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Boris Onischenko
  CATEGORIES ABOUT BORIS ONISHCHENKO
   
1937 births
   
living people
   
soviet modern pentathletes
   
modern pentathletes at the 1968 summer olympics
   
modern pentathletes at the 1972 summer olympics
   
modern pentathletes at the 1976 summer olympics
   
olympic modern pentathletes of the soviet union
   
olympic gold medalists for the soviet union
   
olympic silver medalists for the soviet union
   
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1976 MODERN PENTATHLON

Having already earned his country a tournament. Onishchenko was considered the finest fencer out of his competitors and was favored to win.

During Onishchenko's bout with their captain, Jim Fox , the British team protested that Onischenko's weapon had gone off without actually hitting anything1. The director confiscated the Russian's weapon and brought it to the bout committee, where a modification to the grip was discovered.

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 gams, completing a Circuit formed by the weapon, Body Cord , and box. Onishchenko had added a small button to his épée that allowed him to close this circuit without actually depressing the tip of his weapon. Unlike foil, there are no off-target hits in épée, so Onishchenko could get away with this form of cheating if it appeared to onlookers that he had struck anything at all.

After Onishchenko was found to be cheating, he was immediately disqualified from the competition. Newspapers decried him as "Disonischenko" and "Boris the Cheat" 2. The British team that exposed Onishchenko went on to win the Gold Medal in the modern pentathlon.


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