Hennadiy Oleksiyovych Bleznitsov (; born 6 January 1941) is a retired Ukrainian pole vaulter who represented the USSR. He trained at Burevestnik and later at the Armed Forces sports society in Kharkov. He represented his country twice at the Olympic Games, reaching the finals in both 1964 and 1968.
Bleznitsov won two medals at the Universiade, winning the 1963 title in a championship record of 4.60 m before taking a silver in 1965 behind American John Pennel.Universiade Men. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-02-11. He was the inaugural pole vault champion at the annual 1966 European Indoor Games and won three silver medals in the subsequent years, beaten by fellow Soviet Igor Feld and East Germany's Wolfgang Nordwig.European Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2013-12-10. He was twice a medallist at the European Cup and competed at the 1966 European Athletics Championships, though he failed to register a height.
He won a total of ten Soviet national titles in the pole vault, including four straight wins outdoors from 1963 to 1966.Soviet Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-02-11.Soviet Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-02-11. He achieved his career best of at the 1968 Olympic final in Mexico City. One of the best vaulters of his generation, he ranked in the global top ten for five straight years, from 1965 to 1969.Gennadiy Bliznyetsov. Track and Field Statistics. Retrieved on 2018-02-11.
International competitions 1963Universiade Porto Alegre, Brazil 1st4.60 m 1964Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 5th4.95 m1965Universiade Budapest, Hungary 2nd4.90 mEuropean CupStuttgart, West Germany3rd4.80 m1966European Indoor Games Dortmund, West Germany 1st 4.90 mEuropean ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary —1967European Indoor Games Prague, Czechoslovakia 2nd 4.90 mEuropean CupKyiv, Soviet Union2nd5.05 m1968European Indoor Games Madrid, Spain 2nd 5.10 mOlympic Games Mexico City, Mexico 6th5.30 m1969European Indoor Games Belgrade, Yugoslavia 2nd 5.10 m1970European Indoor ChampionshipsVienna, Austria6th5.00 m
National titles Soviet Athletics Championships Pole vault: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972 Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships Pole vault: 1964, 1966, 1967
See also List of European Athletics Indoor Championships medalists (men)
References