Sailing - Coaches

Victor Kovalenko

Victor Kovalenko

Victor Kovalenko has been Head Coach of the Australian/AIS Sailing Team since November 2000 and at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games coached Australia’s 470 Men’s team of Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page and 470 Women’s team of Tessa Parkinson and Elise Rechichi to Gold medals.
Victor’s continual success with the Australian/AIS Sailing Team was rewarded with the 2008 AIS Coach of the Year and NSW Sports Federation Coach of the Year awards.

Victor came from the Ukraine in October 1997 to work with the Yachting Australia in the role of National Coach for the 470 men's and women's Olympic classes. Victor's work with the athletes in these classes led to extraordinary competition results in 1999 and 2000, with Australia ultimately taking out a gold medal in both the events at the 2000 Olympic Games.

Victor is no stranger to Olympic medal results. At the 1996 Olympic Games, his 470 Ukrainian team members finished with gold and bronze medals.
Since retiring from his own very successful Olympic-level competition program in the early 1980s, Victor has worked with several international sailing teams, bringing in winning Olympic, world championship and regional games results.

Victor became an Australian citizen in January 2003.
Victor is supported by the network of State High Performance Coaches, who work with the AIS Squad on a daily basis in their home state.


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Australia is one of only two nations to have competed in every modern Summer Olympic Games.

Quick numbers

700 athlete scholarships are offered annually at the AIS.
263 current and former AIS athletes competed at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
142 Olympic medals have been won by athletes from the AIS since its establishment.
40 thousand kilometres were swum by Petria Thomas while at the AIS.
1 million people visit the AIS each year.
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