An Olympic champion cyclist has been named a new deputy sports minister, the Russian government said Tuesday.
Sergei Shelpakov was part of the Soviet team that won gold in the 100-kilometer time trial at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and ran a sports school before moving into his previous job as regional minister of youth affairs and sport in Siberia’s Omsk Region in 2004.
Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko already has three deputies, Pavel Kolobkov, Yuri Nagornykh and Pavel Novikov.
