[[1971 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1971 San Antonio]]|Team}}
{{MedalGold|[[1973 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1973 London]]|Team}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1973 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1973 London]]|Individual}}
{{MedalGold|[[1974 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1974 Moscow]]|Team}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1974 World Modern Pentathlon Championships|1974 Moscow]]|Individual}}
| show-medals    = yes
}}

'''Boris Grigoryevich Onishchenko'''{{efn|Also transliterated as '''Onyshchenko''', '''Onishenko''', '''Onischenko'''.}} ({{langx|ru|Борис Григорьевич Онищенко|links=no}}, {{IPA|ru|bɐˈrʲiz ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ɐnʲɪˈɕːenkə|pron}}; {{langx|uk|Борис Григорович Онищенко|links=no|Borys Hryhorovych Onyshchenko}}, {{IPA|uk|boˈrɪz ɦrɪˈɦɔrowɪtʃ onɪˈʃtʃɛnko|pron}}; born 19 September 1937) is a former [[Soviet]] [[modern pentathlete]] who competed at the [[Modern pentathlon at the 1968 Summer Olympics|1968]], [[Modern pentathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics|1972]] and [[Modern pentathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Summer Olympics]].<ref name="sports-reference">{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/on/borys-onyshchenko-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417231921/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/on/borys-onyshchenko-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-17 |title=Boris Onishchenko |work=sports-reference.com}}</ref>

He was a member of the Soviet gold medal team in [[Modern pentathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics|the 1972 Olympics]].  From 1967 to 1974, he competed in six [[World Modern Pentathlon Championships]], winning gold five times as an individual or as part of the Soviet squad.  He is best known for his disqualification from the [[1976 Summer Olympics]] and subsequent lifetime ban for cheating by means of an illegally modified épée.<ref name="guardianolysrs">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/london-2012-olympics-blog/2012/mar/14/50-stunning-olympic-moments |title=50 stunning Olympic moments No18: Boris Onischenko cheats, GB win gold |date=March 14, 2012 |work=The Guardian |author=Simon Burnton}}</ref>

==Life and career==
Onishchenko was born in 1937 in a village of [[Khorol Raion]], [[Poltava Oblast]], [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian S.S.R]]. He was a strong swimmer early on and taught at the [[Dynamo Sports Club]].

His first world competition was at the [[1967 World Modern Pentathlon Championships]] where he competed with [[Stasys Šaparnis]] and [[Edvard Sdobnikov]].  The Soviet team won a bronze medal at the event.  The following year, he took a silver medal at the [[Modern pentathlon at the 1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Mexico City Olympics]] with Šaparnis and [[Pavel Lednyov]].  He went on to win gold five times at the world championships, one as an individual.  In 1971, he was awarded the [[Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR and Russia|Merited Master of Sports]] and in 1972, he received the [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]].<ref name=Dynamo>{{cite web |url=http://www.dynamo.su/sportsman/25820/ |title=Онищенко Борис Григорьевич |language=ru |accessdate=2020-07-23}}</ref>

In the [[Modern pentathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Olympics in Munich]], he competed with the Soviet team of Lednyov and [[Vladimir Shmelyov]] that captured the gold.  Onishchenko himself took an individual silver medal in the event, finishing behind [[András Balczó]] of Hungary.

===1976 Olympics===
{{See also|Modern pentathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's team}}
In 1976, the 38-year old Onishchenko entered the Olympics as a three-time world champion but never having won the gold as an individual. Onishchenko was a top fencer and had won gold in the [[1974 World Modern Pentathlon Championships]] in [[Moscow]]. Although he was rated fourth, which would relegate him to being a reserve, Onishchenko won a preliminary tournament in the Soviet Union that pushed him onto the team.<ref name=Championat>{{cite news |url=https://www.championat.com/other/article-3845001-istorija-zhulnichestva-sovetskogo-chempiona-borisa-onischenko.html |title=Главный обман в истории Олимпиад. Как попался советский милиционер |language=ru |publisher=Championat.ru |date=2019-09-08}}</ref>

After the first event of the pentathlon, the Soviet team found itself in fourth place, trailing closely behind [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. [[Fencing]] was the next event: a one-touch [[épée]] tournament. During Onishchenko's bout with British team captain [[Jim Fox (pentathlete)|Jim Fox]], the British team protested that Onishchenko's weapon had gone off without actually hitting anything.<ref name=sundaytimes>{{cite web| url=http://www.times-olympics.co.uk/historyheroes/stgbo04.html| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629071717/http://www.times-olympics.co.uk/historyheroes/stgbo04.html| archivedate=2011-06-29|title=History and Heroes from Every Olympic Games|work=[[The Sunday Times (UK)]] (Archive from 2001-06-29)}}</ref> In fact, Onishchenko's épée was in the air away from Fox when the hit was registered.<ref name=Curious>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.si.com/olympics/2020/07/21/greatest-olympic-cheater-boris-onischenko-1976-olympics |title=The Curious Case of the Electrified Épée |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=2020-07-20}}</ref>

Fox requested an examination of Onishchenko's weapon, which was found to be faulty, resulting in points being deducted from Onishchenko's score. However, the British team filed an official protest and demanded further examination.<ref name=Curious/> The bout was allowed to continue, and he won by a large margin.

In electric épée fencing, a touch is registered on the scoring box when the tip of the weapon is depressed with a [[force]] of 750&nbsp;grams, completing a [[Electrical network|circuit]] formed by the weapon, [[body cord]], and box. It was found that Onischenko's épée had been illegally modified to include a switch that allowed him to close this circuit without actually depressing the tip of his weapon, so he could register a touch without making any contact on his opponent. Onischenko was ejected from the competition, which forced the Soviet Union to scratch from the team event. The British team that exposed Onishchenko went on to win the [[gold medal]].<ref name="guardianolysrs"/>

Newspapers decried him as "Disonischenko" and "Boris the Cheat".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,516244,00.html |title=The 10 greatest cheats in sporting history &#124; Sport &#124; The Observer |publisher=theguardian.com |date=2011-02-09 |accessdate=2016-08-16}}</ref> Two months later it was reported he had been called before Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]] for a personal scolding.<ref name="guardianolysrs"/>

==Post-fencing life==
After his lifetime ban from the sport that was issued by the [[International Olympic Committee]], Onishchenko worked as a [[taxi]] driver in [[Kyiv]] and competed in Soviet national events.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/london-2012-olympics-blog/2012/mar/14/50-stunning-olympic-moments|title=50 stunning Olympic moments No18: Boris Onischenko cheats, GB win gold &#124; Simon Burnton|newspaper=The Guardian |date=14 March 2012 |last1=Burnton |first1=Simon }}</ref>

== External links ==
*[https://www.si.com/olympics/2020/07/21/greatest-olympic-cheater-boris-onischenko-1976-olympics The story on Boris Onishchenko in Sports Illustrated 2020.]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions Modern Pentathlon Mens Team}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onishchenko, Boris}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Ukrainian male modern pentathletes]]
[[Category:Soviet male modern pentathletes]]
[[Category:Modern pentathletes at the 1968 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Modern pentathletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Modern pentathletes at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic modern pentathletes for the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in modern pentathlon]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Poltava Oblast]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Soviet Army officers]]
[[Category:Sportspeople banned for life]]
[[Category:Cheating in sports]]
[[Category:20th-century Ukrainian sportsmen]]