Leonid Karpovich Meshkov
Meshkov, Leonid Karpovich
Born Jan. 1 (14), 1916, in Tsaritsyn, present-day Volgograd. Soviet sportsman and swimmer. Honored Master of Sports (1940). Honored Coach of the RSFSR (1963). Honored Cultural Worker (Zasluzhennyi rabotnik kuPtury) of the RSFSR (1973). Member of the CPSU (1946).
Between 1932 and 1952, Meshkov was a champion swimmer of the USSR (42 gold medals), and a record-breaker of the USSR, Europe, and the world (more than 120 records). L. K. Meshkov and S. P. Boichenko, another outstanding Soviet swimmer, have been leading figures in the rise of swimming in the USSR.
Meshkov fought in the Great Patriotic War. He has been a docent at Moscow State University since 1952. He has been awarded three orders and a number of medals.